Books That Travel 2021 - German Stories
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Books That Travel 2021
Current German Novels and Non-Fiction Books in English Translation
Good news! The Frankfurter Buchmesse has tieth century. There are brand-new bestsellers,
selected its Books That Travel for 2021. fresh translations of classic works, and redis-
These outstanding German books in trans- covered gems by authors who are relatively
lation will travel to book fairs all over the unknown to English readers (but surely won’t
world. The books transport English readers, be for long). Fiction, non-fiction, poetry, chil-
wherever they are, to destinations as diverse dren’s and young adult literature are all re-
as the Chinese and Russian empires of cen- presented.
turies past, present-day Silicon Valley, the
pine islands of Matushima Bay, and crow- I’m thrilled to see the work of such talented
ded refugee camps on Europe’s borders. authors and translators on this list. At the
The books’ protagonists include a street- start of a year when so many of us are keep-
smart prosecutor investigating Hamburg’s ing our distance and staying close to home,
criminal underbelly, young lovers in the anti- we can nevertheless travel with these books.
Nazi resistance, an eccentric pianist who hates
the sound of applause, and a 106-year-old
sorcerer who looks back on a turbulent twen- Elizabeth Janik, Norfolk (Virginia, USA)
1Fiction
____________________________ ____________________________ ____________________________
The Passenger Mexico Street „Microliths They Are, Little
Stones“: Posthumous Prose
Der Reisende Mexikoring „Mikrolithen sinds, Steinchen”:
Die Prosa aus dem Nachlaß
ULRICH ALEXANDER BOSCHWITZ SIMONE BUCHHOLZ PAUL CELAN
Translated by Philip Boehm Translated by Rachel Ward Translated by Pierre Joris
Metropolitan Books, 978-1250317148, Orenda Books, 978-1913193157, Contra Mundum, 978-1940625362,
272 pp., HC 276 pp., SC 330 pp., SC
Berlin, November 1938. Jewish shops Night after night, cars are set on This volume, edited by Barbara
have been ransacked and syna- fire across the city of Hamburg, Wiedemann and Bertand Badiou,
gogues destroyed. As storm troopers with no obvious pattern and no brings together the celebrated
pound on his door, the respected suspect. Until one night, on Mexico poet Paul Celan’s multifaceted but
businessman Otto Silbermann is Street, a Fiat is torched—and this comparatively unknown achieve-
forced to sneak out the back of his car isn’t empty. It holds the body ments as a writer of prose. The book
own home. Fearful of being expo- of Nouri Saroukhan, prodigal son includes early language games of
sed as a Jew, he boards a train, then of a notorious crime family. State surrealist inspiration and a range of
another, commencing a frantic prosecutor Chastity Riley is on the biting, insightful aphorisms, as well
odyssey across Germany. Beset by case, and the investigation leads as broken-off or abandoned nar-
betrayed by associates, Silbermann her deep into a criminal under- ratives, stories, and dialogues with
refuses to accept what is happe- ground that snakes beneath the the background of his Jewish fate.
ning as his world collapses around whole of Germany. As details of The release of Microliths coincides
him. Twenty-three-year-old Ulrich Nouri’s background emerge, inclu- with the one-hundredth anniversa-
Boschwitz wrote The Passenger ding an illicit relationship with the ry of Celan’s birth, and the fiftieth
at breakneck speed just after mysterious Aliza, it becomes clear anniversary of his death.
the Kristallnacht pogroms, and his that these are no random attacks.
prose flies at the same pace. This A gripping, stylish thriller featuring
remarkable literary discovery is street-smart heroine Chastity Riley.
newly translated into English by
Philip Boehm.
