Berlin: The dazzling, darkly funny debut that surprises at every turn

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A fresh, wry, piercingly contemporary debut about a young woman who moves to Berlin to escape her demons - and what she finds there. For fans of My Year of Rest and Relaxation and Exciting Times. In the grip of existential malaise, 25-year-old Daphne moves to Berlin for a fresh start. Far from resolving her quarter-life crisis, things take a turn for the worse. Because Daphne doesn't just have to navigate all the archetypal experiences of an outsider in the big city - acquiring friends and lovers, grappling with the language and a whole new way of life. A series of mysterious and troubling events are in motion - starting with a brick hurled through her bedroom window in the dead of night - and a further unravelling ensues. What is at the heart of these strange events and our troubled heroine Who is Daphne, really, and what is she running from Fresh, funny and piercingly contemporary, Berlin channels contemporary female experience with biting honesty and witty flair, marking the arrival of a thrilling new literary talent.

Reviews

Scintillating . . . Berlin is wonderfully funny, and Daphne's observations about modern life, men and the challenges facing young women always hit the nail * FINANCIAL TIMES *
Uncommonly funny, cinematically vivid, and refreshingly honest about how we deceive others and ourselves. * Lisa Halliday, author of ASYMMETRY *
Anyone who's started over in a new city -- let alone a new country -- will relate . . . One for Sally Rooney fans * Sunday Telegraph *
A compelling, raw, and thrillingly strange outsider tale of loneliness and deception. Setton is a wonderful writer who, with this sharp debut, adds to the great canon of contemporary anti-heroines. * Mona Awad, author of BUNNY *
Setton builds her growing paranoia and sense of dread to terrific effect in this unsettling, compelling read. * OBSERVER *
Enjoyable and astutue . . . Daphne's impressions are rendered in precise, lively prose -- Rob Doyle * TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT *
[An] engagingly self-conscious debut . . . our attention is firmly held by the wry wit of Daphne's voice, as well as regular hints that she's something of an unreliable narrator . . . the book's success lies chiefly in its line by-line charm * DAILY MAIL *
Weird, compelling and unique: I was completely absorbed by BERLIN, with its slippery, unsettling narrator, its vivid evocation of a city seen through the troubling lens of disorientation, and by the writing itself, which gleamed. * Francesca Reece, author of VOYEUR *
Intimate, confessional . . . Rich and rewarding . . . readers will leave eager to hear more from Bea Setton. * CultureFly *
Berlin made me laugh aloud, and then became strangely and compellingly dark. I loved it. * Louisa Reid, author of THE POET *
I loved this novel with its complex, flawed and fascinating heroine. Bea Setton presents us with a vivid and youthful depiction of one of my favourite cities in the world. A wonderful achievement. * Nick Bradley, author of THE CAT AND THE CITY *
A moving and rollicking tale of self-delusion...Setton proves herself a masterful and hilarious chronicler of contemporary life...Well-plotted while still capturing the meandering feeling of Daphne's unbound life, and with deliciously handled foreshadowing, Setton's sharp novel of stunted plans is compulsively readable and ultimately devastating. This isn't one to miss. * Publishers Weekly *
In this dark and twisty debut, Setton crafts a clever thriller-cum-expat narrative for fans of Ottessa Moshfegh's My Year of Rest and Relaxation . . . Setton expertly portrays the wily, seductive nature of addictions and dysfunctions . . . Daphne's youthful despair and loneliness are horror stories in and of themselves-ones from which it is hard to look away, especially when coupled with the evocative German setting. . . Raw thriller meets darkly funny coming-of-age for an enjoyable, unsettling debut. * KIRKUS *
Bea Setton's luminous drama will keep you on your toes with razor-sharp wit * WOMAN'S OWN *
Shines an unsparing light on the murky grey space of a woman's mid-twenties with a narrative voice that's sharp, wry, and unexpectedly tender * Isabel Kaplan, author of NOT SAFE FOR WORK *

Author Bio

Bea Setton was born in France and spent her early years in the Parisian suburbs before moving to the USA to study philosophy. Upon graduating, she relocated to Berlin, enrolled in a language school, lived in umpteen different flats, and experienced the events that were to inspire her first novel, Berlin, which will be published in the UK by Doubleday in 2022. She currently divides her time between Berlin and Cambridge, where she is studying for a Masters in philosophical theology and working on plans for her second book.