New Books in German Autumn 2022

Kaśka Bryla weaves a gripping story about the causes of radicalization with a plea for solidarity and love. Iga, Jess...

Kaśka Bryla weaves a gripping story about the causes of radicalization with a plea for solidarity and love. Iga, Jess and Ras are outsiders in their school class. When the teenagers witness a brutal police assault one night and this outrage goes unpunished, they decide to take the law into their own hands. Twenty years later, a mysterious stranger appears who seems to know about what happened at the time.

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The special friendship between two women as they navigate a violent and threatening world. Tackling universal and topical themes, The Warrior offers a rare insight into women’s lives in the army. 

Women in world-famous paintings by Leonardo da Vinci, Vermeer, Rembrandt, Courbet, Schiele, Munch. We see their bodies, their looks, their...

Women in world-famous paintings by Leonardo da Vinci, Vermeer, Rembrandt, Courbet, Schiele, Munch. We see their bodies, their looks, their clothes, spellbound or banished to an eternal moment. But who were they outside this moment? Martina Clavadetscher has followed the clues of their lives, letting the women tell their stories and thus giving them back a voice.

Shortlisted for the German Book Prize 2022. Lies about My Mother is two things at once: the story of a...

Shortlisted for the German Book Prize 2022. Lies about My Mother is two things at once: the story of a childhood in the 1980s, increasingly overshadowed by the father’s obsession that his wife’s excess weight is to blame for everything he can’t get: a promotion, social advancement, recognition in the small-town community. It is also an examination of these events from the perspective of today: What really happened back then? And what does all this tell us about the bigger picture: about society, which constantly affects us, whether we like it or not?

This Spiegel bestseller is a profound and clever novel about the most glamorous woman of her time, full of humour...

This Spiegel bestseller is a profound and clever novel about the most glamorous woman of her time, full of humour and insight into human nature. When Elisabeth (Sisi) becomes Empress of Austria through marriage, she enters a strictly regimented world full of stiff conventions and boring receptions. She can only es- cape when she is on extended trips or staying at her Hungarian castle, Gödöllő, where she can lead an unconstrained life and pursue her greatest passion: wild horseback hunting.

When it was erected in 1892, the Bucharest fire tower was the tallest building in the city. In 1989, during...

When it was erected in 1892, the Bucharest fire tower was the tallest building in the city. In 1989, during the uprising against the communist dictatorship, it was long gone, but it was witness to an eventful century. In his captivating novel spanning a hundred years and five generations of the Stoica firefighter family, Catalin Dorian Florescu tells of the vicissitudes of history, of family and friendship, betrayal and love, of the power of resilience and of the changing, colourful and then sad life in this metropolis.

Dinçer Güçyeter tells of the fate of Turkish Greeks, of being rooted in Anatolian life, and of the challenge of...

Dinçer Güçyeter tells of the fate of Turkish Greeks, of being rooted in Anatolian life, and of the challenge of starting a new life as a guest worker and as their descendant in Germany.

A fascinating dual portrait by one of Switzerland’s best-known authors, depicting key moments and common themes in the true lives...

A fascinating dual portrait by one of Switzerland’s best-known authors, depicting key moments and common themes in the true lives of two figures yearning for a better life. Sabina Spielrein is a Russian-Jewish physician and one of the first female psychotherapists, and Fritz Platter is a founding member of the Swiss Communist Party and Communist International.  

Das vergessene Buch – Set in New York during the Second World War, Rendezvous in Manhattan captures the everyday atmosphere of the...

Das vergessene Buch – Set in New York during the Second World War, Rendezvous in Manhattan captures the everyday atmosphere of the bustling city from the point of view of beautiful factory worker as she rises from rags to riches. It is the only novel by the exiled Austrian writer and cabaret artist, Grete Hartwig-Manschinger, who settled in New York after fleeing the Nazis.

A literary detective story, with echoes of Stranger Things: a German filmmaker sets out to find a refugee from the Chernobyl...

A literary detective story, with echoes of Stranger Things: a German filmmaker sets out to find a refugee from the Chernobyl disaster who went to Germany, was catapulted to international fame as a chess wunderkind and then disappeared.  

A spectacular debut that tells the story of two brothers and their father who leave Iran for Berlin in the...

A spectacular debut that tells the story of two brothers and their father who leave Iran for Berlin in the late 1980s. One of the brothers is drawn into a culture of gang crime in the Berlin suburb of Neukölln.

Shortlisted for the Austrian Book Prize 2022 and longlisted for the German Book Prize 2022. Clever and touching, this novel...

Shortlisted for the Austrian Book Prize 2022 and longlisted for the German Book Prize 2022. Clever and touching, this novel about an adoption in 50s Wisconsin and its aftermath explores the powerful and fatal idea of ”race“ which still shapes societies today.

Novella is set in modern-day Germany in the offices of a telephone counselling service, focusing on the lives of the...

Novella is set in modern-day Germany in the offices of a telephone counselling service, focusing on the lives of the seven volunteers there, and the people who phone in – the so-called ‘invisibles’ – who are often on the fringes of society. This is beautifully written, high-quality literary fiction, centred around a fresh and well-executed concept.  

Début work by Shelly Kupferberg, who was born in Tel Aviv and now and works in Berlin as a journalist...

Début work by Shelly Kupferberg, who was born in Tel Aviv and now and works in Berlin as a journalist and presenter. Kupferberg tells of her great-great-uncle Isidor’s meteoric rise and brutal fall, using family letters, photos, old documents and archival finds. 

Menasse’s insightful portrayal of the state of play in twenty-first century EU politics is both a thought-provoking analysis of the...

Menasse’s insightful portrayal of the state of play in twenty-first century EU politics is both a thought-provoking analysis of the ongoing challenges faced by the European project, as well as a lively and humorous take on the political dimensions of human lives.

Compelling debut is a coming-of-age story about a teenager growing up in East Germany after reunification. By turns desperate and...

Compelling debut is a coming-of-age story about a teenager growing up in East Germany after reunification. By turns desperate and funny, the first-person narrative focuses on the significance of friendships as well as the social barriers encountered by the protagonists.  

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Spitzweg tells the story of three young German art enthusiasts who find their new relationship tested by an eccentric revenge plan and their own love triangle, with their coming-of-age mediated by way of the discussion of art.

A gripping thriller by filmmaker Kurt Palm. Teacher Franziska Steinbrenner has finally won the custody battle for her daughter. Police...

A gripping thriller by filmmaker Kurt Palm. Teacher Franziska Steinbrenner has finally won the custody battle for her daughter. Police officer Philip Hoffmann is being blackmailed by his exlover. Meanwhile, a man sits in his apartment seeking revenge. Next to him leans an assault rifle with 42 bullets in the magazine. Three people whose lives are intertwined. They don‘t know each other, but their paths will cross in fatal ways.

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Linguistically sparkling, this original novella brings women’s voices to the fore and deals with loss of control, borderline experiences, love, friendship and art. 

Latest novel by prize-winning author Andreas Stichmann, set in North Korea. A love story between a German woman and a...

Latest novel by prize-winning author Andreas Stichmann, set in North Korea. A love story between a German woman and a North Korean woman, it takes a sensitive and complex look at a country that is underrepresented and little-understood in the West.