2Fiction
____________________________ ____________________________ ____________________________
Code Zero The Eighth Life The Piano Student
Zero: Sie wissen, was du tust Das achte Leben Der Klavierschüler
MARC ELSBERG NINO HARATISCHVILI PIERRE JARAWAN
Translated by Simon Pare Translated by Charlotte Collins and Translated by Elisabeth Lauffer
Black Swan, 978-1784163488, 432 pp., SC Ruth Martin New Vessel Press, 978-1939931863,
Scribe, 978-1950354146, 944 pp., SC 230 pp., SC
Zero, an anonymous activist, has At the start of the twentieth century, The Piano Student depicts an affair
given the world a warning: Stop the on the edge of the Russian empire, between one of the twentieth cen-
tech giants before it’s too late. But a family prospers. Its success derives tury’s most celebrated pianists,
is anyone listening? Thousands of from a delicious chocolate recipe, Vladimir Horowitz, and his young male
teenagers are signing up to Free- passed down for generations. student, Nico Kaufmann, in the late
mee, the biggest new social media Stasia learns the recipe from her 1930s. As Europe hurtles toward po-
site, uploading personal information Georgian father and takes it north, litical catastrophe and Horowitz as-
in exchange for advice on what to following her new husband Simon cends to the pinnacle of artistic
eat, how to dress, even how to choose to St. Petersburg and the center achievement, the great pianist hides
their friends. No one questions what of the Russian Revolution. Stasia’s his illicit passion from his wife Wanda,
Freemee is doing with all that data— is only the first in a symphony of daughter of the renowned conduc-
until hundreds of users take their grand but all too often doomed tor Arturo Toscanini. Based on un-
own lives. What will it take to bring romances that swirl from sweet to published letters from Horowitz to
down the Freemee mastermind, and sour. This unforgettable family dra- Kaufmann that author Lea Singer
who is up to the job? An unputdown- ma and epic tale of the red century discovered in Switzerland, the novel
able technothriller by international has been translated into multiple portrays the anguish that the ac-
best-selling author Marc Elsberg. languages and earned critical claimed musician felt about his never
praise around the world. publicly acknowledged homosexu-
ality and the attendant duplicity of
his personal life.
3Fiction
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The Unfinished The Lost Writings Ferdinand, the Man with
the Kind Heart
Die Unvollendeten Ferdinand, der Mann mit
dem freundlichen Herzen
REINHARD JIRGL FRANZ KAFKA IRMGARD KEUN
Translated by Iain Galbraith With a contribution by Reiner Stach. Translated by Michael Hofmann
Seagull Books, 978-0857427359, Translated by Michael Hofmann Other Press, 978-1635420357,
300 pp., HC New Directions, 978-0811228015, 256 pp., SC
128 pp., HC
Komotau, the Sudetenland, late Selected by Kafka biographer and Upon his release from a prisoner-
summer, 1945. Four German women— scholar Reiner Stach and newly trans- of-war camp, Ferdinand Timpe
seventy-year-old Johanna, her lated by Michael Hofmann, these returns uneasily to civilian life in
two daughters Hanna and Maria, seventy-four pieces by Franz Kafka Cologne. Having survived against
and Hanna’s daughter Anna—are were long forgotten or overlooked. the odds, he now faces a very
expelled from their homes by the Two of the pieces have never before different dilemma: How to lose his
new Czech authorities. Initially se- been translated into English. Some fiancée? Although he doesn’t love
parated from young Anna, the older stories are several pages long; some the mild-mannered Luise, he is
women begin their trek to an out- run about a page; a handful are too considerate to break off the
post in Soviet-occupied Germany only a few lines long. All are marvels, engagement himself. He sets out
where they settle as farm laborers. culled from two large volumes of the to find her a suitable replacement
Once reunited, the women’s hope S. Fischer Verlag edition Nachge- husband—no easy task, given the
of one day returning to their home- lassene Schriften und Fragmente. high standards of both Luise and
land is both a source of strength This trove of brilliant, difficult-to-find her father, formerly a proud mid-
and a burden, choking attachments writings is a windfall for every reader level Nazi official. This 1950 classic
to their new surroundings and of German literature. by author Irmgard Keun, celebra-
neighbors. This conflict becomes ted for her effervescent prose and
the story of their lives, and the joy representations of the Weimar-era
and ruin of Anna’s son. “New Woman,” is at last available
in English.
4Fiction
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Grove: A Field Novel Michael Kohlhaas The Third Walpurgis Night
Hain Michael Kohlhaas Die dritte Walpurgisnacht
ESTHER KINSKY HEINRICH VON KLEIST KARL KRAUS
Translated by Caroline Schmidt Translated by Michael Hofmann Translated by Fred Bridgham
Transit Books, 978-1945492389, New Directions, 978-0811228343, and Edward Timms
287 pp., SC 144 pp., SC Yale University Press, 978-0300236002,
320 pp., HC
An unnamed narrator, recently be- Michael Kohlhaas has been wron- Austrian author Karl Kraus was the
reaved, travels to a small village ged. First his finest horses were un- foremost German-language satirist
southeast of Rome. From her tem- fairly confiscated and mistreated. of the early twentieth century. He
porary residence she embarks on And things keep going worse—his wrote The Third Walpurgis Night in
walks and outings, exploring the servants are beaten, his wife killed, immediate response to the Nazi
banal and the sublime. She recalls and the lawsuits he pursues are seizure of power in 1933, but he
her childhood travels in 1970s Italy, stymied—but Kohlhaas, determined withheld it from publication for
and her fragmented impressions to find justice at all costs, tirelessly fear of reprisals against the Jews
and memories combine into a mo- persists. Knotty, darkly comical, and trapped in Germany. Acclaimed
saic of a bygone era. The book’s magnificent in its weirdness, this when finally published in 1952, Kraus’s
third Italian journey takes place short novel by Heinrich von Kleist is work is a devastatingly prescient
between Ferrara and the Po estu- among the most influential tales in satire that skewers the Nazi regime’s
ary, some years after the narrator’s German literature. First published corruption of language as master-
bereavement. As she walks along in 1810, it has received a sparkling minded by Joseph Goebbels. This
deserted canals and through aban- new English translation by Michael is the first complete English trans-
doned seaside resorts, she comes Hofmann. lation of a complex and essential
to a sense of reconciliation with her work.
