Fiction

By Mac BarnettIllustrated by Jon Klassen The Wolf, the Duck, and the Mouse ... [is] funny, with morbid senses of humor that will hit Halloween sweet spots…It turns out the wolf’s gut harbors the best party in town, and some readers’ sympathies might shift toward the carnivore—aided by the great Jon Klassen’s droll paintings; no one does perturbed animals better.—The New York Times Book Review The story’s timeless, fable-like feel is bolstered by its traditional cast and old-fashioned fairy-tale language: “Oh, woe!” cries the wolf. “Oh shame!” Life can turn the tables pretty quickly, Barnett suggests, and only those whose outlooks are flexible will flourish. “I may have been swallowed,” says the duck, “but I have no intention of being eaten.” A rare treasure of a story, the kind that seems to have been around forever.—Publishers Weekly (starred review) A New York Times bestseller! This is a story about a duck and mouse who get swallowed by a wolf, and then decide to live in his belly. When a woeful mouse is swallowed by a wolf, he quickly learns he is not alone: a duck has already set up digs, and, boy, has that duck got it figured out! Turns out it’s pretty nice in there, with delicious food and elegant table settings, courtesy of the wolf’s unchecked gluttony. And there’s something even better: no more fear of being eaten by a wolf! In fact, life is pretty good, until a hunter shows up. . . . With a nod to traditional fables and a wink to the reader, the award-winning Mac Barnett and Jon Klassen offer a tale of cooperation and creative cuisine that is sure to go down easy. Paperback40 pagesAge range: 4-8 years Candlewick, 20228.6 x 11 inchesISBN 9781536227796Children's Book

The Wolf, the Duck, and the Mouse

Written and Illustrated by Jon Klassen [A] gently eerie board book ghost story. . . . Giving youngest readers ample space to contemplate their own perceptions, Klassen again displays a remarkable knack for creating lingering, fully realized works through the sparsest storytelling.—Publishers Weekly (starred review) Preschoolers, get ready for your first official ghost story. . . . To set the mood, Klassen relies heavily on color; the first few rooms are brightly lit in the sun’s rays, but the home grows dimmer as readers proceed. Treating the book itself as a physical location begging to be explored (it’s even shaped like a house), Klassen extends the format beyond its usual limitations, allowing a short story of surprising depth to emerge. A spooky house tour, unafraid to redefine what board books are capable of achieving.—Kirkus Reviews (starred review) Klassen’s (Your Truck, rev. 1/26) house-shaped novelty board book is a slightly spooky, ­fun-to-explore existential journey that challenges our notions of what board books can offer. . . . Toddlers will enjoy turning the sturdy pages, pointing out the house’s contents, and wondering (amused, unnerved, or a bit of both) about the ghost’s presence.—The Horn Book (starred review) A Gently Spooky Story with Interactive Die-Cut Doors and Windows Peek through doors and windows to explore a mysterious house in this innovative shaped novelty book for young readers who relish the lightly spooky, from the Caldecott Medal–winning and New York Times bestselling Jon Klassen, creator of I Want My Hat Back and The Skull. Here are the things in this house: a chair, a clock on the wall, a stool, a lamp. And more. What’s missing from this house? Somebody. This is the house with nobody in it. Well, there might be something . . . Designed as a sturdy keepsake to read, play with, and treasure, The House with Nobody in It takes readers through a recognizable, cozy house, while layered die-cut doors and windows throughout introduce a hint of intrigue. This is the house with nobody in it—or is it? Pairing the familiar with a touch of mystery, Jon Klassen proves once again to be a master of breaking the mold, playing with expectations . . . and delighting even the youngest of readers. Hardcover (Board Book)18 pagesAge range: 3-7 yearsCandlewick, 20268 x 8.75 inchesISBN 9781536248289Children's Book

