Rights sold to:
France (Métailié)
Domestic rights sales: German Audiobook (DAV), German Book Club (Büchergilde Gutenberg)
Ship of Fools / Das Narrenschiff
A Novel
A sweeping, epochal novel about life in East Germany
A Spiegel bestseller, with over 65,000 copies sold
A Spiegel bestseller, with over 65,000 copies sold
A state is founded, like all states, for eternity, but disappears after forty years, almost without a trace. Are the people who once lived there condemned to oblivion, their dreams just a brief breeze in the great winds of history?
In his sparking social novel, Christoph Hein brings men and women together who, upon the founding of the German Democratic Republic, are assigned the most diverse roles. He accompanies them through the dramatic developments of a nascent society,...
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A state is founded, like all states, for eternity, but disappears after forty years, almost without a trace. Are the people who once lived there condemned to oblivion, their dreams just a brief breeze in the great winds of history?
In his sparking social novel, Christoph Hein brings men and women together who, upon the founding of the German Democratic Republic, are assigned the most diverse roles. He accompanies them through the dramatic developments of a nascent society, which strives to be the better Germany and yet stumbles from one failure to the next.
Card-carrying communists, formerly fanatic Nazis, functionaries caught up in imbroglios, intellectuals trying to salvage their bourgeois lifestyles under real existing socialism, shoe salesmen, waiters, factory workers, building superintendents, and even a high-ranking Stasi agent recognise, in one way or another, their membership in an involuntary crew on board a social vessel that they increasingly come to view as a ship of fools, and whose course is verging ever nearer to the menacing cliffs of history.
»Hein manages to illustrate the true absurdity of the system. … This novel is packed full of content, replete with countless historical details.« Marlen Hobrack, WELT AM SONNTAG
»This is a book you didn’t even know you were waiting for. … In his novel Ship of Fools, Christoph Hein recounts the history of the GDR from the beginnings to the end, enlightening and empathetic, with precisely sketched characters and set against the backdrop of historical events. … A historical book in the best sense of the word, and nobody but Christoph Hein could have written it.« Cornelia Geißler, Frankfurter Rundschau
»You don’t want to put it down – a striking historical panorama that aptly shows how people can grow into an almost infinite opportunism.« Steffen Mau
»[Hein] proves to be the most incorruptible chronicler [of East Germany]. … In his laconic language, Hein draws on a calm force to create this magnum opus of a social novel.« Ulrich Steinmetzger, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
»Anyone who wants to understand how even those with the best of intentions, including those in positions of power, failed in their quest to make the German Democratic Republic into a country in which people could realise their potential in accordance with their interests and abilities, one that was economically successful and had a place in the community of nations, can now read this beguiling novel.« Cornelia Geißler, Berliner Zeitung
»A fascinatingly arranged gallery of fates and conflicts. … Hein carefully circles in on the power relations [in East Germany], thoughtful, cool-headed, with intelligent caution and a sure hand.« Hans-Dieter Schütt, neues deutschland
»One thing hasn’t changed: it always pays to read Christoph Hein.« Welf Grombacher, Märkische Oderzeitung
»Christoph Hein is undoubtedly among the most creative contempotary German storytellers.« Ulf Heise, Freie Presse
»This is a book you didn’t even know you were waiting for. … In his novel Ship of Fools, Christoph Hein recounts the history of the GDR from the beginnings to the end, enlightening and empathetic, with precisely sketched characters and set against the backdrop of historical events. … A historical book in the best sense of the word, and nobody but Christoph Hein could have written it.« Cornelia Geißler, Frankfurter Rundschau
»You don’t want to put it down – a striking historical panorama that aptly shows how people can grow into an almost infinite opportunism.« Steffen Mau
»[Hein] proves to be the most incorruptible chronicler [of East Germany]. … In his laconic language, Hein draws on a calm force to create this magnum opus of a social novel.« Ulrich Steinmetzger, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
»Anyone who wants to understand how even those with the best of intentions, including those in positions of power, failed in their quest to make the German Democratic Republic into a country in which people could realise their potential in accordance with their interests and abilities, one that was economically successful and had a place in the community of nations, can now read this beguiling novel.« Cornelia Geißler, Berliner Zeitung
»A fascinatingly arranged gallery of fates and conflicts. … Hein carefully circles in on the power relations [in East Germany], thoughtful, cool-headed, with intelligent caution and a sure hand.« Hans-Dieter Schütt, neues deutschland
»One thing hasn’t changed: it always pays to read Christoph Hein.« Welf Grombacher, Märkische Oderzeitung
»Christoph Hein is undoubtedly among the most creative contempotary German storytellers.« Ulf Heise, Freie Presse
»Hein manages to illustrate the true absurdity of the system. … This novel is packed full of content, replete with countless historical details.« Marlen Hobrack, WELT AM SONNTAG
»This is a book you didn’t even know you were waiting for. … In his novel Ship of Fools, Christoph Hein recounts the history of the GDR from the beginnings to the end, enlightening and empathetic, with precisely sketched characters and set against the backdrop of historical events. … A...