loss. Written in a rich and poetic
style, Grove is an exquisite explo-
ration of grief, love, and the lands-
capes of Italy.
5Fiction
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The Turncoat Count Luna Kraft
Der Überläufer Der Graf Luna Kraft
SIEGFRIED LENZ ALEXANDER LERNET-HOLENIA JONAS LÜSCHER
Translated by John Cullen Translated by Jane B. Greene Translated by Tess Lewis
Other Press, 978-1590510537, New Directions, 978-0811229616, Farrar, Straus and Giroux,
304 pp., SC 192 pp., SC 978-0374182144, 224 pp., HC
In the final summer of World War II, Alexander Jessiersky, an Austrian Richard Kraft, professor of rhetoric,
Walter Proska is posted to a small aristocrat who detests the Nazis, is unhappily married and badly
unit guarding a railway line bet- heads a great Viennese shipping in debt. He makes his way from
ween Ukraine and Belarus. He and company. After the outbreak of Germany to California to take part
his fellow German soldiers must World War II, he refuses to confis- in a remarkable competition. Inves-
submit to the increasingly absurd cate a neighbor’s large parcel of tor Tobias Erkner has announced a
and inhumane orders of their supe- land. However, without his know- one-million-dollar prize to the
rior officer. As their isolation grows, ledge, his board of directors sends person who can best explain the
they are haunted by madness and the land’s owner, Count Luna, to a question of theodicy in an eigh-
the desire for death. An encounter Nazi concentration camp on a teen-minute presentation—“why
with a young Polish partisan, Wanda, trumped-up charge. After the war, whatever is, is right and why we
makes Proska question his oath of a series of mysterious events con- can still improve it.” Author Jonas
allegiance. Written in 1951, The Turn- vinces him that Count Luna has Lüscher’s darkly comic observa-
coat is the long-forgotten second survived and seeks vengeance. tions about past and future, Euro-
novel of acclaimed author Sieg- Driven to kill the source of his dread, pe and America, classical learning
fried Lenz. The manuscript was Jessiersky embarks on a years-long and Silicon Valley come together
rejected by his publisher, who saw chase that takes him deep into the in a well-crafted novel about a
the story of a defection to the Soviet catacombs of Rome. First published man facing the ruins of his life, and
side as unwelcome in a Cold War in 1955, this darkly comedic mystery his world.
context. Rediscovered after Lenz’s novel can now be rediscovered by
death in 2014, the novel is a new English readers.
mid-century classic.
6Fiction
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Dark Satellites Moss The Joy of Sorcery
Die stillen Trabanten Moos Das Glück des Zauberers
CLEMENS MEYER KLAUS MODICK STEN NADOLNY
Translated by Katy Derbyshire Translated by David Herman Translated by Breon and Lynda Mitchell
Fitzcarraldo Editions, 978-1913097134, Bellevue Literary Press, 978-1942658726, Paul Dry Books, 978-1589881464,
224 pp., SC 192 pp., SC 265 pp., SC
Award-winning author Clemens An aging botanist withdraws to the As a young boy in Germany before
Meyer returns with a striking collec- seclusion of his family’s vacation World War I, Pahroc discovers that
tion of stories about marginal cha- home in the German countryside. he has special abilities. He can
racters in contemporary Germany. In his final days, he realizes that his lengthen his arm at will; he can ab-
A train driver’s life is upended when life’s work of scientific classification sorb all of the information in a book
he hits a laughing man on the tracks has distracted him from the hidden by placing two fingers on its spine;
on his night shift; a lonely train clea- secrets of the natural world. As his he can appear to others in the form
ner makes friends with a hairdresser body slows and his mind expands, of a crocodile. He is a sorcerer, part
in the train station bar; and a young he recalls his family’s escape from of community that that also inclu-
man, unable to return to his home budding fascism in Germany, his des Emma, the woman he eventu-
after a break-in, wanders the city in father’s need to prune and control, ally marries. Turning to steel and
a state of increasing unrest. Unsen- and his tender moments with first conjuring money from nothing allows
timental and yet deeply moving, the loves. The fascination with botany him to survive and usher his growing
stories of Dark Satellites are as dark leads to a profound understanding family through the turbulent twen-
as the world, as beautiful as the of life’s meaning and his own mor- tieth century. Now, at 106, Pahroc
brightest of hopes. tality. First published in 1984, Moss is is recounting his life for his infant
the debut novel of award-winning granddaughter, his only descendant
author Klaus Modick. with talents like his own. His letters
tell a witty and surprising story of
resistance against the disenchant-
ment of the world.
