Domestic Rights Sales: German Audiobook (DAV)
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 moves to West Berlin just before the Berlin Wall is built. Together with his roommates at the boarding house, all of whom are from the GDR like him, he explores the city: as newsboys, they discover the pubs and bars, experience Bill Haley, who whips the Sportpalast into a frenzy, as well as the...
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 moves to West Berlin just before the Berlin Wall is built. Together with his roommates at the boarding house, all of whom are from the GDR like him, he explores the city: as newsboys, they discover the pubs and bars, experience Bill Haley, who whips the Sportpalast into a frenzy, as well as the revivalist Billy Graham. But what Daniel loves most of all is working on his plays and soon he forms his first connections in Berlin’s theatre scene ...
Christoph Hein tells the story of a youth in the shadow of the building of the Wall and makes the Berlin of those years come to life – rich in contemporary history, laconic and powerful.
»[Hein] observes and reports. Unmoved. But beneath this hides something that grieves him, a turmoil he doesn’t want to let show, from which he wants to distance himself.« Irmtraud Gutschke, der Freitag
»The book [is also] a novel about Berlin and a critical look at the time it is set in and as such, there is a lot that is truly interesting about it, especially in terms of its narrative integrity.« Dirk Knipphals, taz. die tageszeitung
»[Hein] dispenses with embellishments and arabesques enables him to concentrate on what is worth illuminating behind every sober chronicle: the dignity of memory. With the strength of timidity and a level-headedness that is not opposes to decisiveness, Hein reveals post-war history, how two German countries tear at souls and moods.« Hans-Dieter Schütt, neues deutschland
»If Hein is commonly referred to as the ›Chronicler of the GDR‹, then this [first-person narrator] … is the keeper of his own records, one whose sentences are at risk of withering underneath the dust of time.« Jörg Magenau, Deutschlandfunk Kultur
»Christoph Hein's narrative style is matter-of-fact but haunting, which once again proves him to be an outstanding chronicler and precise narrator.« Terry Albrecht, WDR
»At the time when East and West were more than just two cardinal points, bothersome students or the children of bothersome parents were sometimes barred from taking the Abitur in East Germany. An alternative at a secondary school in West Berlin was found for them with great trickery. The two ideologies now clashed at boarding school, in the classroom and in the cinemas. That, and the absurdity of this chapter of history, is what this novel talks about.« Wenzel, Singer-Songwriter
»[Hein] observes and reports. Unmoved. But beneath this hides something that grieves him, a turmoil he doesn’t want to let show, from which he wants to distance himself.« Irmtraud Gutschke, der Freitag
»The book [is also] a novel about Berlin and a critical look at the time it is set in and as such, there is a lot that is truly...
DISCOVER
Spotlight on Authors from the Former East on German Unity Day
On German Unity Day, we’ve put together a collection of works by writers who were born or worked in East Germany.DISCOVER
Spotlight on Authors from the Former East on German Unity Day
On German Unity Day, we’ve put together a collection of works by writers who were born or worked in East Germany.Persons
Christoph Hein
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, born in 1944, lives in Berlin. He is the author of novels, novellas, short stories, plays, essays and children’s books. His...
OTHER PUBLICATIONS
Ship of Fools
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...
France (Métailié), Netherlands (Cossee)
Domestic rights sales: German Audiobook (DAV), German Book Club (Büchergilde Gutenberg)
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....
Serbia (Čigoja štampa), Iran (Rahsaa Publications)
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...
Domestic Rights Sales: German Audiobook (DAV)
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...
Domestic Rights Sales: German Audiobook (GehörGäng)
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...
France (Métailié)
Domestic Rights Sales: German Audiobook (DAV)
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...
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...
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)
Ahead of Time
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...
Weiskern's Legacy
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...
France (Métailié)
Film rights (SBS Production)
Ms. Paula Trousseau
English world rights (Metropolitan), French world rights (Métailié), Italy (e/o), Hungary (Europa)
In his early childhood, a garden
English world rights (Metropolitan), France (Métailié), Italy (e/o), Denmark (Gyldendal)
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....
Chinese simplex rights (21st Century Publishing House), Iran (Rahsaa Publications)
Settlement
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)
Willenbrock
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)
Von allem Anfang an
French world rights (Métailié), Italy (e/o), Norway (Gyldendal Norsk), Korea (Thinking Tree)
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...
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)
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...
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)
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...
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)