»This is a book you didn’t even know you were waiting for. … In his novel Ship of Fools, Christoph Hein recounts the history of the GDR from the beginnings to the end, enlightening and empathetic, with precisely sketched characters and set against the backdrop of historical events. … A...
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2025, 750 pages
Persons
Christoph Hein
Author
Christoph Hein, born in 1944, lives in Berlin. He is the author of novels, novellas, short stories, plays, essays and children’s books. His most recent novels were on the Spiegel bestseller list for weeks. His most recent awards include the 2019 Prix du Meilleur livre étranger (for Glückskind mit Vater), the 2019 Samuel Bogumił Linde Prize and the 2017 Grimmelshausen Prize.
Christoph Hein
Author
Christoph Hein, born in 1944, lives in Berlin. He is the author of novels, novellas, short stories, plays, essays and children’s books. His...
© Heike Steinweg
OTHER PUBLICATIONS
Latest first
Year of Publication: 2023
Christoph HeinYear of Publication: 2023
The Wild Horse Under the Stove
The cast of characters who sleep under the sofa in Jakob Borg’s room sure are a motley crew: there is Snout the donkey, who feels called to be a professor and loves nothing more than a good meal....
Rights sold to:
Serbia (Čigoja štampa), Iran (Rahsaa Publications)
Year of Publication: 2023
Christoph HeinYear of Publication: 2023
Underneath the Dust of Time
The late 1950s in the divided Germany: as the son of a pastor, 14-year-old Daniel is barred from taking the Abitur, the secondary school leaving examination, in his East German hometown and so he...
Rights sold to:
Domestic Rights Sales: German Audiobook (DAV)
Year of Publication: 2021
Christoph HeinYear of Publication: 2021
Guldenberg
In the small town of Bad Guldenberg the world is still alright. At least until a group of underage immigrants is given accommodation in the Old Seglerheim. The people of Guldenberg agree: The...
Rights sold to:
France (Métailié)
Domestic Rights Sales: German Audiobook (DAV)
Domestic Rights Sales: German Audiobook (DAV)
Year of Publication: 2019
Christoph HeinYear of Publication: 2019
Counter Eavesdropping
He is considered the chronicler of German-German relationships, the precise dissector of a formerly divided nation which still hasn’t found its way back together completely, and as...
Rights sold to:
Domestic Rights Sales: German Audiobook (GehörGäng)
Year of Publication: 2018
Christoph HeinYear of Publication: 2018
Befuddlement
Friedeward loves Wolfgang. And Wolfgang loves Friedeward. They are young, enjoying the summer vacation, cycle the long way to the sea, discuss all the subjects under the sun. They are happy when...
Rights sold to:
France (Métailié)
Domestic Rights Sales: German Audiobook (DAV)
Year of Publication: 2017
Christoph HeinYear of Publication: 2017
Trutz
A brilliant chronicle of the lives of two families in 20th century Germany and Russia. The futile hope for an existence beyond misery and slavery. Encompassing an entire century, reflecting an entire century.
Trutz is a 20th century novel, the one written by novelist Rainer Trutz and the one written by Waldemar Gejm, a professor for mathematics and...
Year of Publication: 2016
Christoph HeinYear of Publication: 2016
Portrait of a Son With Father
What does Konstantin Boggosch, whom his mother described as »child of fortune«, owe to his father? In Christoph Hein’s new novel, which mobilises all the registers of his storytelling prowess and...
Rights sold to:
Arabic world rights (Sefsafa), France (Métailié), Denmark (Gyldendal), Bulgaria (Atlantis), Estonia (Eesti Raamat)
Domestic Rights Sales: German Audiobook (DAV), German Entire Radio Reading (MDR)
Previously published in the respective language / territory; rights available again: Italy (e/o)
Year of Publication: 2013
Christoph HeinYear of Publication: 2013
Ahead of Time
A new take on antiquity
In his latest work, Christoph Hein, the great chronicler of the present, fastidious recorder of the internal contradictions of the GDR and diagnostician of the flaws in the development of the unified Germany, turns his attention to the myths, gods, and tales of the deeds and misdeeds of antiquity. In his investigations he makes an exciting...
In his latest work, Christoph Hein, the great chronicler of the present, fastidious recorder of the internal contradictions of the GDR and diagnostician of the flaws in the development of the unified Germany, turns his attention to the myths, gods, and tales of the deeds and misdeeds of antiquity. In his investigations he makes an exciting...
Year of Publication: 2011
Christoph HeinYear of Publication: 2011
Weiskern's Legacy
Has life become a forgery?
Rüdiger Stolzenburg, 59 years old, has been working as a part-time adjunct at a cultural studies institute for the past fifteen years. His career...
Rüdiger Stolzenburg, 59 years old, has been working as a part-time adjunct at a cultural studies institute for the past fifteen years. His career...
Rights sold to:
France (Métailié)
Film rights (SBS Production)
Year of Publication: 2007
Christoph HeinYear of Publication: 2007
Ms. Paula Trousseau
How do we become – or not become – the people that we have become? This is the fundamental question addressed in Christoph Hein’s novel, a novel that consistently views things...
