Since she began writing in 1956 Gabriele Wohmann has been one of Germany's most prolific literary figures. Her works include radio plays, television dramas, plays, poetry, and essays; the forms, however, to which she has returned most consistently are the novel and the short story. Critics frequently acknowledge her mastery of short narratives and consider her to be one of the finest storytellers in West Germany. Her fiction has become widely known in both parts of Germany, appears with great regularity on West Germany's best-seller lists, and has been translated into at least twelve languages.

Born in Darmstadt in 1932 to Paul Daniel and Luise Lettermann Guyot, Wohmann belongs to the generation of writers that emerged after World War II. Her formative years still provide the thematic underpinnings of much of her fiction. Like many German literary figures she was the child of a clergyman. She has characterized her childhood...