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SIMON & SCHUSTER, 1994
(available in paperback from Touchstone, 1997)
STONES FROM THE RIVER is a fictional story of an ordinary German village in an extraordinary time. The villagers of Burgdorf are a microcosm of Germany during Hitler’s rise to power, and Stones from the River follows the course of their lives through World War II as the residents make wrenching decisions and contend with the awful consequences.
At the center of the story is Trudi Montag, a Zwerg, or dwarf, born in 1915. As Trudi grows up, her identity is defined by her small stature and her mentally ill mother, sources of shame and secrecy. Over time, Trudi discovers that her neighbors also have secrets that make them different. By listening to their stories and harboring their secrets, Trudi gains power.
As Nazism takes hold in Germany, the villagers of Burgdorf feel the pressure to conform under the threat of violence. Some, like Trudi and her father, Leo, quietly resist. Others, whether through fear and guilt or through principle, support Nazism. In Stones from the River, Ursula Hegi demonstrates how Nazism could take root in an entire nation by examining its impact on one small village.
Descriptions of food fill the pages of Stones from the River, as Hegi captures the details of village life. Villagers bring food—glazed buns, Brötchen (rolls), pigeon stew, potato soup, and Christmas Stollen (sweet bread with raisins, candied fruit, and almonds)—to their bedridden neighbors. Women vying for Leo’s attention after the death of his wife bring him plum cake, vanilla pudding with strawberry syrup, lentil soup with pigs’ feet, and egg cakes filled with fruit preserves. Villagers welcome guests to their homes with pastries—Schnecken (a snail-shaped pastry), Streuselkuchen (crumb cake), and Bienenstich.
Bienenstich appears several times in Stones from the River, most notably when Trudi first meets her lover, Max Rudnick. Angry and hurt after Klaus Malter, her love interest, has married another woman, Trudi scours the marriage advertisements in the newspaper for amusement. She pens a note to one of the men, Max—Box 241—suggesting that she is a tall, slender, “extraordinarily beautiful” woman with auburn hair and would like to meet him. She sets up a date and then goes to a local restaurant to observe what happens.
At the restaurant, Trudi watches “Box 241” as he waits, looking for the tall woman.
Trudi was one of two women who sat by themselves—the other tables were occupied by couples or families—but the man’s eyes kept shifting past her as if she were not there, returning to a heavy, dark-haired woman who was devouring a piece of Bienenstich, scooping out the custard filling and spreading it on top of the glazed almond topping.
As Max seems to look through Trudi to the woman eating Bienenstich, Trudi “was filled with an ancient rage at him and every other man who simply dismissed her.” She writes a cruel note from the “other woman,” and delivers it to Max as he sits waiting. Their introduction in the restaurant launches their friendship and eventual love affair.
When reading Stones from the River for the Lemmings Book Club of Rochester, Minnesota, Jennifer Bankers-Fulbright immediately recognized the Bienenstich as the cake her German-born grandmother used to make. “I knew I had to make it for the club,” says Bankers-Fulbright, who often serves the cake to her own family during the holidays. “I always think I’m so American, yet I have a strong German heritage,” she said. “I realized, reading Stones from the River, that I had been so surrounded by my family’s German culture when I was little and hadn’t even known it. I made the cake for my book club friends as a way to share some wonderful memories.”
Bee Sting Cake is so called because, legend has it, the baker who first made the cake used a honey topping that attracted a bee, and the baker got stung. Jennifer Bankers-Fulbright’s sister, Christine Bankers, adapted the following recipe for Bienenstich from www.joyofbaking.com.
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1½ tablespoons cornstarch 1 cup milk 3 egg yolks ¼ cup granulated sugar Pinch of salt
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For the topping ¾ cup blanched sliced or slivered almonds ½ cup granulated sugar 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened at room temperaure 2 tablespoons heavy cream Confectioners’ sugar for dusting |
For the cake 1¾ cups all-purpose flour 2 teaspoons baking powder ¼ teaspoon salt ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened at room temperature |
2 eggs ½ cup milk |
To make the custard filling: In a bowl, whisk the cornstarch into 
cup of the milk until dissolved. Whisk in the egg yolks. Set aside.