Rights sold to:
English world rights (Metropolitan), French world rights (Métailié), Italy (e/o), Hungary (Europa)
Year of Publication: 2005
Christoph HeinYear of Publication: 2005
In his early childhood, a garden
A political scandal erupts when a terrorist wanted throughout, Oliver Zureck, is fatally wounded in an exchange with border guards and the official report of suicide does not correspond to the...
Rights sold to:
English world rights (Metropolitan), France (Métailié), Italy (e/o), Denmark (Gyldendal)
Year of Publication: 2005
Christoph HeinYear of Publication: 2005
Mama Has Gone
Ten-year-old Ulla lives with her brothers Karel and Paul, the dog Strolch and her parents. The father is a sculptor, the mother a director and Ulla’s best friend, beautiful and always laughing....
Rights sold to:
Chinese simplex rights (21st Century Publishing House), Iran (Rahsaa Publications)
Year of Publication: 2004
Christoph HeinYear of Publication: 2004
Settlement
Bernhard Haber is only ten years old when, in 1950, he moves with his parents from Wroclaw in Poland to a small town in Saxony – where the local inhabitants would prefer to see refugees and...
Rights sold to:
English world rights (Metropolitan), Arabic world rights (Kanaan), France (Métailié), Italian Audiobook (Tracce.Studio), Denmark (Gyldendal), Slovakia (Kalligram), Hungary (Europa), Bulgaria (Emas), Georgia (Ibis), Israel (Hakkibutz Hamecheud)
Previously published in the respective language / territory; rights available again: Italy (e/o)
Domestic Rights Sales: German Book Club (Bertelsmann), German Book Club Special Edition (Büchergilde Gutenberg)
Year of Publication: 2000
Christoph HeinYear of Publication: 2000
Willenbrock
With utmost precision and apparent effortlessness, Christoph Hein paints a picture of our society as one in which, behind the facades, lurking catastrophes are only thinly concealed....
Rights sold to:
English world rights (Metropolitan), Spanish world rights (Anagrama), France (Métailié), Italy (e/o), Denmark (Gyldendal), Norway (Gyldendal Norsk), Czech Republic (Volvox Globator), Bulgaria (Emas), Greece (Kastaniotis), Ukraine (Junivers)
Year of Publication: 1997
Christoph HeinYear of Publication: 1997
Von allem Anfang an
Rights sold to:
French world rights (Métailié), Italy (e/o), Norway (Gyldendal Norsk), Korea (Thinking Tree)
Year of Publication: 1989
Christoph HeinYear of Publication: 1989
The Tango Player
Leipzig 1968: Historian Dallow is released from prison after twenty-one months. His crime: He filled in as a piano player at a student cabaret and the text that he was asked to accompany with a...
Rights sold to:
Serbia (Radni Sto)
Previously published in the respective language / territory; rights available again: English world rights (FSG), Catalan rights (Climent), Russia (Raduga), France (Alinea), Italy (e/o), Denmark (Gyldendal), Sweden (Norstedt), Norway (Gyldendal Norsk), Finland (Otava), Hungary (Europa)
Year of Publication: 1985
Christoph HeinYear of Publication: 1985
Horn's End
Thomas was almost a child still at the time, but he remembers the events in sleepy bad Guldenberg in the summer of 1957 very well: how he started working for the gypsies and was punished for it by...
Rights sold to:
France (Métailié), Korea (CommunicationBooks)
Previously published in the respective language / territory; rights available again: Russia (Raduga), Italy (e/o), Netherlands (Van Gennep), Denmark (Gyldendal), Sweden (Norstedt), Norway (Gyldendal Norsk), Finland (Otava), Japan (Dogakusha), Poland (PIW), Czech Republic (Odeon), Slovakia (Slovenský spisovatel), Hungary (Europa), Bulgaria (Emas), Romania / Republic of Moldova (Univers), Estonia (Eesti Raamat), Israel (Sifriat Poalim)
Year of Publication: 1982
Christoph HeinYear of Publication: 1982
The Distant Lover. Dragon's Blood
»I have become invulnerable. I have bathed in dragon’s blood, and no linden leaf anywhere left me unprotected. I can never get out of this skin.« This is the conclusion of the...
Rights sold to:
Chinese simplex rights (Horizon), Italy (e/o), Serbia (Radni Sto), Korea (Marco Polo Press)
Previously published in the respective language / territory; rights available again: English world rights (Pantheon Books), Spanish world rights (Saymon), Catalan rights (Empuries), Russia (Raduga), France (Métailié), Netherlands (Van Gennep), Denmark (Gyldendal), Sweden (Norstedt), Norway (Gyldendal), Finland (Otava), Japan (Dogakusha), Vietnam (Lao Dong), Czech Republic (Odeon), Hungary (Magvetö), Bulgaria (Emas), Romania (Univers), Estonia (Eesti Raamat), Greece (Periplus), Macedonia (Goten), Georgia (Ibis), Armenia (HGM "Areviq" Himnadram)