El hilo del corazón

The Augsburg Puppet Theater (Augsburger Puppenkiste) has been part of Germany's DNA since Jim Button first appeared on the country's television sets in 1961. Thomas Hettche tells his story here in a way that is as poetic as it is true to life. The Thread of the Heart is a great novel about the fascination of puppets and the unwavering will of a girl who wants to leave the destruction of war behind. After a performance at the Puppet Theater, a twelve-year-old girl walks through a hidden door and into an attic where Princess Li Si, the grim reaper, Mikesch the cat and a talking stork await her. But she especially knows the woman who carved all these puppets, and who now tells her story: that of an ancient theater and of the family that founded it and brought it to fame. It begins in World War II, when Walter Oehmichen, a stage actor in Augsburg, builds a puppet for his young daughters. This little theater is turned to rubble and ashes during the night bombardment that destroyed Augsburg in 1944. The thread of the heart tells how Walter's daughter, Hatü, rebuilds the puppet theater together with her friends and rehearses a new life among the ruins . It also tells how some of her legendary characters were born, such as Urmel, Jim Button or Lucas the machinist.