Off Paradise: Stories

Martin, the central character of Hart Wegner’s powerful new short-story cycle, is a middle-aged German emigre who has found a home, of sorts, in the flashy, often surreal setting of contemporary Las Vegas. Exiled with his parents from their beloved Silesia at the end of World War II, Martin and his family struggle to come to terms with the turmoil of history and memory while they cope with the challenges of assimilation in an alien setting. In stories that range from the Nevada desert to the lost world of prewar Silesia, Wegner explores, through the perspectives of Martin, his aging parents, and their small circle of fellow emigres, the intricate tapestry of the exile experience - childhood recollections of the vast and fertile plains of East Germany and the shelter of comfortable and loving homes, memories of the horrors of war, the guilt and terror and despair of displacement, the frustations of finding one’s way in a new and alien culture, the precious ties of family and longtime friendship. And most of all, loss - the loss of home; of an identity formed by an ancient language, the details of a shared culture, and a common sense of past and of future; of loved ones; and finally, and most tragically, of memory itself. Wegner, an award-winning writer of short stories, is at the very top of his form in this moving, unforgettable collection. His characters are vividly and bravely human, bitter, tender, despairing, and full of hope - ever seeking a new home, a new place in which to belong. The inner world of exile has never before been examined with such sympathy, such clarity, or such eloquence. These are stories that no one who loves fine writing should miss.