Book of the month 2005

"Family history" for Philip Erlach is "a convention invented by those who cannot stand to die and be forgotten". He himself tends to be "unambitious" in matters concerning family – until he inherits his grandmother's mansion and finds out that it is not easy to sort out her home, with its old and heavy furniture and dozens of pigeons in the attic.More ...

In the beginning of the nineties eleven-year-old Anja and her Russian Jewish family left St Petersburg to become quota refugees in Germany. Initially accommodated in a hostel for resettlers, they are soon confronted with everyday life as resettlers in Germany.More ...

Bernd Willenbrock is a successful businessman in the Berlin of the late nineties. He runs a thriving used cars trade and his customers come predominantly from Eastern Europe. Willenbrock is from the former East Germany and used to be an engineer in a factory in the GDR. He has made the best out of the new circumstances, whereas many of his former colleagues are now unemployed.More ...

The foreword to Sommerstarre describes the novel as telling "the story of two friends, who lost contact with each other a long time ago, and now undertake a journey together, in order to comprehend the death of a woman who they both loved. Jochen Neumeyer's debut is an intensive portrait of a friendship. It is laconic, direct, melancholic and tender".More ...

In September 1944 major general Wilhelm Crisolli was killed by partisans in Tuscany. His family shied away from investigating his fate. Some fifty years later his grandson, Thomas Medicus, feels compelled to investigate the fate of his grandfather.More ...

Klaus Kordon's latest historical novel charts the friendship of two boys, Paul and Julian, spanning from the establishment of the Weimar Republic to the years after World War Two. More ...

Buddenbrooks meets Mrs Dalloway. John von Düffels novel tells the story of the decline of the de Houwelandt family, at whose centre is the strict patriarch Jorge. The family completely falls apart when Jorge and his wife Esther swap the family home in Northern Germany for a summerhouse on the Costa Blanca.More ...

Vielleicht ist es sogar schön is the third novel from Jakob Hein, author of the cult novel Mein erstes T-shirt. In his latest autobiographical novel, he deals with the death of his mother and shares his childhood memories of her. Hein grew up in a very artistic household. His mother Christiane was a documentary filmmaker for DEFA and his father is the renowned writer Christoph Hein.More ...

On the 26th August 1944 the military officer Hans Georg Klamroth was executed for betraying the Nazis. He was one of the conspirators of the failed assassination of Hitler on the 20th July, and was a member of the Supreme Command of the military defence. More ...

As a student living in West Berlin during the time of the GDR, the Australian author Anna Funder visited East Berlin on a couple of occasions. Her trips only served to heighten her curiosity of life in this enclosed state, and around seven years after the Wall came down, Funder returned to Berlin in order to write Stasiland: Stories from the Berlin Wall.More ...

The Iranian poet Said has been living in Germany since 1965. In the book In Deutschland Leben, the poet reminisces over his childhood in Teheran, and shares his thoughts and impressions of life in his chosen homeland through a series of interviews compiled especially for this book. Said is interviewed by Wieland Freund, correspondent for cultural affairs for Die Welt newspaper.More ...

Grenzgänger is the latest novel from Ulla Klomp, author of several books for teenagers. It tells the story of a teenager called Jaco, whose life goes off the rails when he joins a group of Neo-Nazis and becomes involved in their illegal activities.More ...