The Eighth Life: for Brilka

The Eighth Life was written by Nino Haratischvile and translated from German by Charlotte Collins and Ruth Martin. The subtitle is For Brilka who is a young girl belonging to the eighth generation of this family saga. Brilka's aunt, Niza, spends a year writing the story of the family during the twentieth century for her niece.

The story is of a family trying to survive through tumultuous times in Georgia and Russia. It is the story of the rise and fall of a family both socially and politically including the effects of communism on daily life. The story of life in Georgia portrays a free country, a country ruled in turn by the Germans and then the Russians during the Second World War followed by the Cold War. Unfortunately, towards the end of the twentieth century,  freedom from the rule of other countries does not guarantee peace as power struggles ensue.

The book consists of eight sections, each with the name of a family member as individual stories of family members interweave to tell the family story. The ambitions of many of the characters are not always achieved thwarted by family pressures and expectations or external factors governed by political factors and war.  Consequently attempts for involvement  relating to the arts - dance, singing, writing and film - are interrupted by war, revolution, rebellion, mistrust and hatred, politically and domestically.

However a thread throughout the book is generally the strength of the female family members plus the power of chocolate - a secret recipe passed through the generations.

At 934 pages this is a good holiday read to be read with few interruptions in order to appreciate the complexities of this saga of a family and a country.

Another book showing the effects of war on a small European country is The Lace Weaver set in Estonia.