Floating in My Mother's Palm

Floating in My Mother’s Palm is a 1990 book of parables by German-American author Ursula Hegi. The parables follow Hanna Malter who comes of age in Germany after World War II. Written retrospectively from Malter’s point of view, the stories reflect on her family life and relationships with her neighbors in the town of Burgdorf. The collection particularly focuses on the tragedies that children witnessed during Hitler’s regime, and how they endured in their memories through their adult lives.

The collection begins with the story of the day of Malter’s birth. It is a story that Malter’s parents repeated to her often once she was old enough to understand. It begins with her mother going into labor, and later receiving the devastating news that her baby has died. Her mother attempted to have another child; this time, she chose to deliver her baby in the care of a midwife and gave birth to Malter.



The next story concerns a town gossip who was born with dwarfism. The people of Burgdorf attribute her deformity to an unsubstantiated rumor that her mother was negligent and dropped her in infancy. The story relates another town superstition that a mystic saved the life of Malter’s grandmother by healing a blood clot caused by a poison she had ingested. Later, Malter repeated this story to her friend, Renate, who suffered from polio. Though the story did not heal her leg, her display of compassion helped mend their friendship.

Next, Malter tells the story of Klara Blocker, her family’s cleaning lady, and the former lover of an American soldier, Rolf, deployed in Germany. Klara gave birth to their son but never told him about his father. Malter relates that her father, usually a reserved and prudent man, married a similarly flighty woman. Malter remembers his marriage as the only irrational act he committed and theorizes that he fell for her because her wildness complemented his docility. Malter then tells the story of a mentally ill man who lodged in her parents’ house and the stories of a number of tragic murders that occurred in Burgdorf.

Malter concludes the collection of parables by turning to the topic of her mother’s death. She claims that she will tell the “truth” about what happened, implying that the circumstances have been covered up in the past. Her mother died in a car crash that she most likely caused herself by driving recklessly and above the speed limit. After her mother died, Malter resolved to save a life, believing that she could somehow negate her mother’s tragedy. Ironically, the cumulative effect of her many acts of kindness was that she saved her own life. Floating in My Mother’s Palm validates the redemptive and healing functions of storytelling, and suggests that acts of kindness and compassion enrich society beyond the bounds of any one narrative.