While this memoir is a slice of Jane Messer’s life, the focus leans towards her father, Michael, and her paternal grandmother, Bella. It is this mother who is described, by Michael, as die Rabenmutter. This idea of a raven mother – which Michael describes as one who doesn’t love and subsequently abandons her offspring – is the foundation of this book. It not only describes how it has shaped the life of the writer’s father, but also neatly places the narrative in Germany, where the family’s pre-World War II journey began.
Raven Mother divides itself into three unlisted sections. The first deals with Bella’s early life in Berlin, her marriage to Willy Messer, and the births of Ruth and, six years later, Michael. The family are secular Jews and make a comfortable enough living … until the rise of the Nazis. Many thousands of Jews flee Berlin before the start of World War II, and Ruth and Michael are sent to a boarding school in England. During the war, in an inordinate mix-up, Michael is stranded in England, Willy and Ruth have migrated to Melbourne and Bella is in Palestine. Israel and Palestine form the second section, and Jane finds evidence of Bella’s affair with
Walter Strauss, which caused a terminal rift in her marriage to Willy.
In the final section, Jane traces Bella’s footsteps through Berlin and Palestine before returning home to her ageing father. Some of Michael’s papers, which have been long forgotten but are now found, include a pivotal missing letter. Had this letter been remembered, Michael’s life might’ve been lived differently, and the narrative might have been a different bird altogether.
Reviewed by Bob Moore
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jane Messer is the accomplished writer of novels, short stories and essays, is a regular contributor to The Conversation, and is a former Associate Professor of Creative Writing at Macquarie University. She is the founder and director of StorySALOON, a live show and podcast dedicated to Australian short stories.
As the daughter of a refugee, she finds herself compelled to write about fractured lives, marginal people and migration.
Visit Jane Messer’s website here
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