Reed Warbler

At seventeen, Josephina Hansen is cast out of her family home in the north of Germany after being raped and finding herself pregnant. Her sister's household in Sønderborg offers her a first refuge. She then moves to Hamburg, where a generous businessman takes her in, and later lives with a politically outspoken journalist and his sister.

By 1880, the deteriorating political climate pushes this improvised household to leave again, this time for a small farming settlement in the Kaitieke valley in New Zealand. Josephina carries with her a very old embroidered sampler that her grandmother gave her. Its carefully stitched scenes become a way for her to map the world she has left behind. They also show the reed warblers of her childhood, called Rohrsänger, which fly each year from the salt marshes near her home to a warm place where oranges grow.

The story is framed by a reunion between Frank and Beth, who descend from two of Josephina's three children, each born to a different father. When Beth uncovers why her family's account no longer mentions the third child, memory and meaning begin to surface from the intricate sampler and the migrating birds it depicts.

Spanning six generations, the novel is a family saga. At a family reunion in 1915, Josephina's son Wolf remarks on Ma, who watches over the gathering with a mischievous sparkle in her eye.