7Fiction
____________________________ ____________________________ ____________________________
The Pine Islands Cox, or The Course of Time The Coral Merchant:
Essential Stories
Die Kieferninseln Cox, oder Der Lauf der Zeit
MARION POSCHMANN CHRISTOPH RANSMAYR JOSEPH ROTH
Translated by Jen Calleja Translated by Simon Pare Translated by Ruth Martin
Coach House Books, 9781-552454015, Seagull Books, 978-0857427366, Pushkin Press, 978-1782275978,
160 pp., SC 224 pp., HC 224 pp., SC
When Gilbert Silvester awakens one The world’s most powerful man, Best known to English readers for
day from a dream that his wife has Qiánlóng, emperor of China, invites his 1932 novel The Radetzky March,
cheated on him, he immediately the famous eighteenth-century Joseph Roth was also a gifted au-
and inexplicably flees for Japan. clockmaker Alister Cox to his court thor of short stories and novellas.
In Tokyo he discovers the travel in Beijing. In the heart of the For- This collection of his most essential
writings of the great Japanese poet bidden City, the Englishman and stories, newly translated by Ruth
Basho. Suddenly, Gilbert finds a his assistants are to build machines Martin, showcases his astonishing
purpose to his crisis: he is inspired that mark the passing of time while range and power. Forced to remove
to follow in the poet’s footsteps to capturing the many shades of hap- a bust of the fallen Austrian emper-
see the moon rise over the pine piness, suffering, love, and loss that or from his house, an eccentric old
islands of Matsushima. Along the accompany this passing. Cox, or count holds a funeral for it and in-
way he meets Yosa, a young Ja- The Course of Time showcases au- tends to be buried in the same plot
panese student clutching a copy thor Christoph Ransmayr’s talent himself. A humble coral merchant,
of The Complete Manual of Suicide. for imbuing a captivating tale with dissatisfied with his life and longing
Together, the two pilgrims travel intense metaphorical force. More for the sea, chooses to adultera-
across Basho‘s disappearing Japan, than a meeting of two men—one te his wares with false coral, with
one in search of his perfect ending isolated by power, the other by grief— catastrophic results. Roth’s unfor-
and the other, a new beginning. the novel is an exploration of mor- gettable protagonists pursue lost
Serene, playful, and profound, The tality and a virtuoso demonstration ideals and impossible desires.
Pine Islands is a story of the trans- that storytelling alone can truly
formations we seek and the ones conquer time.
we find along the way.
8Fiction
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An Inventory of Losses The Sweet Indifference of The Hungry and the Fat
the World
Verzeichnis einiger Verluste Die sanfte Gleichgültigkeit Die Hungrigen und die
der Welt Satten
JUDITH SCHALANSKY PETER STAMM TIMUR VERMES
Translated by Jackie Smith Translated by Michael Hofmann Translated by Jamie Bulloch
New Directions, 978-0811229630, Other Press, 978-1590519790, MacLehose Press, 978-1529400564,
224 pp., HC 144 pp., SC 400 pp., SC
Each disparate object described in “Please come to Skogskyrkogår- Refugee camps in Africa are over-
one of the book’s twelve stories—a den tomorrow at 2. I have a story flowing, and Europe has closed its
Caspar David Friedrich painting, I want to tell you.” Lena agrees to borders. The refugees have no hope
a species of tiger, a villa in Rome, Christoph’s out-of-the-blue re- and no way out—and then an angel
an island in the Pacific—shares a quest, though the two have never arrives from reality TV. When model
common fate: it no longer exists. met. In Stockholm’s Woodland Ce- and celebrity Nadeche Hackenbusch
An Inventory of Losses is a beautiful metery, he tells her his story, which comes to film at the largest of the
evocation of twelve lost treasures is also somehow hers. Twenty years camps, one young refugee sees a
that, taken as a whole, open mes- before, Christoph loved a woman unique opportunity: to organize a
merizing new vistas of how to think named Magdalena, a story with march to Europe, in full view of the
about extinction and loss. With uncanny similarities to Lena’s own international media. Timur Vermes,
meticulous research and a vivid relationship with an aspiring writer, author of the international best-
awareness of why each loss mat- Chris. Is it possible that the two coup- seller Look Who’s Back, has written
ters, author Judith Schalansky lets les are living the same lives two de- another bold and wickedly funny
the objects speak for themselves. cades apart? Are they heading satire—this time, about the haves
She ventriloquizes the tone of other towards the same scripted separa- and have-nots in our divided world.
