Last August, I posted about Sons and Brothers, the second book in the Polizei Bern series. August 2022 was when I got a first version of the front cover to show off. Now I have the front and back covers, and the book is due out in sixty-seven days, on April 18. Here’s the latest descriptionContinue reading “Coming Soon to a Bookstore near You”
Author Archives: Kim Hays
PESTICIDE Audiobook on Sale
Most of us loved being read to as children, and I guess I never outgrew my delight in it. I listen to almost as many books as I read, maybe more when my days are heavier than usual with cooking, washing dishes, doing laundry, watering my balcony, or getting through some other task that doesn’tContinue reading “PESTICIDE Audiobook on Sale”
David Copperfield in Our Times
Animal Dreams (1990) is American writer Barbara Kingsolver’s second novel, but it’s the first one I read, and during the past thirty years, I’ve read it at least twice more. For reasons I still don’t fully understand, it spoke to me in the early nineties as if it were written just for me. It’s obviousContinue reading “David Copperfield in Our Times”
“Best of” 2022
December is when the lists of the year’s best books come out. The New York Times, the Economist, The Guardian, Time Magazine, and Amazon, among others, all list their favorites. According to the Literary Hub website, the novel that got the most raves on the various end-of-year lists is Gabrielle Zevin’s Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow.Continue reading ““Best of” 2022″
Snow in Bern
Saint Nicholas Day came and went on December sixth, and winter still hadn’t come to Bern. Two days later, the fuchsias on my balcony were still opening their buds; there were new geranium blossoms, too. Then last Friday and Saturday it snowed, and since then the temperatures have remained below freezing. The snow is stillContinue reading “Snow in Bern”
Belonging
I’m a citizen of two countries, but I’ve never had to apply for naturalization. I acquired US citizenship when I was born and Swiss citizenship in 1988 when I married a Swiss. Becoming a Swiss isn’t normally so easy. In fact, even people who were born in Switzerland don’t get citizenship unless at least oneContinue reading “Belonging”
A Gripping Take on “The Troubles”
Like over fifty million American adults, I have Irish ancestors, although I have to go back to my great-great-grandfather and -grandmother to find anyone actually born on Irish soil. I was also an adult during most of The Troubles, the years from 1968 until 1998 when Northern Ireland was a battleground between the (essentially Protestant)Continue reading “A Gripping Take on “The Troubles””
Emotion Work
I’m back in Bern after thirty days in the US. With my nephew getting married in Napa Valley, my husband and I decided to drive from Vancouver, BC, where I did my last two years of high school, to Calistoga, CA, via Washington, Oregon, and the northern Californian coast. It was a great trip thatContinue reading “Emotion Work”
Teacup or Water Glass?
I was playing tennis with a Swiss friend recently, and the third time I dropped the ball I said, in German, “I can’t believe I’m such a butterfingers today.” It’s almost the same word in German as in English, even if the vowels are pronounced differently: Butterfinger. Except that it doesn’t exist in German, soContinue reading “Teacup or Water Glass?”
PESTICIDE in Your Ears
Great news! Pesticide audiobook comes out today. The Pesticide audiobook was produced by Tantor Media, and I was delighted to discover that they used two readers, Romy Nordlinger for Giuliana and Tim Campbell for Renzo. Nordlinger is a TV, movie, and stage actor (I think the word “actress” is gone, right?), and Campbell has won Audie andContinue reading “PESTICIDE in Your Ears”
Kim Hays 