Crime: Stories - Hardcover

Von Schirach, Ferdinand

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0307594157 ISBN 13: 9780307594150

Publisher: Alfred a Knopf Inc, 2011

Synopsis

From Ferdinand von Schirach, one of Germany’s most prominent defense attorneys, comes a jolting debut collection of short stories that daringly brings to light the motivations stirring within the criminal mind. By turns witty and sorrowful, unflinchingly brutal and heartbreaking, the deeply affecting, quietly unnerving cases presented in Crime urge a closer examination of guilt and innocence.

In “Fähner,” a small-town physician and avid gardener betrays little emotion when he takes an ax to his wife’s head, an act that shocks the locals but provides a
long-awaited reprieve for the good doctor. Abbas, a Palestinian refugee who is cornered into a life of crime, finds true love and seemingly a saving grace with a beautiful student named Stefanie in “Summertime.” But when she is viciously murdered in a hotel room after having been paid to sleep with one of the country’s wealthiest men, is Abbas to blame or is it the man who seems to have it all? And in the startling story “Love,” a young man’s infatuation with his girlfriend takes a grisly turn as he comes to grips with his unconventional—and uncontrollable—impulses to truly know a woman.

“Guilt,” writes von Schirach, “always presents a bit of a problem.” In this beautifully nuanced and telling collection, guilt is indeed never as clear-cut as the crime, and justice is more nebulous still.

About this title

Review:

"A magnificent storyteller" (Der Spiegel)

"The most significant debut by a German writer in the last ten years. An absolute masterpiece" (Literatur Magazine 1LIVE)

"A wonderful debut, gripping from the very first page and not a word out of place" (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung)

"A masterpiece" (Corriere della sera)

Book Description:

Provocative, shocking and brilliant, Crime may change the way you judge the world.

About this edition

• Publisher: Alfred a Knopf Inc
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 0307594157
• ISBN 13: 9780307594150
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 188