The End of Days by Jenny Erpenbeck, translated from the German by Susan Bernofsky

A child is born during a very cold winter in early 20th century Germany. Her parents, a Catholic father and a Jewish mother, are not in the best of marriages. He is unable to rise above the 11th salary rank at work due to prejudice against his Jewish wife. She has been declared dead by her monied grandfather who actually sat shiva for her because she married a Christian. When their baby daughter becomes ill, neither of them knows the trick of putting snow on her chest to shock her back into breathing. The baby girl, Nora dies during her first weeks of life.

But what if they had known to put snow on her chest? In The End of Days Jenny Erpenbeck examines this idea by telling the story of Nora had she survived childhood. The novel follows Nora as she goes through many lives living a little longer…