The House with Nobody in It

By Robert SeethalerTranslated by Charlotte Collins "A gem of a novella"—Financial Times "A luminous imagining of a great musician's inner struggles."—Kirkus Review An intimate portrait of genius, love, and betrayal at the end of Gustav Mahler’s life. In the spring of 1911, Gustav Mahler—wrapped in a wool blanket—sits on the deck of the Amerika, sailing back to Europe. The ocean around him is gray and endless, the air sharp with wind and steel. Not yet fifty, Mahler is already a legend: in Vienna and New York, audiences fight for tickets to see the restless, small man who commands the most stubborn orchestra in the world. Yet his fame is shadowed by illness. His body is failing, his wife Alma has fallen in love with another man: the young architect Walter Gropius. Mahler has begged, humiliated himself, tried everything to keep her. Nothing worked, except the certainty of his approaching death. Alma has stayed, tending to him with care, perhaps to ease his final passage. On board, Mahler reflects on life, art, and above all, love. Finalist for the Deutscher Buchpreis and one of the most acclaimed German novels of recent years, Robert Seethaler’s The Last Movement is a haunting, tender portrait of a great artist confronting his farewell to life. Hardcover112 pagesEuropa Editions, 20265.1 x 2 x 7 inchesISBN 9798889661801Historical Fiction, Gustav Mahler, Alma Mahler

The Last Movement

By Thomas MannTranslated by Lesley Chamberlain A sumptuous new translation of the sublime novella of desire, obsession, and one man’s downfall; another classic from the author of THE MAGIC MOUNTAIN. “Probably the greatest of modern German novelists.” ―The New York Times One of the pre-eminent works of modern European literature, this enthralling story of desire, beauty and infatuation follows the erudite, respectable writer Gustav Aschenbach’s descent into obsession. Aschenbach has always lived a life of structured routine, but he has begun to be troubled by diminishing creative inspiration from his strict writing schedule. While walking in a cemetery north of Munich, he has a dizzying vision which prompts him to abandon his settled life and travel south to Venice. On checking into his hotel, Aschenbach notices a young Polish boy of perfect, sculptural beauty: Tadzio. As he lingers on at the hotel, Aschenbach falls into an ever-deeper infatuation with the youth, whose curled blond hair and porcelain face fill him with rapture, and even seem to cure his stubborn writer’s block. Ignoring whispered warnings of a cholera outbreak in Venice, Aschenbach stays at the hotel and follows Tadzio with increasing obsession, his mind swirling with mad desire. Classical in structure yet roiled by disturbing passion, Death in Venice is an enormously powerful story of one man’s undoing. Full of coiled tension and vivid inner conflict, it is one of Thomas Mann’s greatest masterpieces, and appears here in a lively new translation by Lesley Chamberlain. Paperback112 pagesPushkin Press Classics, 20265.09 x 0.36 x 7.77 inchesISBN 9781805332688Literary Classics, Fiction

Death in Venice

By Hermann Hesse “Hesse is a writer whose peculiar vision is worth inspecting. His world is shadowy and close to areas of the heart that will probably never see light. But his vision is a rare one, as commendable for its humane solicitude as for its strangeness and unearthly color.” —National Review "What Catcher in the Rye has come to mean for America's younger generation, Demian proved to be for Germany's early post-WWI youth. . . . A quite believable, fascinating, moving portrait of youth." —Kirkus Reviews An acclaimed, influential, and visionary novel from Hermann Hesse, one of the greatest writers of the twentieth century and winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature. Demian tells the dramatic story of Emil Sinclair. Docile and unquestioning, Emil follows a precious schoolmate—the charismatic Max Demian—on a shocking decent into a secret and dangerous world of petty crime and revolt against convention. And it is there in the shadows that a formerly complacent and uncomplicated young man achieves a miraculous awakening to adulthood. The novel includes an introduction by Thomas Mann. Paperback 176 pages Harper Perennial Modern Classics, 19995 x 8 inches ISBN 9780060931919 Literature

Demian (Perennial Classics)

By Rainer Maria RilkeTranslated from the German by Edward Snow “The most trustworthy and exhilarating of Rilke’s contemporary translators.” —Michael Dirda, Washington Post A gorgeous new translation of one of the strongest inaugural works in twentieth century poetry. Long hailed as a masterwork of modern German literature, The Book of Hours (1905) marks the origin of Rainer Maria Rilke’s distinctive voice and vision—where clarity of diction meets unexpected imagery and first-person poetry discovers its full lyric possibility. In these audacious poems, a devout but candid speaker addresses an ultimately unknowable deity, passing through love, fear, guilt, anger, bewilderment, loneliness, tenderness, and exaltation in his search for meaning. In this dual-language edition, Edward Snow, “the most trustworthy and exhilarating of Rilke’s contemporary translators” (Michael Dirda, Washington Post), makes Rilke’s achievement accessible as never before in English. Snow retains a striking fidelity to the German text while also conveying the captivating psychological presence that animates Rilke’s best poems. Paperback368 pagesText in German and EnglishW.W. Norton, 2026Originally published in 19055.5 x 8.3 inchesISBN 9781324123460Poetry, Rainer Maria Rilke

