Darkenbloom

A panoramic novel of European history, by an internationally bestselling writer.

The whole truth, as the name implies, is the collective knowledge of all those involved. Which is why you can never really piece it together again afterwards. Because some of those who possessed a part of it will already be dead. Or they're lying, or their memories are bad.

It's 1989, and in a small town on the Austria-Hungary border, nobody talks about the war; the older residents pretend not to remember, and the younger ones are too busy making plans to leave. The walls are thin, the curtains twitch, there is a face at every window, and everyone knows what they are not supposed to say.

But as thousands of East German refugees mass at the border, it seems that the past is knocking on Darkenbloom's door. Still, though, nobody talks about the war.

Until a mysterious visitor shows up asking questions.

Until townspeople start receiving threatening letters and even disappearing.

Until a body is found.

©2021 Verlag Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Cologne/Germany and Eva Menasse; translation copyright 2024 by Charlotte Collins (P)2025 Tantor Media

Nothing. Even sped up I couldn’t stay interested in any of the characters.

I disliked the non stop storytelling that never ignited my interest. I quit at halfway through.