The Vision of Emma Blau  Ms. Hegi's novel follows three
generations of a family and its property. Stefan Blau, aged
thirteen, ran away from a small German town in 1894, reached the
United States, and wound up as the proprietor of an elegant
restaurant and the Wasserburg, a large, equally elegant
apartment house improbably situated on the shore of Lake
Winnipesaukee, in New Hampshire. This required hard work and
shrewd attention to finances. His German-American family -- one
child by each of three wives -- remained bicultural while
splitting in various directions. Their affairs converge in a row
over ownership of the now decaying Wasserburg. Ms. Hegi provides
a large cast of convincing Blaus, tenants, relatives back in
Germany, and Winnipesaukee locals. The story covers nearly a
century of history, most of which the Blaus deplore. Ms. Hegi
has a canny eye for the lingering effects of a German background
on manners, furniture, and food, and also for the subtle
resentments created by the family's cross-cultural