Indignity: A Life Reimagined

In this heartfelt account, bestselling memoirist Ypi (Free) doggedly investigates her grandmother’s shadowy life story. When a mysterious photograph is posted online featuring her grandparents on their 1941 honeymoon in the Alps, Ypi is taken aback by their apparent happiness in the midst of WWII, as well as by comments below the post accusing her grandmother, Leman Ypi, of collaborating with either the communists or fascists. In search of the truth, Ypi delves into crumbling state archives, and pieces together a vivid recreation of Leman’s life. Born to a wealthy family in Greece before moving to Albania as a young woman, Leman, in Ypi’s telling, saw her path repeatedly intersect with the tumultuous geopolitics of the early 20th century, from a post-WWI population exchange to fascist Italy and Nazi-occupied Albania to the rise of Communism. The latter led to the imprisonment of her husband (the author’s grandfather) for “collaboration with British intelligence officers” and to Leman being relegated to working as a sewer cleaner. The narrative can, at times, devolve into a dizzying array of governments, military takeovers, and insurgent political movements. However, the profound descriptions of Leman’s struggles are poignant, as is Ypi’s “oscillat[ion] between curiosity, frustration, and resentment” as she meticulously attempts to balance family lore with inconsistent and sometimes seemingly inaccurate records. It’s a moving meditation on the quagmire of probing the gaps in one’s family history. (Nov.)