Hegi was born in Dusseldorf, Germany, in 1946, just one year after World War II ended.[1] As a child, Hegi loved to read, often retelling the stories she read to her younger sister.[2]
In 1964, Hegi emigrated to the United States of America. She has lived there since.[1]
Hegi wrote and published the subsequent novels in the Burgdorf Series before she wrote and published Stones from the River.[4] In the process of writing, Hegi received a travel grant and travelled back to her birth town, Dusseldorf, where she met up with an acquaintance from her childhood: a dwarf woman who lived there through the Second World War.[1] This woman not only helped to shape the character of Trudi Montag, but also helped Hegi to bring to life the many perspectives showcased by the characters in Stones from the River.[1]
In addition to having done extensive research on the lives of German citizens who endured the Second World War, including with the woman in Dusseldorf, Hegi cites her own experience as an immigrant as informing the perspectives she encodes in to her work.[4] She is quoted as saying that:
"I found that Americans of my generation knew more about the Holocaust than I did. When I was growing up you could not ask about it; it was absolutely taboo. We grew up with the silence. It was normal and familiar; these are terrible words considering the circumstances."[3]
Hegi credits her godmother, Kate Capelle, for breaking the silence in Hegi's own family by releasing her documentation of her life during the war years, an act which went on to motivate Hegi's writing.[3]
On account of her omniscient writing style, Hegi stated that: "It's my belief that the present, future and past merge within any given moment."[4]
