Nesthäkchen's Teenage Years
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| Author | Else Ury |
|---|---|
| Original title | Nesthäkchens Backfischzeit |
| Translator | Steven Lehrer |
| Illustrator | Robert Sedlacek |
| Country | US |
| Language | English |
| Series | Nesthäkchen, volume 5 |
| Genre | Fiction/Adventure |
| Publisher | SF Tafel |
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Publication date
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2016 |
| Media type | |
| Pages | 312 pp (Trade Paper edition) |
| ISBN | |
| Preceded by | Nesthäkchen and the World War |
| Followed by | Nesthäkchen Flies From the Nest |
Else Ury's Nesthäkchen is a Berlin doctor's daughter, Annemarie Braun, a slim, golden blond, quintessential German girl. The ten book follows Annemarie from infancy (Nesthäkchen and Her Dolls) to old age and grandchildren (Nesthäkchen with White Hair). Volume 5, Nesthäkchens Backfischzeit, (first published 1919) describes Annemarie's teenage years.
A Backfisch ("teenage girl", literally "fish for frying") is a young girl between fourteen and seventeen years of age. This volume deals with Annemarie's youth during the period of economic and political turbulence following World War I, 1919–1922. Annemarie is almost 16 when the story begins, after the Armistice, November 1918-19. Ury skips over 1920–1921. The last chapter, "Examination Grades," concerns her high school graduation in 1922. Annemarie and her friends, Vera, Marlene and Ilse, attend upper secondary school. When Annemarie feels wronged by their German teacher, she wants to set up a student council modeled on the Soviet Republic and argues with the director of the school. Her unruly behavior endangers her education, but she ultimately advances to her senior class. Her 16th birthday party is disturbed by a general power cut and the economic blockade, which completely shuts down the electricity and telephone network. Annemarie visits her relatives on Arnsdorf Farm in Silesia (in the post 1945 editions Lower Bavaria). On her hasty return journey due to the occupation of Upper Silesia by Polish troops during the Polish–Czechoslovak War and first Silesian Uprising, she gets stuck in the town of Sagan by a railway strike. (In the post 1945 editions Anne Marie has to leave Arnsdorf because of an upcoming general strike, and her train is stalled for lack of coal in Nuremberg.) To earn money, she becomes a nanny for a doctor's family named Lange. The Langes soon realize that Annemarie is an educated girl from a good background, as she knows Latin, does not want to go on the street without a hat, is familiar with famous paintings and has a book by Selma Lagerlöf in her luggage. When Annemarie's identity is revealed, Dr. Lange turns out to be one of her father's Heidelberg University classmates, and the Langes treat her like a foster daughter until she leaves to return to Berlin. In winter 1919, there is a coal shortage and a violent wave of influenza. Annemarie tries to obtain coal for her family, but does not succeed. Finally, she gets sick. The novel ends with Annemarie's high school graduation. She and her friend Marlene have passed all written tests with A's and are exempted from the final oral examination. Despite the hard times, Else Ury's sense of humor permeates the narrative.
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