The Book of Words

(Paperback, Main)

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Description

The unnamed narrator of the `book of words' has a dark past and with these words - carefully chosen and dropped like a trail through a forest - the reader is compelled to tread with her the uncertain and spiky terrain of memory.First there is her childhood. She was raised by a wet nurse, who took the place that should have been filled by her ever-distant mother. Then her school days: a piano teacher, a gardener, and her friend Anna, whose mind is filled with violent fantasies. And, all the while in the background, her father - a man full of knowledge and an idealized hero, until she realizes that the world she has grown up in has begun to grind to a halt. Public transport is stopped, businesses are closed, and figures from her childhood disappear one after another - the regime is tightening its grip and it seems that her father is right at its centre.

Reviews

'I haven't read anything this good - this bracing, unflinching and alive - for a long time.' Nicole Krauss, author of A History of Love 'A haunting and offbeat novella with real profundity.' Lionel Shriver 'Erpenbeck's writing has a dark, transformative power - it gets into the blood stream and refuses to leave.' The Times 'Erpenbeck excels as miniaturist with language as sharp as a scalpel.' Guardian 'Oppressive, charming, scary - Jenny Erpenbeck is the rising star of the German literary scene' Cosmopolitan 'A book that begins simply and ends simply, yet one that prods at you until you are completely overwhelmed. A fresh literary sensation.' 5-star reader comment on amazon.co.uk

Author Bio

JENNY ERPENBECK was born in East Berlin in 1967. She has worked on opera and musical productions and her fiction has been translated into 13 languages worldwide.