The Book of Hours

By Brothers GrimmIllustrated by Sandra Dieckmann Dieckmann’s use of rich, saturated colors creates an enchanting atmosphere—deep forest greens, cool night blues, and warm golden yellows bring the scenes to life. . . . A beautifully illustrated and thoroughly modern fairy-tale anthology.—Kirkus Reviews Seeming at once fresh and classic, this collection of 22 handsomely framed and illustrated Brothers Grimm tales offers a mix of popular and less-familiar choices.—Booklist Twenty classic stories get a gently modernized twist in Sandra Dieckmann’s beautifully illustrated collection of treasured and lesser-known fairy tales. From internationally acclaimed creator Sandra Dieckmann comes a captivating collection of Grimms’ fairy tales, accessibly written and illustrated with an eye to inclusivity. Including much-loved stories like “Rapunzel” and “Sleeping Beauty” as well as more obscure gems from the author’s childhood in northern Germany, this splendidly illustrated gift book of twenty tales is poised to charm readers of all ages. Enchanted forests, wild animals, powerful princesses, and brave heroes all reflect a lightly modern take in this Grimms’ collection to be cherished by all. Hardcover176 pagesCandlewick, 20259.06 x 10.63 inchesISBN 9781536236491Age range: 4-8 yearsChildren's Books, Illustrated Stories

Grimms' Fairy Tales

By Amy Kurzweil This smart and spiritual graphic memoir not only chronicles the process that Amy and Ray go through to create a chatbot version of their forebear (‘Fred-bot’), but also asks big questions about how we memorialize the people we love and the relationship between technology and humanity.” —Chloe Veltman, NPR “A breathtaking graphic memoir, Artificial is also a tender family story and a meditation on how art, technology, and memory keep people alive.” —Francie Lin, The Boston Globe “Memory, both human and digital, plays a major part in the book. The illustrations draw you in; the words are pretty great, too.” —Erik Pedersen, The Orange County Register Winner of the Living Now Book AwardFinalist for the American Book Fest Best Book Awards A visionary story of three generations of artists whose search for meaning and connection transcends the limits of life How do we relate to—and hold—our family’s past? Is it through technology? Through spirit? Art, poetry, music? Or is it through the resonances we look for in ourselves? In Artificial, we meet the Kurzweils, a family of creators who are preserving their history through unusual means. At the center is renowned inventor and futurist Ray Kurzweil, who has long been saving the documents of his deceased father, Fredric, an accomplished conductor and pianist from Vienna who fled the Nazis in 1938. Once, Fred’s life was saved by his art: an American benefactor, impressed by Fred’s musical genius, sponsored his emigration to the United States. He escaped just one month before Kristallnacht. Now, Fred has returned. Through AI and salvaged writing, Ray is building a chatbot that writes in Fred’s voice, and he enlists his daughter, cartoonist Amy Kurzweil, to help him ensure the immortality of their family’s fraught inheritance. Amy’s deepening understanding of her family’s traumatic uprooting resonates with the creative life she fights to claim in the present, as Amy and her partner, Jacob, chase jobs, and each other, across the country. Kurzweil evokes an understanding of accomplishment that centers conversation and connection, knowing and being known by others. With Kurzweil’s signature humanity and humor, in boundary-pushing, gorgeous handmade drawings, Artificial guides us through nuanced questions about art, memory, and technology, demonstrating that love, a process of focused attention, is what grounds a meaningful life. Hardcover368 pages, illustratedCatapult, 20238 x 10 inchesISBN 9781948226387Graphic Novel, Memoir

