Born in southern Germany, Katrin lived in NYC and London before settling in the U.S. Currently working on a book about modern teens, she has also written a historical novel set in the Baltic.Fiction
Editing Fiction
In addition to writing my own fiction, I also edit literary and commercial fiction. Through my writing workshops, I've worked on hundreds of manuscripts over the past decade and am familiar with a variety of genres. For more information, see Editing Services.
My Fiction
THE HOUSE OF A THOUSAND EYES
From Chapter Four, "About Turn"
A novel about forbidden love and a family torn apart by the division of Germany at the end of World War II.At the end of the performance, the school chorus marched in single file onto the stage to sing the anthem of the GDR. The children wore blue uniforms, and like miniature warriors they stood in perfect formation, heads high and low, dark and light, hands clasped behind their backs. Anna stood in the front row, her blonde braids bright white under the spotlight, her face pinched with effort and conviction. She raised the battered violin to her shoulder and began her reedy sawing to accompany the singing. The anthem was disappointingly plain, with no complexity to its sound or rhythm, and it left behind a general sense of unease that lingered like bad breath.
Standing facing the children was a tall man in a shabby suit, with long arms that motioned up and down in time to the music. His back was lean and thin, but his shoulders strained at a dark jacket that was clearly stitched together out of inexpensive materials. When he turned around to take a little bow at the end of the last verse, Bettina gasped — it was the beach man, cleaned up and hatless, looking almost nothing like the man she'd seen at the church.
"Elise?" Bettina whispered into the warm circle of the little girl's ear. "Who is that man?"
MINK
From end of short story
Winner TCAN Short Story Award '06
A boy confronts the uncertainty of life as the Russians invade Potsdam in 1945.The attic was dark. In the bluish light that filtered in through the one tiny window, he made out a shape in the corner. As he neared, he saw it was his mother, curled on the floor. In her arms she held her long mink coat. By her feet was Karl's sack of treasures.
Karl stood, rooted to the spot. Mama was stroking the fur with one shaking hand. She didn't look up. Finally Karl dropped to his knees beside her. He reached into his pocket and took out the chunk he'd managed to cut from the dead pilot's collar. Leaning over her body, he put it to her cheek and began stroking the skin.
"Karlchen, he's gone," his mother whispered.
"Shh," Karl said, stroking, his face creased into a deep frown.
"The Russians will be here by tomorrow, for sure. And now we're alone."
Images flashed through Karl's mind. His father's shining skin; his sister's fat braid; the smooth, pale skin of Dieter's hands as he pulled his boots off for Karl to try on. He thought of his pilot, the look of surprise on his thin face. He wondered if the Russians would be wearing shiny black boots, or dirty laced-up ones, with German soil pressed hard into the treads.
THE GREENHOUSE
From prologue
Two best friends set off on the adventure of their lives, only to discover a secret that undermines everything they believed in.A sense of foreboding slid down Laura's spine like a cool metal blade as soon as she saw him, standing in the Porter's Lodge, his tanned skin and salt-and-pepper hair conspicuous among the youthful moon-faces of the students. Seconds earlier she'd been experiencing a flush of excitement: she was in a new place, starting a new life. High School was finally over and here she was in Oxford for a year, on a grand adventure with her best friend. The academic term had just begun; scores of students were milling around on the cobblestones, and after sitting through the hour-long Latin ceremony at the Sheldonian, their ringing voices were full of happiness and relief.
The man stepped out from the Lodge into the quadrangle of Pemberton College, studying a piece of paper closely as though figuring out his location, and as she watched him Laura suddenly understood that she would never be rid of her past. She could move to another country, she could lie or tell the truth, she could please and cajole, but none of these things would work. He would get what he wanted - whatever that was - in the end.