July 16, 2021 On Love and Tyranny: The Life and Politics of Hannah Arendt by Ann Heberlein Translated by Alice Menzies Review by Karen Langley The concept of “the banality of evil”, coined by philosopher Hannah Arendt, has become famous (some…
March 30, 2021 The Passenger by Ulrich Alexander Boschwitz Translated by Philip Boehm Reviewed by Gill Davies This is an important republication of a novel which first appeared eighty years ago under a…
March 5, 2021 Hotel Cartagena by Simone Buchholz Translated by Rachel Ward Reviewed by Annabel I’ve come late to German ‘Queen of Krimi’ Simone Buchholz’s novels. Hotel Cartagena is the ninth of…
October 6, 2020 Daughters by Lucy Fricke Translated from the German by Sinéad Crowe Reviewed by Eleanor Updegraff In the Translator’s Note at the end of Daughters, Sinéad Crowe writes of…
September 21, 2020 Journey through a Tragicomic Century: The Absurd Life of Hasso Grabner by Francis Nenik Translated by Katy Derbyshire Reviewed by Eleanor Updegraff This September sees the launch of V&Q Books, a brand-new publishing imprint with the mission of…
August 13, 2020 The Day My Grandfather Was a Hero by Paulus Hochgatterer Translated from the German by Jamie Bulloch Reviewed by Eleanor Updegraff By day, Paulus Hochgatterer is a child psychiatrist – something that absolutely shows…
April 25, 2019 The Artificial Silk Girl by Irmgard Keun Translated by Kathie von Ankum Reviewed by Harriet If a young woman from money marries an old man because of money and nothing else…
October 18, 2018 The Second Rider by Alex Beer Translated by Tim Mohr Review by Gill Davies The Second Rider is the first novel in a projected new series by the Austrian writer,…
June 7, 2018 The Seventh Cross by Anna Seghers Translated by Margaret Bettauer Dembo Reviewed by Gill Davies The novel is set in Nazi Germany in the 1930s and was first published in…
January 16, 2018 Zen and the Art of Murder by Oliver Bottini Translated by Jamie Bulloch Reviewed by Terence Jagger We are not in Japan, but Germany; set in the snowy Black Forest, not far from…
December 5, 2017 The Guesthouse at the Sign of the Teetering Globe by Franziska zu Reventlow Translated by James J. Conway Reviewed by Lizzy Siddal Countess Franziska zu Reventlow was born into the German nobility, and lived in the castle at…
November 28, 2017 Demian by Hermann Hesse Translated by W. J. Strachan Reviewed by Karen Langley Is it the destiny of mankind to be pulled constantly back and forth between the…
April 4, 2017 Walking in Berlin by Franz Hessel Translated by Amanda DeMarco Reviewed by Rob Spence Berlin is one of my favourite cities, and I have spent a lot of time walking…
March 23, 2017 Auntie Poldi and the Sicilian Lions by Mario Giordano Translated by John Brownjohn Reviewed by Annabel I’m very glad to have met the irrepressible Auntie Poldi! Our narrator, her beloved nephew, tells us…
March 21, 2017 Memoirs of a Polar Bear by Yoko Tawada Translated by Susan Bernofsky Reviewed by Terence Jagger This is a rather engaging book, which on the surface is not entirely innocent of the…
February 16, 2017 The Pledge, by Friedrich Dürrenmatt Translated by Joel Agee Reviewed by Eleanor Franzén In a mountainous Swiss canton not far from Zurich, a little girl’s body is found. She…
December 5, 2016 The Tobacconist by Robert Seethaler Translated by Charlotte Collins Reviewed by Susan Osborne It’s a both a joy and a worry when a second novel appears on the horizon…
October 20, 2016 Grand Hotel by Vicki Baum Translated by Basil Creighton / revised by Margot Bettauer Dembo Reviewed by Karen Langley Being known as the author of one successful book can…
August 24, 2016 Two Gentlemen on the Beach by Michael Köhlmeier Translated by Ruth Martin Reviewed by Victoria Who knew that Charlie Chaplin and Winston Churchill were great friends? I had no idea before reading…
June 7, 2016 The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge by Rainer Maria Rilke Translated by Robert Vilain Reviewed by Karen Langley Back in 2013, I read a really lovely book called Rilke in Paris, which focused on the…
December 9, 2015 Pushkin Vertigo – titles by Piero Chiara & Leo Perutz Reviewed by Victoria Pushkin Vertigo, the new crime imprint from Pushkin Press has got off to a flying start with its first batch of…
July 16, 2015 Inside the Head of Bruno Schulz by Maxim Biller Translated by Anthea Bell Reviewed by Karen Langley Polish-Jewish author and artist Bruno Schulz lived a short and strange life, culminating in a tragic…
April 14, 2015 Effi Briest by Theodor Fontane Translated by Mike Mitchell Reviewed by Harriet The great German novelist Thomas Mann (1875-1955) apparently said that if you had to reduce your library…
April 9, 2015 The Nuns of Sant’ Ambrogio by Hubert Wolf Translated by Ruth Martin Reviewed by Harriet This is certainly an extraordinary and fascinating book. Written by a celebrated German papal historian, it manages…
January 22, 2015 A Price to Pay by Alex Capus Translated by John Brownjohn Reviewed by Annabel Alex Capus is a French-Swiss novelist who writes in German. He was born in France and now…
