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by Michael Hartwig (Author)
Inspired by true events, "Don't Push Me" is an intergenerational saga of gay romance and the shame that cripples it. On a ski vacation in the Alps, Elliott discovers that the owners of the inn where he is staying are the descendants of a physician, Hans, who took care of his grandfather, Clive, a prisoner during World War One. During the war, the Swiss housed German and Allied prisoners in resort towns as a way to shore up the fragile tourist industry, and Mürren was one of those towns. Elliott falls under the spell of Max, who, like his great grandfather, is haunted by an intractable sense of sexual shame. The book shifts back and forth between World War One, when Hans falls for his handsome English prisoner/patient, the 1960s, when Clive brings his grandson Elliott to nearby Grindelwald to ski, and 2007, when Elliott travels to Mürren to find out why his grandfather never wanted to return to the place of his internment. Characters grapple with an existential question - whether their sexual desires are a madness corrupting the soul or a gift of the gods, nudging them toward authenticity.The story explores the parallel worlds we inhabit and the people that invite us to cross borders. Echoing ancient poets and philosophers, the book celebrates the enchantment of the Jungfrau region of Switzerland, a place where spirits hide in the upper reaches of glacier-studded peaks and inspire mortals to grow wings and soar.
