Rachel Seiffert, author of The Dark Room, powerfully evokes our need for human connection in this dazzling and haunting group of stories. Set against immense political upheaval, or evoking the intimate struggles between men and women, parents and children, this astonishing collection charts our desire for love, our fragility, and our strength. From the title piece, in which a young biologist conceals his discoveries at a polluted river from a local woman, to the family aided by an enemy in “The Crossing,” to the old man weighing his regrets in “Francis John Jones, 1924–” Seiffert’s acclaimed, refined prose movingly captures the lives of her characters in their most essential, secret moments.
Now a Major Motion Picture: in Lore, Rachel Seiffert powerfully examines the legacy of World War II on ordinary Germans--both survivors of the war and the generations that succeeded them. It is spring of 1945, just weeks after the defeat of Germany. A teenage German girl named Lore has been left to fend for herself. Her parents have been arrested by the Allies, and she has four younger siblings to care for. Together, they set off on a harrowing journey to find their grandmother. As we follow Lore on a 500-mile trek through the four zones of occupation, Seiffert evokes the experiences of the individual with astonishing emotional depth and psychological acuity.
Stevie hasn't set foot in his home town for years, and he can’t decide whether to let his family—what’s left of them, anyway—know he’s back. He wasn’t the first to cut and run—in their own ways, his mother, his father, and his uncle all fled before he did—but should he be the first to come home? Moving between Stevie’s life as a construction worker in present-day Glasgow and the story of his parents when they were young, The Walk Home is a heartbreakingly powerful novel about the risks of love, and the madness and betrayals that can split a family. Gripping, haunting and, ultimately, hopeful, here is a piercingly honest story about the journey home—and the people there waiting for you.
Rachel Seiffert’s first book, The Dark Room, shortlisted for the Booker Prize, announced the arrival of a major writer; Afterwards fulfills that promise with a stunning novel about war and its brutal after-effect. Alice is the protagonist of Afterwards, but this book is about the guilt harboured by people around her. There are two men in her life: her maternal grandfather, David, recently widowed, and her boyfriend, Joseph, each of whom keeps his past from his loved ones. David served in Kenya during the Mau Mau rebellion; Joseph, during a stint in the British army, served in Northern Ireland. Both, we learn, live with the memory of having killed in the line of duty. As Alice’s relationship with Joseph develops, she senses there is something about his past that he keeps hidden. This is particularly galling given the personal and emotional details she has revealed to him (namely, that Alice has never met her father, and her attempts to establish an epistolary relationship with him in adulthood foundered). After her grandmother’s death, Alice finds the time spent with her grandfather awkward. She doesn’t know him the way she did her grandmother, but feels obliged to visit and offer support. Gradually, it emerges that David’s cold manner is traceable to events in Kenya, where he and his wife met. And as Alice tries to get to the bottom of Joseph’s reticence, a series of heated family discussions brushes ever closer to David’s secrets.
Early on a gray November morning in 1941, a small Ukrainian town is overrun by the SS. Penned in with his fellow Jews, a father anxiously awaits word of his two sons, while a young woman, come to fetch her sweetheart away from the invaders, must confront new and harsh truths about those closest to her. At the same time, a German engineer, here to avoid a war he considers criminal, is faced with an even greater crime unfolding behind the lines and no one but himself to turn to. And in the midst of it all, a boy determined to survive must throw in his lot with strangers. As their stories weave together, each of these characters comes to know the compromises demanded by survival, the oppressive power of fear, and the possibility of courage in the face of terror.
In The Dark Room, the experiences of three people are evoked with stunning emotional depth and psychological authenticity. A boy born with a physical deformity finds work as a photographer's assistant during the 1930s and captures on film the changing temper of Berlin, the city he loves. But his acute photographic eye never provides him with the power to understand the significance of what he sees through his camera. In the weeks following Germany's surrender, a teenage girl whose parents are both in Allied captivity takes her younger siblings on a terrifying, illegal journey through the four zones of occupation in search of her grandmother. Many years after the event, a young man trying to discover why the Russians imprisoned his grandfather for nine years after the war meets resistance at every turn; the only person who agrees, reluctantly, to help him has his own tainted past to contend with. With dazzling originality and to profound effect, Rachel Seiffert has recreated one of the darkest moments of the twentieth century.
Alice tacitly agrees with Kim's teachers when they hint that her daughter is not an easy child. A single mother of two, the bond with her second-born didn't present itself readily. Part of the Storycuts series, this short story was previously published in the collection Field Study.
Moving between Stevie's contemporary Glaswegian life and the story of his parents when they were young, this is a powerful novel about the risk of love, and the madness and betrayals that can split a family.
The beekeeper has lived in solitude for some fifty years. One day while waiting for Spring to descend he spies a young boy crossing the valley towards the copse where he keeps his hives. With a dependent forced upon him, the beekeeper must face the outside world and all its bewilderments once again. Part of the Storycuts series, this short story was previously published in the collection Field Study.
A young Polish woman has left her son to work as a temporary farm hand across the German border. The prospect of a few weeks' wages is not her only motivation for crossing the border, though. Part of the Storycuts series, this short story was previously published in the collection Field Study.
In 'Architect', an architect of rare charm and vision encounters an emotional crisis that threatens his career. When the ensuing strain starts to affect his family relationships, he must rethink his priorities. In 'The Crossing', a mother and her four young children fleeing a warzone must rely on the assistance of a strange old man as they attempt a treacherous river crossing. Part of the Storycuts series, these two stories were previously published in the collection Field Study.
