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The Granddaughter

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About this listen

'Anyone who wants to understand contemporary Germany must read The Granddaughter now' Le Monde
'The great novel of German reunification' Le Figaro
'A masterpiece' Maurice Szafran

May, 1964. At a youth festival in East Berlin, an unlikely young couple fall in love. In the bright spring days, anything seems possible for them - it is only many years later, after her death, that Kaspar discovers the price his wife paid to get to him in West Berlin.

Shattered by grief, Kaspar sets off to uncover Birgit's secrets in the East. His search leads him to a rural community of neo-Nazis, and to a young girl who accepts him as her grandfather. Their worlds could not be more different - but he is determined to fight for her.

From the author of the no.1 international bestseller The Reader, The Granddaughter is a gripping novel that transports us from the divided Germany of the 1960s to contemporary Australia, asking what might be found when it seems like all is lost.

Translated from the German by Charlotte Collins

©2024 Prof Bernhard Schlink (P)2024 Orion Publishing Group Limited 20th Century Genre Fiction Historical Fiction Literary Fiction

Critic reviews

Highly topical in its focus on neo-Nazis in presentday Germany and the lingering divisions between East and West 34 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall . . . The Granddaughter asks many important questions, including one that feels very pertinent right now with the rise of far-right groups: "Was society failing to provide young people with a positive experience of community?" (Johanna Thomas Corr)
All stars
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This was enjoyable from beginning to end. No idea what would happen next and several twists and turns in the plot. Informative and well written. The reader had just the right voice for this story, calm and even, not overacting as some tend to do. This made it easy to concentrate on the story. I will listen to it again. Thank you.

Good listening

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The politics of east and west Germany surviving post the Berlin Wall falling was fascinating.

Interesting insight

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A beautiful rendition on so many levels. As a man to a woman who never really gave it all, trying to remedy wrongs but also for a little selfish reasons, ah but then.. the unexpected joy of a grandchild, in whichever forms it present, fleeting as it is,

Such gentle insight

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Totally absorbing- understanding of people feelings - real life - excellent. Such a pleasure to read . He is a master.

Fantastic

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The granddaughter angle is just a very circuitous route the author takes in order to insert an character very much like himself into the lives of some people very much unlike himself. And instead of just writing a novel about these other people, the novel is instead becomes a running commentary with all the thoughts and opinions the author/narrator has about the topics of the novel.
Shortly summarised; neo-nazis are not so bad once you get to know them, if not a bit misguided on a few points. A day spent among them can be as enjoyable as any, only a few «rotten apples» among the nazis are to blame. The author also seem to suggest that the Berliners who battle neo-nazis in the streets are equally as bad as the nazis themselves. As a descendant of men who risked their lives to free Europe from Nazi Germany I find it very hard to sympathise indeed.

Deus ex Machina all the way

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