The Summer House, Later - by Judith Hermann (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

The bestselling voice of Europe's fastest-growing, fastest-living city: the new Berlin.

'The little jewellery box also held the red coral bracelet from Nikolai Sergeyevich. Its six hundred and seventy-five little coral beads were strung onto a silken thread, and they glowed as red as rage. My great-grandmother put the hairbrush down in her lap. She closed her eyes for a long time. Then she opened her eyes again, took the red coral bracelet from the little box and fastened it around her left wrist. Her skin was very white. That evening, for the first time in three years, she shared a meal with my great-grandfather.'

Coral bracelets 'as red as rage' from Russian lovers; a sad old woman who nonetheless 'sometimes sang and winked with her left eye and laughed till the tears came'; country houses 'away from Berlin, linden trees out front, chestnuts in the back, sky above' 'The Summer House, Later' is an elegant, measured, reflective collection of stories which captures beautifully the promise of bright colours lying just out of reach of our grey daily routines.

Set in and around Europe's fastest-growing, fastest-living city, these stories take as their starting point the monotony of modern urban life - the endless antennas and chimneys, the pigeons in the gutters - and looks beyond them to 'the narrow strip of sky over the rooftops'. The literary sensation of the year in her native Germany, Judith Hermann is a wonderfully talented young writer whose ability to find drama and beauty in the smallest, most trivial moments makes 'The Summer House, Later' a very special debut indeed.

Review Quotes

"A master storyteller."--The Independent

"A work of vision, authority and humaneness -- something to be savored."--Times Literary Supplement (London)

"An exceptional debut that gives rise to great hope."--Die Zeit

"Daringly lyrical."--O magazine

"Hermann's writing is spare and literal and achieves a fullness that's almost magically spun... Arresting."--New York Times Book Review

"Judith Hermann's intriguing debut collection ... offers nine glimpses of post-wall Berlin that shimmer with dark wit and intelligence."--Elle Magazine

"Judith Hermann's prose has conviction and is utterly of its time."--Focus

"One of the great revelations of contemporary Germany literature."--Le Monde

"Powerful... both whimsical and melancholic, at once edgy and moving -- the stuff of meaningful literature."--Denver Post

"Sometimes heartbreaking and always starkly original. Every story here is worth reading. Exceptional."--Sunday Business Post, Dublin

"A master storyteller." -- The Independent

"Daringly lyrical." -- O magazine

"Powerful. both whimsical and melancholic, at once edgy and moving -- the stuff of meaningful literature." -- Denver Post