Hanna Malter is a young girl growing up in 1950's Burgdorf, a small German town. Hanna's courageous voice evokes her unconventional mother, who swims during thunderstorms; the illegitimate son of an American GI, who learns from Hanna about his father; and the librarian, who lets Hanna see her hometown from a dwarf's extraordinary point of view. Although Hegi wrote this book first, it can be read as a sequel to Stones from the River.--From publisher description.