Artificial: A Love Story

Edited by Przemyslaw Strozek, Rudolf Fischer, Antonella B. Meloni, & David WittinghoferWith Contributions by Meghan Forbes A stylish, rigorous documentation of the cross-cultural exchange between America and Europe during the Roaring Twenties Parallel to the avant-garde movements in Europe of the 1920s, unprecedented economic prosperity developed in the United States. In Europe, "America" became a cultural concept that emblematized an urban lifestyle, efficient labor systems and low-threshold entertainment. Certain exports, such as jazz, were embraced, while others, such as Taylorism, met with heavy criticism. In turn, European art and its new movements, such as Dadaism, Futurism and Constructivism, attracted both reverence and disdain in the United States. The American public learned about these cultural experiments through magazines such as The Little Review. Through expository texts and reproductions of poems, artwork, posters, sheet music and magazines, Modern Times documents the transatlantic exchange that occurred between the European avant-garde and American popular culture during the storied Roaring Twenties. The volume identifies the means through which ideas and phenomena were disseminated abroad and traces their respective receptions. Paperback246 pages | 150 color & b/w illustrationsSpector Books, 20268.27 x 0.87 x 11.02 inchesISBN 9783959058865Mixed Media, International Arts

Modern Times: Transantlantic Encounters in the 1920s

By Nora Krug "In this evocative graphic memoir, Krug wrestles with her family's ties to Nazi Germany and the weight of that history." —Time, 10 Best Nonfiction Books, Honorable Mention "Krug has written a thoughtful, engrossing graphic novel that is part scrapbook, part memoir, delving deep into her family’s history and trying to find blame or exoneration. In the process, she tells the story of an entire generation." —Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Best of 2018 “In her extraordinary graphic memoir [Belonging], Krug dissects antisemitism in her own family’s history and Germany’s national guilt over the Holocaust – and the country’s recent far-right backlash. … The curious appeal of Krug’s graphic memoir is that it never fully loses itself in the act of storytelling but constantly stops to turn over and reassess the means at its disposal."—The Guardian * Winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award * Silver Medal Society of Illustrators * * Named a Best Book of the Year by The New York Times, The Boston Globe, San Francisco Chronicle, NPR, Comics Beat, The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, Kirkus Reviews, and Library Journal This “ingenious reckoning with the past” (The New York Times), by award-winning artist Nora Krug investigates the hidden truths of her family’s wartime history in Nazi Germany. Nora Krug was born decades after the fall of the Nazi regime, but the Second World War cast a long shadow over her childhood and youth in the city of Karlsruhe, Germany. Yet she knew little about her own family’s involvement; though all four grandparents lived through the war, they never spoke of it. After twelve years in the US, Krug realizes that living abroad has only intensified her need to ask the questions she didn’t dare to as a child. Returning to Germany, she visits archives, conducts research, and interviews family members, uncovering in the process the stories of her maternal grandfather, a driving teacher in Karlsruhe during the war, and her father’s brother Franz-Karl, who died as a teenage SS soldier. In this extraordinary quest, “Krug erases the boundaries between comics, scrapbooking, and collage as she endeavors to make sense of 20th-century history, the Holocaust, her German heritage, and her family's place in it all” (The Boston Globe). A highly inventive, “thoughtful, engrossing” (Minneapolis Star-Tribune) graphic memoir, Belonging “packs the power of Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home and David Small’s Stitches” (NPR.org). Paperback288 pages, illustratedScribner, 20196.5 x 9 InchesISBN 9781476796635Graphic Novel, Memoirs

Belonging: A German Reckons with History and Home

By Brothers Grimm Illustrated by Kirkus Watts The beloved story of a red-hooded girl by the Brothers Grimm, illustrated by the legendary European artist Bernadette Watts. “The old is new again here, and this is a welcome addition to the fairy-tale shelf.”— Kirkus Reviews Little Red Riding Hood, “My what big talent she has!”—Kirkus Reviews When a young girl sets out to visit her ailing grandmother, she is tricked by a wolf she meets along the way. Only the quick thinking of a huntsman can help her and her grandmother, and she learns a cautionary valuable lesson. Readers will roam through the flower meadows on each page, drawn into this tale told with simple charm and illustrated with glowing paintings. Hardcover32 pagesNorthSouth Books, 20188.5 x 0.3 x 11 inchesISBN 9780735843035Age range: 4-8 yearsChildren's Books

