Explore our new BookBrowse Community Forum!

Book Summary and Reviews of This House Is Mine by Dörte Hansen

This House Is Mine by Dörte Hansen

This House Is Mine

by Dörte Hansen

  • Critics' Consensus:
  • Published:
  • Nov 2016, 336 pages
  • Rate this book

About this book

Book Summary

A bestselling German novel about two women connected by their experiences in and around a special old house.

All her life Vera has felt like a stranger in the old and drafty half-timbered farmhouse she arrived at as a five-year-old refugee from East Prussia in 1945, and yet she can't seem to let it go. Sixty years later, her niece Anne suddenly shows up at her door with her small son. Anne has fled the trendy Hamburg neighborhood she never fit into after her relationship imploded. Vera and Anne are strangers to each other but have much more in common than they think. As the two strong-willed and very different women share the great old house, they find what they have never thought to search for: a family.

Told in skillfully crafted alternating points of view and a nonlinear storyline, Dörte Hansen's internationally bestselling debut novel showcases her impressive talent for characterization and dialogue in an exceptional book that combines emotional depth and humor. The author's sparse language and sometimes oblique references make for a deeply immersive reading experience, and the characters will resonate long after the last page has been turned.

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Reviews

Media Reviews

"Though the narrative is perhaps a bit familiar, Hansen makes this story about the process of healing affecting, real, and memorable." - Publishers Weekly

"A best-seller in Germany, Hansen's book melds poignancy and wry humor to explore the meaning of family and home." - Booklist

"Hansen's debut novel was a surprise bestseller in Germany but will probably find a cooler reception here." - Kirkus
"A very expressive debut." - The Huffington Post

"A little wonder of a book."- Grazia (UK)

"Wonderfully entertaining but also a profound story with strong characters. A special book." - Die Zeit (Germany)

"Intelligent, gripping, written in beautiful language. The best book of the season."- Stern magazine (Germany)

"A beautiful, profound novel about the families we are born into and the ones we create." - Tatjana Soli, New York Times bestselling author of The Lotus Eaters

"This House Is Mine is deeply atmospheric - a dynamic mix of humor and melancholy." - Erika Swyler, author of The Book of Speculation

This information about This House Is Mine was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

More Information

Dörte Hansen was born in Husum in northern Germany. She studied languages and completed a Ph.D. in linguistics. She then turned to journalism, spent several years working as a radio editor, and is now an author for radio and print. This House Is Mine is her first novel.

More Author Information

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

More Recommendations

Readers Also Browsed . . .

more literary fiction...

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Top Picks

  • Book Jacket: Our Evenings
    Our Evenings
    by Alan Hollinghurst
    Alan Hollinghurst's novel Our Evenings is the fictional autobiography of Dave Win, a British ...
  • Book Jacket: Graveyard Shift
    Graveyard Shift
    by M. L. Rio
    Following the success of her debut novel, If We Were Villains, M. L. Rio's latest book is the quasi-...
  • Book Jacket: The Sisters K
    The Sisters K
    by Maureen Sun
    The Kim sisters—Minah, Sarah, and Esther—have just learned their father is dying of ...
  • Book Jacket: Linguaphile
    Linguaphile
    by Julie Sedivy
    From an infant's first attempts to connect with the world around them to the final words shared with...

Members Recommend

  • Book Jacket

    Pony Confidential
    by Christina Lynch

    In this whimsical mystery, a grumpy pony must clear his beloved human's name from a murder accusation.

Who Said...

The only real blind person at Christmas-time is he who has not Christmas in his heart.

Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!

Wordplay

Solve this clue:

F the M

and be entered to win..

Your guide toexceptional          books

BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.