Description
Now in paperback, the epic tale of a violinist who must navigate the fractious world of early twentieth-century Germany.
"Ruven Preuk stands apart from the village, on an August day in 1911, and listens." Thus begins an epic bildungsroman about the life of Ruven Preuk, son of the wainwright, child of a sleepy village in Germany's north, where life is both simple and harsh.
Ruven, though, is neither. He has the ability to see sounds, leading him to discover an uncanny gift for the violin. When he meets a talented teacher in the Jewish quarter, Ruven falls under the spell of a prodigious future. But as the twentieth century looms, Ruven's pursuit of his craft takes a turn. In The Last Country, Svenja Leiber spins a tale that moves from the mansions of a disappearing aristocracy to a communist rebellion, from a joyous village wedding to a Nazi official's threats, from the First World War to the Second. As the world Ruven knows disappears, the gifted musician must grapple with an important question: to what end has he devoted himself to his art?
Winner of the 2015 Arno Reinfrank Literaturpreis
About the Author
Svenja Leiber is an award-winning German writer. She is the author of a collection of short stories, Hunting Hours, and the novel Schipino. She lives with her husband and two children in Berlin. Nika Knight is a translator and writer living in southern Maine.
Reviews
'The literal and titular 'Last Country' is Germany which Leiber describes with a few literary brushstrokes and casts a panoramic view into its hellish years." * Spiegel Online *
"The Last Country is an exciting book that could be called a Bildungsroman, a novel of the artist or a panorama of a century-all of that. But above all, it is a book about what it means to see how their own desires cannot be fulfilled." * Die Welt *
"Leiber has an eye for people who cannot find a place in life or make a living and hardly have a voice. Leiber gives them voice in her books." * Deutschlandfunk *
"A socially clairvoyant novel." * Neues Deutschland *
Book Information
ISBN 9781803090016
Author Svenja Leiber
Format Paperback
Page Count 264
Imprint Seagull Books London Ltd
Publisher Seagull Books London Ltd
Weight(grams) 382g
Dimensions(mm) 208mm * 128mm * 19mm
"Ruven Preuk stands apart from the village, on an August day in 1911, and listens." Thus begins an epic bildungsroman about the life of Ruven Preuk, son of the wainwright, child of a sleepy village in Germany's north, where life is both simple and harsh.
Ruven, though, is neither. He has the ability to see sounds, leading him to discover an uncanny gift for the violin. When he meets a talented teacher in the Jewish quarter, Ruven falls under the spell of a prodigious future. But as the twentieth century looms, Ruven's pursuit of his craft takes a turn. In The Last Country, Svenja Leiber spins a tale that moves from the mansions of a disappearing aristocracy to a communist rebellion, from a joyous village wedding to a Nazi official's threats, from the First World War to the Second. As the world Ruven knows disappears, the gifted musician must grapple with an important question: to what end has he devoted himself to his art?
Winner of the 2015 Arno Reinfrank Literaturpreis
About the Author
Svenja Leiber is an award-winning German writer. She is the author of a collection of short stories, Hunting Hours, and the novel Schipino. She lives with her husband and two children in Berlin. Nika Knight is a translator and writer living in southern Maine.
Reviews
'The literal and titular 'Last Country' is Germany which Leiber describes with a few literary brushstrokes and casts a panoramic view into its hellish years." * Spiegel Online *
"The Last Country is an exciting book that could be called a Bildungsroman, a novel of the artist or a panorama of a century-all of that. But above all, it is a book about what it means to see how their own desires cannot be fulfilled." * Die Welt *
"Leiber has an eye for people who cannot find a place in life or make a living and hardly have a voice. Leiber gives them voice in her books." * Deutschlandfunk *
"A socially clairvoyant novel." * Neues Deutschland *
Book Information
ISBN 9781803090016
Author Svenja Leiber
Format Paperback
Page Count 264
Imprint Seagull Books London Ltd
Publisher Seagull Books London Ltd
Weight(grams) 382g
Dimensions(mm) 208mm * 128mm * 19mm
