In a Deep Blue Hour - by Peter Stamm (Paperback)

About the Book

"Originally published in German as In einer dunkelblauen Stunde in 2023 by S. Fischer Vergla GmbH, Frankfurt am Main."--Title page verso.

Book Synopsis

A documentary filmmaker uncovers the secrets of an enigmatic author in this subtly enthralling novel from "one of Europe's most exciting writers" (New York Times Book Review).

For days, documentary filmmaker Andrea and her team have been waiting for Richard Wechsler in his Swiss hometown. During their first shoots in Paris, the famous writer had not wanted to reveal much about himself, and now the whole film threatens to fail.

In the narrow streets and alleys of the village, Andrea searches for traces of Wechsler's life, contrary to their agreement. But it is not until she starts reading his books again that she discovers a clue to a childhood sweetheart who might still be living there. An old love who influenced his whole life, but whom no one ever knew about.

Review Quotes

"[A] sly metafictional novel...Stamm's earnest questions about the interplay between life and art and the value of biography are leavened by his caustic wit. Readers will be transfixed." --Publishers Weekly

"A probing examination of deep feelings and lifelong relationships...Stamm's novel will undoubtedly inspire readers to reflect on their lives as they progress through the illuminating pages." --Booklist

"What's a better world to live in: the real one or an imagined one lived in one's head? The Swiss author Peter Stamm...brilliantly plays with these and other philosophical concepts in his sly novel...impeccable." --Shelf Awareness

"Odd, as ever, in a good way. Romantic, in an odd way. A warm coal of a story that, pleasingly, leaves the reader much to infer." --Lionel Shriver, author of We Need to Talk About Kevin and Mania

"In his finest novel yet, Stamm grapples with the riches and risks of a life lived at the mercy of one's art. As a character proclaims: 'Once you've read a book, you're never rid of it.' Dear reader, In a Deep Blue Hour is a book you won't want to be rid of, a book both birdhouse and bird, eggs in the head. A hatching, flapping achievement of the highest order." --David James Poissant, author of Lake Life and The Heaven of Animals

Praise for Peter Stamm:

"Stamm's prose (beautifully translated by Michael Hofmann) is plain but not so simple...A subtle but deadly style." --Zadie Smith

"Peter Stamm is an extraordinary author who can make the ordinary absolutely electrifying...Hard to recommend too highly." --Tim Parks

"A master writer...His prose...is as sharply illuminating as a surgical light." --The Economist

About the Author

Peter Stamm is the author of the novels The Archive of Feelings, The Sweet Indifference of the World, To the Back of Beyond, All Days Are Night, Seven Years, On a Day Like This, Unformed Landscape, and Agnes, and the short-story collections It's Getting Dark, We're Flying, and In Strange Gardens and Other Stories. His award-winning books have been translated into more than forty languages. For his entire body of work and his accomplishments in fiction, he was short-listed for the Man Booker International Prize in 2013, and in 2014 he won the prestigious Friedrich Hölderlin Prize. He lives in Switzerland.

Michael Hofmann has translated the work of Gottfried Benn, Hans Fallada, Franz Kafka, Joseph Roth, and many others. In 2012 he was awarded the Thornton Wilder Prize for Translation by the American Academy of Arts and Letters. His One Lark, One Horse: Poems was published in 2019, Where Have You Been? Selected Essays in 2014, and Selected Poems in 2009. He lives in Florida and London.