The Dark Room tells the stories of three ordinary Germans: Helmut, a young photographer in Berlin in the 1930s who uses his craft to express his patriotic fervour; Lore, a twelve-year-old girl who in 1945 guides her young siblings across a devastated Germany after her Nazi parents are seized by the Allies; and, fifty years later, Micha, a young teacher obsessed with what his loving grandfather did in the war, struggling to deal with the past of his family and his country.
Wonderful ... all killer, no filler' Red Magazine 'Dazzling stories, as inventive as they are inspiring' Daily Mirror 'Where power and feminist rage meet' Stylist ______________________________ A fun and fearless anthology of feminist tales, by fifteen bestselling, award-winning writers: Margaret Atwood, Susie Boyt, Eleanor Crewes, Emma Donoghue, Stella Duffy, Linda Grant, Claire Kohda, CN Lester, Kirsty Logan, Caroline O'Donoghue, Chibundu Onuzo, Helen Oyeyemi, Rachel Seiffert, Kamila Shamsie and Ali Smith - introduced by Sandi Toksvig. DRAGON. TYGRESS. SHE-DEVIL. HUSSY. SIREN. WENCH. HARRIDAN. MUCKRAKER. SPITFIRE. VITUPERATOR. CHURAIL. TERMAGANT. FURY. WARRIOR. VIRAGO. For centuries past, and all across the world, there are words that have defined and decried us. Words that raise our hackles, fire up our blood; words that tell a story. In this blazing cauldron of a book, fifteen bestselling, award-winning writers have taken up their pens and reclaimed these words, creating an entertaining and irresistible collection of feminist tales for our time. 'A slick collection of clever tales, with something for bluestockings and banshees alike' Guardian 'Delightful, thought-provoking' Louisa Young, Perspectives
When Jochen left his father behind in East Germany he carried his resentment with him. This lingering antipathy intrigues and confuses his American wife, Hannah. When a tentative reconciliation is broached and the family travel to Germany, she embarks upon a pilgrimage with the old man. The two wind up on a snowy corner in East Berlin where a final act of rebellion will be staged. Part of the Storycuts series, this story was previously published in the collection Field Study.
Available for the first time in English, a moving prison correspondence between a husband and wife who resisted the Nazis. Tegel prison, Berlin, in the fall of 1944. Helmuth James von Moltke is awaiting trial for his leading role in the Kreisau Circle, one of the most important German resistance groups against the Nazis. By a near miracle, the prison chaplain at Tegel is Harald Poelchau, a friend and coconspirator of Helmuth and his wife, Freya. From Helmuth’s arrival at Tegel in late September 1944 until the day of his execution by the Nazis on January 23, 1945, Poelchau would carry Helmuth’s and Freya’s letters in and out of prison daily, risking his own life. Freya would safeguard these letters for the rest of her long life. Last Letters is a profoundly personal record of the couple’s fortitude in the face of fascism.
A young couple find their attempts to move to a new flat thwarted when their three year-old son rebels against the idea of leaving the only home he has ever known. It is as difficult to will a connection to dissolve as it is to force one into being. Part of the Storycuts series, this story was previously published in the collection Field Study.
Rachel Seiffert verwerkte in Lore de ervaring van haar op dat moment elfjarige moeder en haar tante, die beiden na de capitulatie in de zomer van 1945 door het gedemoraliseerde en verwoeste nazi-Duitsland trokken. Met de roman kwam ze op de shortlist van zowel de Booker Prize als de Orange Prize. Nu is de roman verfilmd en weer raken velen in de ban van dit ongewoon krachtig en sensueel vertelde verhaal. Arnon Grunberg schreef in de Volkskrant: `We kijken naar de wereld door de ogen van daders en hun kinderen. Zonder onze kennis van nu, dus zonder de voorgeschreven afschuw. Lore is zeer de moeite waard.
Seventy years after the adoption of the 1951 Refugee Convention, the UK is guilty of undermining the very principles of asylum, inhumanely detaining those seeking protection and ushering in sweeping changes that threaten to punish refugees at every turn. But the UK’s immigration system is not alone in committing such breaches of human rights. The fourth volume of Refugee Tales explores our present international environment, combining author re-tellings with first-hand accounts of individuals who have been detained across the world. As the coronavirus pandemic defies borders – leaving those who are detained even more vulnerable – this collection shares stories spanning Canada, Greece, Italy, Switzerland and the UK, and calls for international insistence on a future without detention. Edited by Anna Pincus & David Herd. ‘Heartbreaking and heartwarming in equal measure. Every page is filled with quiet dignity.’ – Shobu Kapoor ‘A courageous book’ – Jackie Kay Part of the Refugee Tales series.
In 'Blue', Kenny sets about furnishing and decorating his first flat. However, his giddiness does not last long. Even as his family and friends aid him in the feathering of his nest his worries mount higher and higher, and a young pregnant girl is always on his mind. In 'Tentsmuir Sands', a family outing to the Scottish seaside yields an early lesson in mortality for the youngest member. This honest and delicate tale presents an image of family life that is both sweet and ephemeral. Part of the Storycuts series, these two stories were previously published in the collection Field Study.
A PhD student interviews her friend's grandfather for her thesis. While not quite meeting her eyes, he recounts his wartime history, lingering on an excursion that has never been far from his mind. Part of the Storycuts series, this short story was previously published in the collection Field Study.
When Rachel Carson died of cancer in 1964, her four books, including the environmental classic Silent Spring, had made her one of the most famous people in America. This trove of previously uncollected writings is a priceless addition to our knowledge of Rachel Carson, her affinity with the natural world, and her life.
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