This short novel by Peter Handke is the biography of the narrator's mother. It is set against the backdrop of events in Austrian history, with emphasis upon the "Anschluss" of 1938 and the resulting hardships endured by rural women. These pressures, in the case of the narrator's mother, resulted in her suicide. This text, aimed at A level and undergraduate students, offers an introduction in English and a section suggesting further reading and exercises on aspects of the context in German.