Little Red Riding Hood

By Nelio BiedermannTranslated from the German by Jamie Bulloch “Lázár is an exquisite and masterly pronouncement that a gifted young writer walks among us.” —Patti Smith An “astonishing…disturbingly dreamlike” (Daniel Kehlmann, The Director) debut, inspired by the author’s own family story—a gothic, inter-generational family saga capturing the rise and fall of an aristocratic Hungarian family against the backdrop of the two world wars. At the turn of the 20th century, the Lázárs welcome their newest member in their rural summer estate, surrounded by a menacingly dark, enchanting forest. Lajos von Lázár is a baby boy with translucent skin and light-blue eyes who looks nothing like the rest of his family. Sándor, the imposing patriarch, is ashamed of his son’s peculiarity. Ilona finds her baby brother quite ugly. Mária is terrified that her son’s uncanny resemblance to the stagehand who died a couple weeks earlier might spell disaster. While Imre, Sándor’s brother whose otherworldly foresight is often confused for insanity, is struck by visions of a great catastrophe. Lajos’s birth is emblematic of the many secrets, affairs, and peculiar otherworldly happenings that plague the Lázárs. As the decades go by, they will continue to fall prey to their desires, leading grand lives, and experiencing even greater tragedies as they’re swept by the tides of war and revolution that befall their country. But time and again, in the lighter years, extraordinary love and hope shine through. Masterfully written and deeply haunting, Lázár is a magisterial novel that presents the sweeping history of a nation through the lives of one extraordinary family. Hardcover272 pagesSimon & Schuster, 20265.5 x 1 x 8.38 inchesISBN 9781668200551Literature

Lázár

von Rainer Maria RilkeHerausgegeben von Rainer Stamm Seit seiner Begegnung mit Paula Becker, Clara Westhoff und den Malern der Künstlerkolonie in Worpswede setzt Rainer Maria Rilke sich immer wieder intensiv mit Malerei auseinander. Auf seinen Reisen hält er fortan seine Begegnungen mit Kunstwerken aus allen Epochen in kongenialen Bildbetrachtungen fest und berichtet in Tagebuchaufzeichnungen und Briefen von seinen Entdeckungen und Seherlebnissen. Erstmals werden in diesem Band Rilkes faszinierende Bildbeschreibungen den Werken von Rembrandt, El Greco, Goya, Böcklin, van Gogh, Picasso u. a. gegenübergestellt, die Rilke auf seinen Reisen gesehen und in seine präzise Sprache übersetzt hat. Hardcover92 pagesText in GermanInsel Verlag, 20254.8 x 0.43 x 7.24 inchesISBN 9783458645047Books in German, Rainer Maria Rilke

»Im ersten Augenblick«

Kurt Tucholsky Ausgewählt von Marie Bernhard. Illustriert von Katrin Stangl Es ist ein fremder Hauch auf mir? Was soll das heißen – es ist ein fremder Hauch auf mir? Auf mir ist kein fremder Hauch. Gib mal’n Kuß auf Lottchen … In dem heiter-maliziösen Tucholsky-Lesebuch beichtet Lottchen einen Geliebten, es werden Ratschläge an einen schlechten Redner erteilt oder final die Frage geklärt, wo die Löcher aus dem Käse herkommen. Was man alles eventuell noch mal gebrauchen kann in diesem Leben und wie es anfühlt, mit einer großen Frau liiert zu sein. Und ein Gratisrezept gegen die Grippe gibt es obendrein. Das alles garniert mit kongenialen Illustrationen von Katrin Stangl. Natürlich war ich da mit einem Mann. Na, soll ich vielleicht mit einer Krankenschwester ins Theater? Lieber Daddy, das war ganz harmlos, vollkommen harmlos … Fester Einband123 SeitenInsel Verlag GmbH, 202512 x 1.6 x 18.4 cmISBN 9783458195535Literature, Books in German