sources, burrows into the language tion? Author Peter Stamm is at his
of contemporaneous accounts, best in this alluring novel that ques-
and interrogates the very notion of tions the boundaries between past
memory. and present, fiction and reality.
9Fiction
____________________________ ____________________________ ____________________________
The Aesthetics of Elly Self-Portrait with Russian
Resistance, Volume II Piano
Die Ästhetik des Elly Selbstbild mit russischem
Widerstands, Band II Klavier
PETER WEISS MAIKE WETZEL WOLF WONDRATSCHEK
Translated by Joel Scott Translated by Lyn Marven Translated by Marshall Yarbrough
Duke University Press, 978-1478006992, Scribe, 978-1912854127, 144 pp., HC Farrar, Straus and Giroux,
336 pp., SC 978-0374260491, 224 pp., HC
The second volume of Peter Weiss’s Eleven-year-old Elly is missing. After In a Viennese café, an anonymous
three-part novel The Aesthetics of an extensive police search she is narrator meets an eccentric old
Resistance, a masterpiece of twen- presumed dead, and her family Russian named Suvorin. Once a
tieth-century German literature, is must come to terms with a gaping Soviet pianist of international re-
available to English readers for the hole in their lives. Then, four years nown, Suvorin committed career
first time. Volume II opens with the later, she reappears. But her pa- suicide when he developed a violent
unnamed narrator in Paris, having rents and sister are plagued by distaste for the sound of applause.
retreated from the front lines of doubts. Is this stranger really the Over a series of coffee dates that
the Spanish Civil War. He moves same little girl who went missing? are punctuated by confessions,
to Stockholm, where he works in And if not, who is she? Elly is a grip- anecdotes, and rages, a strained
a factory, becomes involved with ping tale of grief, longing, and doubt, friendship develops between the
the communist party, and meets which takes every parent’s grea- two men. Soon it is difficult to tell
Bertolt Brecht. The affinity between test fear and lets it play out to an who is more dependent on whom.
political resistance and art is the emotionally powerful, memorable Wolf Wondratschek’s Self-Portrait
main theme of this sweeping novel, climax. with Russian Piano is a sly, enga-
which covers the rise and fall of ging composition that asks whe-
proletarian parties in Europe from ther beauty, music, and passion are
the late 1930s to World War II. worth the sacrifices some people
Weiss suggests that meaning lies in are compelled to make for them.
embracing resistance, and that we
must look to art for new models of
political action and social under-
standing.
10Non-Fiction
____________________________ ____________________________ ____________________________
Europe against the Jews, The Last Winter of the Time of the Magicians:
1880–1945 Weimar Republic: Wittgenstein, Benjamin,
The Rise of the Third Reich Cassirer, Heidegger, and
the Decade That Reinven-
ted Philosophy
Europa gegen die Juden, Die Totengräber: Zeit der Zauberer:
1880–1945 Der letzte Winter der Das große Jahrzehnt der
Weimarer Demokratie Philosophie 1919–1929
GÖTZ ALY RÜDIGER BARTH AND WOLFRAM EILENBERGER
Translated by Jefferson Chase HAUKE FRIEDERICHS Translated by Shaun Whiteside
Metropolitan Books, 978-1250170170, Translated by Caroline Waight Penguin Press, 978-0525559665,
400 pp., HC Pegasus Books, 978-1643133331, 432 pp., HC
384 pp., HC
The Holocaust was perpetrated November 1932. The German eco- The year is 1919, and an extraordi-
by Germans, but it would not have nomy is in ruins, and street battles nary quartet of philosophers has
been possible without the assistance rage between rival political factions. arrived at a crucial juncture. Walter
of thousands of helpersstate officials, In the halls of the Reichstag, party Benjamin is trying to flee his over-
police, and civilians— in other countries. leaders scramble for power and bearing father and floundering in
If we are to fully understand how and influence as the elderly president, his academic career. Ludwig Witt-
why the Holocaust happened, the Paul von Hindenburg, presides over genstein, scion of one of Europe’s
distinguished scholar Götz Aly ar- a democracy pushed to the brea- wealthiest families, declines the
gues in this groundbreaking study, king point. Chancellors Franz von monumental fortune he stands to
we must examine its prehistory Papen and Kurt von Schleicher spin inherit. Martin Heidegger is carefully
throughout Europe. Decades be- a web of intrigue, vainly hoping to cultivating his career, and Ernst
fore the Nazis came to power, a harness the growing popularity of Cassirer applies himself intensely
deadly combination of envy, com- the Nazi party while reining in its to his writing. The stage is set for
petition, nationalism, and social up- most extreme elements. In a thrilling a great intellectual drama, which
heaval fueled a surge of anti-Se- day-by-day account of the final will unfold across the next decade.
