Freud's sister

Was Sigmund Freud responsible for his sister's death in a Nazi concentration camp? Winner of the European Union Prize for Literature, *Freud's Sister* shocked readers upon its release, wondering if Goce Smilevski's story was true. Despite being fiction, the premise of the work is true: Freud fled Austria at the height of the Nazi rise, leaving four sisters behind. They all died in concentration camps. In Nazi-occupied Vienna, Sigmund Freud was granted the right to flee abroad, taking some loved ones with him. The founder of psychoanalysis's list includes his wife, children, sister-in-law, two assistants, his personal physician and his family, and even his dog, but not his four elderly sisters: Marie, Rosa, Pauline, and Adolfine. It is the voice of the latter, deported to the Terezín concentration camp, who recalls the episode with painful sorrow. Smilevski masterfully narrates the trajectory of the famous Freud's family, with an emphasis, of course, on the narrator. Through Adolfine, the reader discovers the famous psychiatrist's innermost being, his weaknesses, and how he related to his relatives. Furthermore, it reveals the miserable life she herself led. There is also an intense debate on psychoanalytic theories, showing how they were not followed by the creator himself. One of the main themes addressed in the work is madness, which culminates in an intelligent discussion between the two protagonists about happiness and the meaning of life. Freud's Sister is the story of a woman who, forgotten in the shadows of history, relives icy family relationships, a tragic love, the unfulfilled dream of motherhood, and the acceptance of finding peace only in the reassuring oblivion of self-imposed madness. "A shocking and sepulchral book." (The Wall Street Journal) "Stunning, bold, and surprising. Freud's sister dares to reveal a dark biography of Freud." (Joyce Carol Oates, The New York Review of Books) “Freud’s Sister is a rare artistic achievement—informative but also wise; insightful and moving. A moving book.” (The Jewish Daily Forward)