Gittersee
2023
S. Fischer Verlage
About the book:
Title: Gittersee
A novel
by Charlotte Gneuss
August 2023
240 pages
Audio rights sold to: Argon
Foreign rights sold to: English Commonwealth (arboretum books) | Danish (Alpha) | Spanish (Acantilado) | Catalan (Periscopi) | Italian (Iperborea) | Norwegian (Gyldendal Norsk) | Dutch (Meulenhoff) | French (Les Argonautes) | Thai (Library House)
A shift in generational storytelling about recent German history - and a remarkable debut
Winner of the Aspekte Literary Prize 2023
Winner of the Literary Prize of the Jürgen Ponto Foundation 2023
Longlisted for the German Book Prize 2023
Reviewed and recommended for translation by New Books in German
The year is 1976 in the GDR. Karin, 16, lives in Dresden’s working-class suburb of Gittersee, where she looks after her toddler sister and helps her obstinate grandmother around the house, who is still lamenting the end of her time in the Wehrmacht. Karin’s father is struggling to keep his Skoda and family life running, while her mother wishes she had a different existence altogether. Karin’s only confidante is her friend Marie, a girl with big dreams: she wants to be the first woman on the moon. Karin is also head over heels in love with her boyfriend Paul, who aspires to be an artist but works in the mines. When Paul takes off on a weekend outing and doesn’t come back, two policemen turn up at Karin’s door asking his whereabouts. Her world is turned upside down and in her confusion, she seeks support from the attractive policeman Wickwalz. He in turn persuades her to inform on her family and friends as an unofficial collaborator. When she realises she’s been betrayed by Wickwalz, she takes drastic measures to break free again.
In her searing debut novel, Charlotte Gneuss tells us stories from a country that no longer exists and asks whether innocence in a totalitarian state is possible.
Praise for Gittersee:
"Definitely a must read. One of my favorite discoveries. A really, really great book that is remotely reminiscent of Daniela Krien's first book (Someday We’ll Tell Each Other Everything) - which is why I liked it so much." Bookseller Thalia, Rostock
The jury of the Aspekte Literary Prize: "With this novel, Gneuss illustrates political injustice in the personal and thus presents a timeless, topical and universal lesson about the perfidious mechanisms that pave their way in dictatorships."
The jury of the Jürgen Ponto Foundation's Literary Prize: "Gittersee [...] shows deep entanglements, grave moments, miniatures drifting apart with just a few strokes. At stake are first love, great care, innocence, betrayal and loyalty. Gneuss, who can now be counted among the best of the youngest generation of German-language authors [...] narrates the difficult field of individual history, state doctrine and the desire for freedom from a surprising perspective. The 16-year-old Karin experiences what it means to find one's role within an opaque, threatening system. [...] The lives we roam in Gittersee as readers never leave us. The open ending of the book and the unscripted survival of the protagonists are cliffhangers into our destabilised present."
About the author:
Charlotte Gneuss was born in Ludwigsburg in 1992, studied social work in Dresden, creative writing in Leipzig and writing for the stage in Berlin. She has published her work in literary magazines, is a guest writer for ZEIT Online, and has been invited to literary workshops by the Jürgen Ponto Foundation and the Kölner Schmiede. She is also the winner of the Leonhard Frank Scholarship for New Drama and the editor of the anthology Glückwunsch, published by Hanser Berlin. Gneuss’ work repeatedly returns to the GDR – the reality and utopia of the country where her parents grew up, but which no longer exists.
Sample translation available here
New Books in German's review
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