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Anna Ruchat worked as a translator for many years before she began writing her own texts late in life. Following poems and short stories, the Ticino author's first novel has now been published in German translation: "Vertraute Gespenster" tells the story of a family's mendacity.
Keystone
Zurich-born Ticino author Anna Ruchat presents her first novel with "Vertraute Gespenster". In 2023, she received a Swiss literary prize for "Spettri familiari", the original title.
Anna Ruchat has previously published poems and stories, with her most recent collection of stories "Neptunjahre" published in German in 2020. "Vertraute Gespenster" follows on directly from this. The novel tells the story of Teresa, who comes to Zurich from Italy as a young au pair. She is supposed to look after two children in Maria and Bruno's somewhat chaotic academic household. But she soon realizes that there is an underlying simmer in the family.
Esther is also part of the family. She is Maria's older daughter from a first relationship and no longer lives at home. She is a constant source of contention. Teresa tries to mediate, but is criticized for doing so. Everything seems hopelessly poisoned and complicated.
Anna Ruchat tells her story in two parts. First, she tells it from Teresa's point of view: how the tense atmosphere affects everyday life and what the two children suffer from. Then the narrative branches out after a 30-year leap in time. Teresa and the children, who have found their place in life, have their say.
By splitting up the narrative perspective, the hypocrisy within the family becomes clear. The novel is characterized by the fact that much remains hidden behind hints without being resolved.
The siblings prefer to avoid each other so as not to give each other any insight into their own feelings. Ruchat finds a carefully differentiated narrative style that never betrays her characters. They retain the right to their protective sensitivity.
A special feature of her novel is that it incorporates three stories from "Neptune Years". Ruchat adopts the beginning of the story "Die neue Stelle" almost word for word, expanding its framework with motifs and the character of Esther from "Der Kauz". The story "Die Seegfrörni von 1963" adds the Zurich winter atmosphere.
Ruchat carefully keeps her intangible ghosts in the limbo of the unspoken. The novel finally ends shortly before a meeting at which Teresa and the three siblings are to receive a message from their deceased father. It could be an admission of guilt or an expression of love. We will never know.
Anna Ruchat only emerged as an author of poetry and prose late in her career. Before that, she distinguished herself as a translator. She has translated Nelly Sachs, Paul Celan and Friedrich Dürrenmatt, among others, into Italian.
At the end of 2025, she also published a translation of Mariella Mehr's poems in a small Italian publishing house. What is special about "L'ultimo miglio di tempo" is that it is a bilingual edition in which the majority of the poems by Mariella Mehr (1947-2022), the Swiss author from the Yenish group, are being published in German for the first time. Translators such as Anna Ruchat are also important midwives.
*This text by Beat Mazenauer, Keystone-SDA, was realized with the help of the Gottlieb and Hans Vogt Foundation.
07.05.2026, 06:15