Combine the sugar, salt, and remaining 
cup of milk in a small, heavy saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring frequently.
Vigorously whisk a small amount of the hot milk into the egg mixture. Then, whisking constantly, pour the eggs into the saucepan.
Bring to a boil over medium heat, whisking constantly. Reduce heat and simmer 1 minute.
Remove from heat and pour immediately into a bowl. Lay plastic wrap directly on the surface of the custard to prevent a skin from forming and refrigerate until chilled.
To make the topping: Combine the almonds, sugar, butter, and 2 tablespoons cream in a small saucepan and cook over moderate heat until butter is melted, stirring to combine.
To make the cake: Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter a 9-inch springform pan, then flour the pan and tap out excess flour.
Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt into a medium bowl. Set aside.
Cream the butter in a large mixing bowl with an electric mixer on high speed until light. Add the sugar gradually, continuing to beat, until light and fluffy. With mixer on medium speed, add the eggs one at a time, beating well.
10. On low speed, alternately add small amounts of the flour mixture and milk, mixing until just blended after each addition. Continue until all ingredients have been added, ending with the flour mixture.
Pour the cake batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top. Add the topping and spread gently. Bake about 40 minutes, until cake is golden and has pulled away from the sides of the pan. A wooden skewer inserted in the center should come out clean. Set the cake pan on a wire rack and cool for 20 minutes. Run a sharp knife around the inside of the pan to loosen the cake, then carefully remove the pan. Allow the cake to cool completely.
Beat the cup heavy cream on high speed until it forms soft peaks. Fold a large spoonful into the chilled custard, then gently fold in the rest.
Using a long serrated knife or cake slicer, slice the cake in half crosswise. Place the bottom half, cut side up, on a serving platter and gently spread with custard filling. Place the other half on top, cut side down. Refrigerate the cake until ready to serve. Dust lightly with confectioners’ sugar just before serving.
Yield: 8 servings
NOVEL THOUGHTS
“I’ve thought about calling us the Journeys Book Club because our members are all on journeys, reading books we normally wouldn’t have read on our own, but also sharing our joys and pains, interests and concerns,” says Louis Hemmi, a real estate appraiser and senior member of the Houston Book Club of Texas.
Hemmi was working at Enron Corporation when he was invited to join the relatively new book club formed by a colleague in 1991. Most of the club’s members were Enron employees, although only one member was working at Enron when the energy company collapsed, leaving thousands without jobs and without their retirement savings. “Enron was always a topic of discussion,” says Hemmi. “We talked about the stock prices and the political intrigue during the run-up in value before Enron’s demise; and of course, we worried together about the fate of our retirement funds.”
The Houston Book Club discussed the unusual perspectives of Stones from the River at length. “Many World War II stories address the Holocaust or the corruption of German morality,” says Hemmi. “Hegi’s book chronicles the reaction of a largely passive German community to the rise of Nazism and the orderly removal of many Jews to camps. While some books make all Germans look like bad people, Hegi depicts ordinary Germans as just that—ordinary. “Hegi also gave us upper-middle-class characters that were realistic and intriguing and the unusual perspective of the protagonist, Trudi, who was a dwarf,” says Hemmi. “It was a fresh look that concentrated on feelings rather than events and ghostly happenings.”
More Food for Thought
The German pastries mentioned throughout Stones from the River provided sweet inspiration for book clubs. Patty Rullman’s Between the Lines book discussion group enjoyed a German chocolate sauerkraut cake and a German cherry chocolate cake when they discussed Stones from the River at the Aurora Public Library in Aurora, Indiana. And Kathy Hayes baked a German apple tart and a Bavarian crème cake for the Bookenders Book Club in Lee’s Summit, Missouri.
