All for Nothing - Softcover

Kempowski, Walter

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1847087213 ISBN 13: 9781847087218

Publisher: Granta Books, 2016

Synopsis

A brilliantly evocative, atmospheric novel about the delusion and indecision of a wealthy family in the last days of the Third Reich as the Russians advance from the east

In January 1945, the German army is retreating from the Russian advance. Germans are fleeing the occupied territories in their thousands, in cars and carts and on foot. But in a rural East Prussian manor house, the wealthy von Globig family seals itself off from the world.

Protected from the deprivation and chaos around them, they make no preparations to leave until a decision to harbour a stranger for the night begins their undoing. Finally joining the great trek west, the remaining members of the family face at last the catastrophic consequences of the war.

Profoundly evocative of the period, sympathetic yet painfully honest about the motivations of its characters, All for Nothing is a devastating portrait of the complicities and denials of the German people as the Third Reich comes to an end.

About this title

About the Authors

Walter Kempowski (1929-2007) was one of Germany's most important post-war writers, known for his acclaimed collection of first-hand accounts of WWII, including Swansong 1945 (Granta, 2014). His critically applauded final novel, All for Nothing (Granta, 2015) was a bestseller in both Germany and the UK.

ANTHEA BELL's translations includeded works by E.T.A. Hoffmann, W.G. Sebald and Stefan Zweig. She won many prizes including the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize, and was awarded an OBE and the Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany for her services to literary translation.

Edition details

• Publisher: Granta Books
• Publication date: 2016
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1847087213
• ISBN 13: 9781847087218
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 352