“Blue jewellery” is private property. Not to be seen. Not to be talked about. It is worn like a bracelet around the wrists, on ribs, legs, arms. Blue jewellery is another name for the marks left on women’s bodies, inflicted by the men around them.
This novel tells the story of Filiz and Yunus. When Filiz meets Yunus, he is young and beautiful, and Filiz is proud that he wants her. Against her father’s wishes, they marry when she is thirteen. Yunus is her entire universe, all encompassing, all powerful.
But Yunus, only a few years older than his bride, turns their marriage into a prison of dependency and violence. There is no escaping the spiral of violence and love, which, to Filiz, have become inseparable.
Katharina Winkler’s powerful story of a marriage dominated by violence gives voice to a tenacious young woman whose will to survive is never broken.
Katharina Winkler, born in Vienna in 1979, studied German philology and theatre studies. Blue Jewellery is her debut novel. The author lives in Berlin.
Shipra Chaturvedi, born 1955, is a Phd in Chemistry and did her German language courses from Goethe-Institut Delhi, Pune and Frankfurt. She has worked with various universities. Currently she is teaching German language at a private institute and coordinates the PASCH-Project of Goethe-Institut / Max Mueller Bhavan in Lucknow region. She has been awarded twice the scholarships of LCB Berlin and the translation house Lorraine.
Location
Goethe-Institut / Max Mueller Bhavan New Delhi
3, Kasturba Gandhi Marg New Delhi 110 001 India