Gib mal'n Kuß auf Lottchen

Von Sandra Richter and Anna Kinder »Der Dichter und seine floralen Vorlieben, kundig erklärt, liebevoll illustriert und mit klugen Analysen in Beziehung gesetzt vor allem zu seinen Gedichten. « -Tilman Krause, WELT AM SONNTAG »Einen interessanten, nicht jedem bekannten Aspekt von Rilkes Leben hat Sandra Richter in einem ... Buch beleuchtet – einem lesenswerten[:] Rilke als Gärtner.«-Dieter Kaltwasser, General Anzeiger Bonn Die erste Einführung in Rilkes Pflanzen- und Blumenkosmos mit vielen bisher unbekannten Texten und Bildern Es ist »die Liebe […,] die Blumen zwischen die Seiten« der Bücher legt, schrieb Rilke Ende November 1904 seiner Ersatzmutter, der berühmten schwedischen Pädagogin Ellen Key, und betonte weiter, dass diese »immer an dieser Stelle bleiben sollen«. Zeitlebens verzierte er seine Bücher mit solchen Zeichen der Liebe, bedichtete Blumen, die ihm als Lebens- und Liebeszeichen galten, entwickelte, pflegte und nutzte seinen eigenen Garten in Schloss Muzot, seinem letzten Lebens- und Arbeitsort. Rilkes Auseinandersetzung mit der Pflanzenwelt zeigt ihn als Gärtner im doppelten Sinne: Als botanisierenden Autor und als tatsächlichen Gärtner – als Pflanzensammler, Blumeneinkäufer, botanisch informierten Naturbeobachter und, nach Verfertigung seines großen Spätwerks, als tätigen Gärtner. Der 2022 durch das Deutsche Literaturarchiv Marbach erworbene private Nachlass Rilkes bezeugt erstmals umfassend die Blumen- und Naturbegeisterung des Autors, kenntnisreich kommentiert von Sandra Richter, Autorin der großen Rilke-Biographie im Insel Verlag, und Anna Kinder. Fester Einband110 Seiten, Mit zahlreichen AbbildungenInsel Verlag GmbH, 20257.2 x 4.8 inchesISBN 9783458195542 Literature, Books in German

Rilke als Gartner

von Arthur Schnitzlermit acht Zeichnungen von Egon Schiele einem Essay von Hilde Spiel Als 1926 die wohl vieldeutigste von Arthur Schnitzlers Erzählungen zum erstenmal erschien, durchlief die Wiener Gesellschaft ein Schauder. Die Gnadenlosigkeit, mit der Schnitzler darin den Seelengrund eines gesitteten Ehepaares bloßlegt, schockierte die Gemüter mehr noch, als dies sein Reigen getan hatte. Und doch ist es nicht der Blick in den Abgrund der Triebwelt, ist es nicht die Schilderung vorgestellter oder vielleicht gar gelebter Orgien, was an dieser Novelle bis heute so schockiert und fasziniert. Es sind auch nicht die Träume, die Albertine und ihr Mann Fridolin sich wechselseitig beichten. Es ist die Erkenntnis, daß kein Traum nur »völlig Traum« ist. Nicht allein Schnitzlers Ehepaar dürfte davon »erwacht« sein. Die Traumnovelle diente Stanley Kubrick zu seinem letzten Film: dem Welterfolg »Eyes Wide Shut« (1999) – als literarische Vorlage.Also available in English.Hardcover112 pagesText in GermanInsel Verlag, 2023Originally Published, 19264.72 x 0.47 x 7.24 inchesISBN 9783458192381Books in German, Novella

