This is a somewhat fictionalized childhood memoir of Ilse Gräfin von Bredow who grew up as the daughter of a count in the countryside of Brandenburg in the east of Germany in the 1920s. She did not live in a castle, however - her family was not rich and they lived in an old forester's house in the woods, between two lakes and close to a poor village. The book consists of sixteen short episodes and each tells the reader about a certain incident or topic: Unbidden visitors from the city who were not accustomed to country life, exciting trips to Berlin, visits from eccentric relatives, buying a new horse, the time when all the family suffered from the flu and a strange uncle came to take care of them, the time their maid fell in love etc. Everything is very innocent and it feels a little bit like the Bullerby Children for an older audience. However, I did find it very, very funny and laughed out lout many times because the humor is fresh and honest and the description are very lively. ( )

No valid German National Library records retrieved.