"La Sylphide" is a family saga in the best sense of the word. The story begins after the Second World War in Transylvania - now a region in Romania where Germans settled several centuries ago - and continues to the present day in Germany. The peculiar title of the novel symbolises the fate of a dancer who was allowed to dance the lead role in this ballet only once. The first volume deals with the history of a Transylvanian-Saxon family whose male members were deported to Russia after the war and who - after the men return - emigrate to a Germany destroyed by bombs. The book provides in-depth insight into bourgeois life in a Transylvanian town: its German inhabitants treasure their heritage but find themselves uprooted by the turmoil of war. They reflect on the country from where their ancestors arrived in this wonderful paradise centuries ago. The main character of the book is in a sense the sylph who sacrifices herself for love. Thus she becomes the symbol of the purest passion that can exist: the devotion of one's life for others.