mitism, creating the pre-conditions months of the Weimar Republic, Wolfram Eilenberger tells the grip-
for the deportations and murder to Rüdiger Barth and Hauke Friederichs ping story of four of history’s most
come. document the collapse of German ambitious and passionate thinkers,
democracy and Hitler’s frightening illuminating their brilliant ideas with
rise to power. rare clarity and economy.
11Non-Fiction
____________________________ ____________________________ ____________________________
The Bohemians: The Child in You: Darkness Falling:
The Lovers Who Led The Breakthrough Method The Strange Death of the
Germany’s Resistance for Bringing Out Your Weimar Republic, 1930—33
Against the Nazis Authentic Self
Harro und Libertas: Eine Das Kind in dir muss Fieber: Universum Berlin
Geschichte von Liebe und Heimat finden 1930–1933
Widerstand
NORMAN OHLER STEFANIE STAHL PETER WALTHER
Translated by Tim Mohr and Marshall Translated by Elisabeth Lauffer Head of Zeus, 978-1800242265,
Yarbrough Penguin Life, 978-0143135937, 416 pp., HC
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 352 pp., SC
978-1328566300, 320 pp., HC
The Bohemians is the incredible We all want to be loved and feel Darkness Falling is an enthralling
true story of two idealistic young safe to express who we really are, account of the metropolis Berlin
lovers who were leaders in the but over time we can grow estran- in the final years of the Weimar
anti-Nazi resistance. Harro Schulze- ged from what brings our purest Republic. Peter Walther recounts
Boysen had already shed blood in happiness. Everyday traumas, un- the city’s slide from democracy to
the fight against Nazism when he yielding social expectations, and dictatorship through the prism of
and Libertas Haas-Heye began the judgment of our parents and nine unforgettable protagonists,
their whirlwind romance in 1935. peers submerge our true self be- including American journalist Doro-
She, too, joined the cause, and soon neath layers of behaviors rooted in thy Thompson, clairvoyant perfor-
the two lovers were leading a net- fear and shame. Psychologist and mer Erik Jan Hanussen, communist
work of antifascist fighters that bestselling author Stefanie Stahl leader Ernst Thälmann, and Kurt von
stretched across Berlin’s bohemian has helped millions of readers peel Schleicher, the conservative chan-
underworld. Norman Ohler, best- away these layers and reconnect cellor who ceded power to Hitler
selling author of Blitzed, draws on with their inner child. The Child in in January 1933. With the pacing
unpublished diaries, letters, and You is an essential, step-by-step and style of a cinematic thriller,
Gestapo files to spin an unforget- guide through her therapeutic author Peter Walther leads us into
table tale of love, heroism, and method. the irresistible maelstrom that finally
sacrifice. swallowed the Weimar Republic.
12Non-Fiction
____________________________
Charisma and Disenchant-
ment: The Vocation Lectures
Geistige Arbeit als Beruf.
Vorträge
MAX WEBER
Translated by Damion Searls
New York Review Books,
978-1681373898, 176 pp., SC
The German sociologist Max Weber
was one of the most astute and
influential theorists of the modern
condition. Among his most sig-
nificant works are the so-called
Vocation Lectures, delivered at the
invitation of student activists shortly
after the end of World War I. The
question that Weber addressed
was simple and haunting: In a modern
world characterized by the division
of labor, economic expansion, and
unrelenting change, was it still pos-
sible to consider an academic or
political career as a genuine calling?
Damion Searls’s new translation brings
out the power and nuance of these
celebrated lectures.
