by

VIRGINIA L. LEWIS

Cover Art:  'Deryn Lewis' by Katie Kehrwald ©

Cover Design by Rosana Sánchez  ©

ISBN: 978-1-931948-90-6

 2010

An Exciting Family Novel

Twelve-year-old Andrea Heinrichsen leaves her loving, if somewhat overprotective mother, to take part in a three-week orchestra festival in Leipzig. There she meets up with the likewise twelve-year-old Angela Heinrichsen, who bears shocking resemblance to her, and the illusory family life her mother had built up around Andrea caves in on itself. Determined to get to the bottom of things, the twins emulate the main characters from “The Parent Trap” and trade places, unaware of the dangers that lurk ahead. Surprise follows surprise as events unfold in this suspenseful novel.

Eine aufregende Familiengeschichte

Mit zwölf Jahren verlässt Andrea Heinrichsen ihre liebevolle, wenn auch etwas überbehütende Mutter, um an einem dreiwöchigen Orchesterfest teilzunehmen. Dort begegnet sie der ebenfalls zwölfjährigen, ihr schaurig ähnlichen Angela Heinrichsen, und die bequeme Familienwelt, die ihre Mutter um Andrea herum aufgebaut hatte, kracht mit einem Mal in sich zusammen. Um der ganzen Sache auf den Grund zu gehen, ahmen die Zwillinge die Mädchen in dem ihnen bekannten Kinderroman „Das doppelte Lottchen“ nach und tauschen die Plätze, ohne die Gefahren zu ahnen, die ihnen bevorstehen. Die Überraschungen häufen sich in diesem spannenden Roman.

TWIN ROLES COME TOGETHER

NSU Professor writes novels - in German

Virginia Lewis, a professor at Northern State University,

has written a novel in German

 that is the first part of a trilogy.

                          American News Photo By John Davis ©

Schön kästnerisch verfahren, published by University Press of the South in New Orleans, is the first volume of a trilogy about the family.

The book's cover art includes two pictures of her 10-year-old daughter, Deryn, so that she looks like identical twin girls. Deryn is a fraternal twin; her twin brother is Culver. Lewis' older son, Asher, 13, was also a twin, but his twin didn't make it through the pregnancy, she said. Lewis, who grew up in Auburn, Ala., has lived in Aberdeen for five years.

Lewis said it was an enormous learning experience to try to write as if she were from a different country. She received help from German natives, including some she met through her work with the online German dictionary found at dic.cc. Lewis said she also took on the challenge to improve her own German.

She also learned a lot about German culture during the process, including that German students don't use lockers and German couples have to get married by the state first (even if they plan a church wedding). She can pass these details on to her students, she said, adding that the experience has made her a better German teacher.

Virginia L. Lewis has taught German language and literature since 1982 at various universities in the U.S. She introduced Erich Kästner’s “Das doppelte Lottchen,” on which “The Parent Trap” is based, in a seminar course, and was inspired to write “Schön kästnerisch verfahren” as a result. The novel is the first part of a trilogy about the fictional Heinrichsen family from Hamburg. Lewis has authored numerous books and articles on German Realism and World Literature, including “Globalizing the Peasant: Access to Land and the Possibility of Self-Realization.” She is currently Associate Professor of German at Northern State University.

Virginia L. Lewis unterrichtet deutsche Sprache und Literatur seit 1982 an verschiedenen amerikanischen Universitäten. Sie hat Kästners Kinderroman im Rahmen eines Seminars unterrichtet und wurde dadurch zur Komposition von „Schön kästnerisch verfahren“ angespornt. Der Roman ist der erste Teil einer Trilogie über die fiktive Heinrichsen-Familie aus Hamburg. Lewis ist die Autorin von Büchern und Artikeln auf den Gebieten des deutschen Realismus und der Weltliteratur, einschließlich „Globalizing the Peasant: Access to Land and the Possibility of Self-Realization“. Sie ist zur Zeit Associate Professor of German an der Northern State University in South Dakota.

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