Alone in Berlin (Penguin Modern Classics)

PENGUIN MODERN CLASSICS

ALONE IN BERLIN

‘Has a journalistic clarity and a thriller writer’s pace’

Ian Brunskill, The Times

‘A novelist I’ve always loved… now, thrillingly, Penguin have put the authority of the translator Michael Hofmann behind his heartbreaking tale of futile resistance in Nazi Berlin… He’s a unique novelist, a writer of great sweetness and charm whom historical circumstances forced to take an interest in violent historical turmoil’ Philip Hensher, Independent

‘A vibrant translation by Michael Hofmann… sprawling, dark and densely observed’ Matthew Shaer, Los Angeles Times

‘Gritty, unpolished realism… Alone in Berlin is a credible thriller, but its stark portrayal of fear and the effects of persecution is disturbing on another level’ Charlotte Bailey, The Times Literary Supplement

‘This novel is far more than a literary thriller. Fallada’s vivid novel gives us the true, concentric circles of lives in a Berlin apartment block under totalitarianism. Michael Hofmann should be congratulated for bringing this work with all its immediate clarity to the English language’

Hugo Hamilton, Financial Times

‘Hofmann is a complete literary professional… he gives this tough and shady author his all’ James Buchan, Guardian

‘A readable, suspense-driven novel… the characters – and what characters they are, the good, the bad and the ugly of the Berlin working class during the war – are drawn from life. They are alive… a one-of-a-kind novel… Fallada can be seen as a hero, a writer-hero who survived just long enough to strike back at his oppressors’ Alan Furst, Toronto Globe and Mail

‘The perspective afforded by his decision to [remain in a devastated Germany] makes Alone in Berlin one of the most immediate and authentic fictional accounts of life during the long nightmare of Nazi rule’

James Martin, New York Observer

‘Magnificent… hammered out with such passion that it is painfully convincing’ Caroline Moore, Standpoint

‘Fallada suggests that morality under Nazi rule was not measured by the size of the struggle; it mattered only that one did not capitulate… the very act of writing Alone in Berlin – to say nothing of the stunning political clout of the novel itself – implies that for Fallada, the artist’s true role under fascism was chiefly one of bearing witness’ Matthew Shaer, Nextbook

‘The great novel of German resistance… deserves a place among the 20th century’s best novels of political witness’ Sam Munson, The National

‘A multilayered, dark, marvellous book… an astonishing read’ Sushila Ravindranath, New Indian Express