13Poetry
____________________________ ____________________________
Sometimes a Single Leaf Waiting on the Opposite
Stage: Collected Poems
Warten auf der
Gegenschräge.
Gesammelte Gedichte
ESTHER DISCHEREIT HEINER MÜLLER
Translated by Iain Galbraith Translated by James Reidel
Arc Publications, 978-1911469704, Seagull Books, 978-0857426901,
136 pp., SC 456 pp., HC
Esther Discherheit is a talented Waiting on the Opposite Stage
creator of poetry, fiction, radio is a personal retelling of postwar
drama, and sound installations. German history, and the communist
Her work provides a unique per- spirit and pathos that gave rise to
spective into German-Jewish the Berlin Wall and its fall. Best known
intimacy with the fractured con- to English audiences for his post-
sciousness and deeply rutted cul- modern play Hamletmachine, the
tural landscape of contemporary dramatist Heiner Müller was also a
Germany. Sometimes a Single Leaf gifted and prolific poet. This book
follows her creative development collects over four hundred poems,
across three decades, including including unpublished drafts and
selections from three of her books fragments, which Müller wrote bet-
as well as a sampling of more re- ween 1949 and 1995. Translator James
cent, uncollected poems. This is Reidel carefully preserves the lay-
her first book of poetry in English out of the German originals, and he
translation. has written an extensive afterword
on Müller’s life and work.
14Children’s and YA
____________________________ ____________________________ ____________________________
Little Bear’s Treasures The Magical Bookshop A Castle in the Clouds
Der Bärenvogelschatz Der zauberhafte Wolkenschloss
Wunschbuchladen
STELLA DREIS KATJA FRIXE KERSTIN GIER
Translated by Laura Szejnmann Translated by Ruth Ahmedzai Kemp Translated by Romy Fursland
Greystone Books, 978-1771646536, Rock the Boat, 978-1786078667, Henry Holt and Co., 978-1250300195,
32 pp., HC 176 pp., HC 336 pp., HC
Little Bear is a treasure finder. And Clara’s favorite place in the whole High up in the Swiss mountains, an
he finds the most wonderful things: world is a bookshop. Here, Clara old hotel is steeped in tradition and
a shiny button, a tickly feather, a can settle down and get lost in one faded grandeur. Excitement returns
cozy hiding place, a tree to scratch, of the many books, joke around to its hallways once a year, when
and even a shy, soft piece of lint. with Gustaf the rhyming cat, and guests arrive from all around the
The other animals, however, don’t get advice from Mr. King the talking world for the famous New Year’s Eve
understand Little Bear’s treasures. mirror. Not only does Mrs. Owl love Ball. Seventeen-year-old Sophie
“Just junk,” they say. Except for one to give out chocolate cake, she also and the rest of the staff are busy,
. . . When Little Bear meets Little has a book tip for every mood. But making sure everything goes ac-
Bird, it’s the beginning of a won- when an antiques dealer claims the cording to plan. But unexpected
derful friendship. Poetic, affec- mirror is actually his and tries to take problems keep arising, and some
tionate, funny, and captivatingly it back, Mrs. Owl is distraught. Clara of the guests are not who they pre-
illustrated, this gorgeous picture and her new friends must find a way tend to be. Sophie soon finds her-
book is a treasure itself. to save the bookshop—and also Mr. self in the middle of a perilous ad-
King. venture—at risk of losing not only
her job, but also her heart. A witty
and charming novel for young
adult readers by bestselling author
Kersten Gier.
15Children’s and YA
____________________________ ____________________________ ____________________________
Little Wolves Hans Christian Andersen: Have You Seen Matilda?
The Journey of His Life
Wolfskinder Hans Christian Andersen: Wo ist die Maus?
Die Reise seines Lebens
SVENJA HERRMANN HEINZ JANISCH EVA MUSZYNSKI
Translated by David Henry Wilson Translated by David Henry Wilson Boxer Books, 978-1910716908,
NorthSouth Books, 978-0735843974, NorthSouth Books, 978-0735843882, 32 pp., HC
40 pp., HC 56 pp., HC
While mother wolf is on the hunt, “If you like, I’ll tell you the story of a Where, oh where, can Matilda
her four little wolves venture out boy who learned to fly.” In an en- Mouse be? Edwin Elephant can‘t
of their burrows for the first time to chanted conversation with a young find her—until he, and young rea-
find a night filled with new scents girl in a horse-drawn coach, Hans ders, get a big surprise! Meet Edwin
and promises. After befriending a Christian Andersen shares his life’s Elephant. He‘s sitting and waiting
hedgehog, discovering their own struggles, dreams, and triumphs. for his best friend, Matilda Mouse.
