The central themes: not everything that was forbidden was wrong.
There are times when what is right is not allowed. And times when what is allowed can no longer be right. Some family histories don't begin with a bang, but are the result of a chain of momentous decisions.
With a first love.
With deep pain.
With a new life.
Future plans thrown overboard.
The novel The Daughters of the Pinecone moves precisely within this field of tension. It tells of a world in which rules are omnipresent – political, social, religious – and in which people nevertheless have to make decisions that cannot be clearly categorized as "right" or "wrong".
The focus is on Karla Hain
When she becomes pregnant out of wedlock, she faces a decision whose full harshness is almost impossible to comprehend today. For a young woman in predominantly Catholic Augsburg during the Nazi era, a child born out of wedlock means more than just personal tragedy. It means shame, social ostracism, dependence, and moral condemnation. And while the war outside is reshaping the world, Karla's private life becomes a battlefield of its own kind.
Her life is thus shaped by expectations: from her family, from society, from a time that prescribes clear roles and leaves little room for deviation. What she is allowed to do seems predetermined. What she is supposed to feel, too. And therein lies the source of her inner conflict. For Karla quickly learns that morality cannot be derived solely from prohibitions. That there are actions that are socially condemned – and yet, from a human perspective, seem understandable, perhaps even necessary.
Karla is not a heroine in the classic sense. She doesn't carry a sword, she doesn't give grand speeches, she doesn't make any special demands on her life, or cry out that she urgently needs the world's help. In her time, that certainly wouldn't have ended well for her.
Their form of courage is quieter. And perhaps that's precisely why it's more dangerous.
She acts because she has to act.
In her daily life – between factory, family, and faith – Karla is constantly confronted with situations where no decision is without consequences. What she gains, she loses elsewhere. What protects her simultaneously endangers something else.
The novel invites us to grapple with these questions: What does morality mean in an immoral age? Who determines what is right? And how much freedom remains for the individual when all paths seem predetermined?
Their decisions do not stem from rebellion. They are the result of moral doubt, emotional conflict, and necessity.
Karla isn't fighting for the sake of rebellion. She's not a modern character simply dressed in a historical costume. She's a child of her time – but one who has to work harder to get what is rightfully everyone's: her own dignity.
And that is precisely what this novel tries to suggest to the reader: How does one live a dignified life in a ignoble time?
"Not everything that was forbidden was wrong" is therefore not a call to break the rules. It is an invitation to look closely. Because sometimes humanity reveals itself precisely where it stands in opposition to order.
The Daughters of the Pinecone will be released on October 14, 2026
Novel published by Gmeiner Verlag
Pre-orders expected to start in September 2026
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