Foreshadowing

There is a lot of this in Clara’s Story. Most readers will know how the story ends and I’m making no secret about it on this blog. Even people who have not read this blog may have read The House on Schellberg Street and will have worked out her fate even though the characters in that story are not yet aware of it. Others will guess as it is foreshadowed in the book.

Most of the time I’ve done this unconsciously and it’s only as I’ve edited that I’ve realised what has happened. I, and hopefully the subsequent reader, say “Of course.” I’ve noticed three examples lately:

1.      Kurt and his angels. Kurt, a boy with severe learning difficulties, sees lives as watched over by angels. Clara will encounter an angel just before her last journey. She will remember Kurt at that moment. We were very touched to find out about a small act of kindness by one of the officials near the end of Clara’s life.

2.      The builder of the house on Schellberg Street remarks about how many students could fit in a room if they are put in bunk beds.

3.      On a Christmas visit to Stuttgart, Renate declares that she would like to go to the Waldorf School. Later in England she does go to a Steiner school. On the same occasion Hans and Käthe announce that they will be moving to Nuremberg. This makes Clara shudder. She might think it is simply because he will be involved with making defence weapons but we all know about Nuremberg. It is a similar shudder to the one she experienced when Ernst senior died. It remains partly unexplained to her. The reader may have more insight.  

And so we go on. It all has to be there but it all has to remain subtle.