reflections, and escaping from a He weaves his tale with threads from She‘s supposed to join him right
hunter, they are happy to return some of his greatest stories. Author HERE. But none of his friends, not
home when their mother calls. Heinz Janisch paints a sensitive por- Freddie the Fox nor Gabbi the
Svenja Herrmann’s beautifully trait of Andersen and his literary Giraffe, has seen her. Where could
written story is complemented by work, and Maja Kastelic’s illustra- Matilda be? Kids will love this
magical illustrations from Józef tions combine the beautiful art of adorably illustrated story about
Wilkon. a picture book with elements of a a sweet friendship with a funny,
graphic novel. A moving, inventive surprise ending.
fairy tale about the life of Hans
Christian Andersen.
16Children’s and YA
____________________________ ____________________________ ____________________________
Leo’s Monster Ida and the World Beyond The Train Mouse
Mount Kaiserzipf
Leos Monster Ida und die Welt hinterm Die Zugmaus
Kaiserzipf
MARCUS PFISTER LINDA SCHWALBE UWE TIMM
NorthSouth Books, 978-0735844179, Translated by David Henry Wilson Translated by Rachel Ward
32 pp., HC NorthSouth Books, 978-0735844209, Andersen Press, 978-1783449583,
64 pp., HC 112 pp., HC
When Leo, the city mouse, visits his Ida Pfeiffer has a mind of her own. When Nibbles, an inquisitive young
friend Zoe in the countryside for the Although she lives at a time when mouse, scampers onto a waiting
first time, he meets a huge and hor- girls are expected to be mothers train at the local station, little does
rible monster. The creature is gigan- and housewives, Ida dreams of be- he know he is about to be swept
tic, has lots of horns, an enormous ing an explorer. She bravely sets off along on a cross-country adven-
tail, and when it roars, the earth on her first trip around the world, an ture. Nibbles travels across his home-
shakes. At least that’s what Leo adventurous journey over land and land of Germany, picks up a new
saw. Or did he? Zoe thinks his de- sea, discovering faraway lands and friend in Switzerland, samples the
scription sounds just like Berta, the meeting friendly people along the delights of French cuisine in Paris,
sweet-tempered cow in the mea- way. With expressive colors, dyna- and finally ends up as the star per-
dow . . . Marcus Pfister, best-selling mic shapes, and a simple but former in a circus in England! But
author and illustrator of Rainbow evocative text, Linda Schwalbe’s then Nibbles begins to feel home-
Fish, tells a hilarious story of mys- debut picture book is a joyful tri- sick. How will he find his way back
tery, suspense, and just a hint of bute to Ida Pfeiffer, one of the first home? Uwe Timm’s delightful story
scariness. female explorers to travel around is accompanied by pictures from
the world. beloved illustrator Axel Scheffler.
17Children’s and YA
____________________________
Peter and the Tree Children
Weißt du, wo die Baum-
kinder sind?
PETER WOHLLEBEN
Translated by Jane Billinghurst
Greystone Books, 978-1771644570,
40 pp., HC
Piet the squirrel feels all alone in
his forest home. Luckily, Peter the
Forester has the perfect plan to
cheer him up: a search for tree
children. You can’t be lonely in a
forest full of friends! As they wander,
Peter shares amazing facts about
trees, how they communicate and
care for each other, and the strug-
gles they endure. Soon, the little
squirrel is feeling much better—es-
pecially when he realizes he’s helped
the tree children grow. This environ-
mentally conscious picture book,
written by acclaimed author and
forester Peter Wohlleben, brings the
majesty of The Hidden Life of Trees
to the youngest of readers.
18Planning and Organisation
____________________________ ____________________________
Planning and organisation: With support from:
Frankfurter Buchmesse Federal Foreign Office
Braubachstraße 16
60311 Frankfurt am Main ____________________________
buchmesse.de/en Contact:
For questions please contact
____________________________ Uli Steinheimer.
Editing: E-mail: Steinheimer@buchmesse.de
Curated by Frankfurter Buchmesse Phone: +49 (0) 69 2102 279
____________________________ german-stories.de/books
Title annotations: ____________________________
Elizabeth Janik, Norfolk (Virginia, USA) © Frankfurter Buchmesse GmbH,
____________________________ Frankfurt am Main 2021.
Design, setting: No reproduction without prior
weirauch-mediadesign.de permission of the publisher.
____________________________
Proof reading:
Katharina Gewehr,
Frankfurt am Main
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