Siblings

Description

The first English translation of this stirring novel of loyalty, fear and sibling love, by one of the GDR's most important writers. 1960. The border between West and East Germany has closed. "I will never forgive you for this," says Uli, to his sister Elizabeth. For Elizabeth, the GDR is her generation's chance to build a glorious, egalitarian socialist future. For Uli, it is a place of stricture and oppression. Separating them is the ever-wider chasm of the party line; over them looms the twin spectres of opportunity and fear. In prose as bold as a machete stroke, Brigitte Reimann - herself a loyal socialist - battles with the clash of idealism and suppression, familial love and individualist desires, in this celebrated classic of postwar East German literature.

Brigitte Reimann (1933-1973) was among East Germany's most significant writers. She believed passion ately in socialism, yet never joined the party; stayed with her second husband, yet pursued a series of affairs. Her stated aim was to live 'thirty wild years instead of seventy well-behaved ones'. In 1960, her brother left for the West and she began writing Siblings. She died from cancer at the age of thirty-nine, a celebrated writer and cult figure. Lucy Jones is a literary translator who lives in Berlin. She has translated the works of Anke Stelling, Theresia Enzensberger and Silke Scheuermann, among others. Her own writing has been published in Litro Magazine, SAND Journal, Pigeon Pages and 3AM Magazine.

It is hard to believe that this brilliant novel has taken so many years to find its way into English translation. Spare, chilling, with wild flashes of vivid colour and the tempo of a thriller, Siblings jolts us into the beating heart of a family and post-war East Germany, conjuring the political dreams and divisions that make and ultimately break both -- Lisa Appignanesi Reimann's depiction of the complexities of nationhood are remarkably modern, and her portrayal of the sibling bond unnerving and tender... A striking portrait of what it feels like to be young, idealistic and crushed by the systems around you * New Statesman * Atmopsheric... complex, prickly, funny... Reimann's novel has the tense mood of a play - a family drama by Henrik Ibsen or Arthur Miller - with plenty of fiery dialogue between the characters about politics, industry and art... [Reimann] is a flash of colour in a grey landscape. -- Johanna Thomas-Corr * The Sunday Times * A groundbreaking classic of GDR literature... a phenomenon -- Kate Connolly * Guardian * She made our hearts beat. She showed women both in the east and the west how to live. In short she was one of the coolest chicks in town -- Carolin Wurfel, author * Three Women Who Dreamed of Socialism *