Traumnovelle

By Ken Krimstein Winner of the Bernard J. Brommel Award for Biography & Memoir For Persepolis and Logicomix fans, a New Yorker cartoonist's page-turning graphic biography of the fascinating Hannah Arendt, the most prominent philosopher of the twentieth century. "It's remarkable how lively Krimstein makes thought look in the book . . . cafe society scenes in Weimar Berlin in particular show how propulsive Krimstein's style is, how fluidly he conveys freewheeling conversations, how nimbly he switches gears." —The Chicago Reader "The astounding life of a 20th-century original as told by a skillful cartoonist frolicking in long form . . . A compelling performance with great pacing that makes abstruse political theory both intelligible and memorable." —Kirkus (Starred Review) One of the greatest philosophers of the twentieth century and a hero of political thought, the largely unsung and often misunderstood Hannah Arendt is best known for her landmark 1951 book on openness in political life, The Origins of Totalitarianism, which, with its powerful and timely lessons for today, has become newly relevant. She led an extraordinary life. This was a woman who endured Nazi persecution firsthand, survived harrowing "escapes" from country to country in Europe, and befriended such luminaries as Walter Benjamin and Mary McCarthy, in a world inhabited by everyone from Marc Chagall and Marlene Dietrich to Albert Einstein and Sigmund Freud. A woman who finally had to give up her unique genius for philosophy, and her love of a very compromised man - the philosopher and Nazi-sympathizer Martin Heidegger - for what she called "love of the world." Compassionate and enlightening, playful and page-turning, New Yorker cartoonist Ken Krimstein's The Three Escapes of Hannah Arendt is a strikingly illustrated portrait of a complex, controversial, deeply flawed, and irrefutably courageous woman whose intelligence and "virulent truth telling" led her to breathtaking insights into the human condition, and whose experience continues to shine a light on how to live as an individual and a public citizen in troubled times. Hardcover240 pagesBloomsbury Publishing, 2018 6.83 x 0.97 x 9.06 inches ISBN 9781635571882Graphic Novel, Literature

The Three Escapes of Hannah Arendt: A Tyranny of Truth

By Ken Krimstein “Clever, charming, amusing, and just plain brilliant. Ken Krimstein is the most inventive graphic biographer on the planet-and certainly the only one who could explain both Einstein and Kafka. A page turner on gravity and relativity!” -KAI BIRD, Pulitzer Prize-winning co-author of American Prometheus, the biography that inspired the Oscar-winning film Oppenheimer“For the science-challenged, it comes as a relief and a delight to have gravity and relativity explained in Ken Krimstein's marvelously inventive graphic novel.” ―The New York Sun “[Krimstein] engagingly chronicles a significant time period for both [Einstein and Kafka] . . . A fun, amusing fantasy about an important year in two icons' lives.” ―Kirkus Reviews From the award-winning New Yorker cartoonist, a graphic narrative revealing the pivotal year in Prague when Einstein became “Einstein,” Franz Kafka became “Kafka,” and the world changed forever. During the year that Prague was home to both Albert Einstein and Franz Kafka from 1911-1912, the trajectory of the two men's lives wove together in uncanny ways-as did their shared desire to tackle the world's biggest questions in Europe's strangest city. In stunning words and pictures, Einstein in Kafkaland reveals the untold story of how their worlds wove together in a cosmic battle for new kinds of truth. For Einstein, his lost year in Prague set him on the path to what many consider the greatest scientific discovery of all time, his General Theory of Relativity. And for Kafka, this charmed year was a bridge to writing his first masterpiece, The Judgment. Based on diaries, lectures, letters, and papers from this period amid a planet electrifying itself into modernity, Einstein in Kafkaland brings to life the emergence of a new world where art and science come together in ways we still grapple with today. Hardcover224 pagesBloomsbury, 20246.85 x 9.05 inchesISBN 9781635579536Graphic Novels, Biography

Einstein in Kafkaland: How Albert Fell Down the Rabbit Hole and Came Up with the Universe

By Hervé Tullet A playful celebration of sound completes the quartet of board book editions that began with Hervé Tullet’s mega-bestselling Press Here. Press Here, Mix It Up!, Let's Play!, and now Say Zoop! Collect all four interactive books from bestselling children's book author Hervé Tullet! "An irresistible journey of sound, color, motion and imagination."―Learning Magazine “There’s no one way to read this book, making each encounter a fresh experience.”―The Horn Book Magazine Make some noise! Shout "OH!" Whisper "oh!" Say "Zoop"? Yes! "Zoop!" "Zoop!" "Zoop!" This endlessly entertaining board book magically responds with bursts of color and moving shapes, empowering children by letting their imaginations liberate and direct each page's reaction. In this worthy and exhilarating companion to the trio launched with Press Here—the longest-running picture book on the New York Times bestseller list—Tullet's beloved dots will have readers literally "Ooh"-ing and "Ahh"-ing out loud in a happy collective encore. Say Zoop! is an ideal interactive book for toddlers and young childrenHelps children learn colors and participationExcellent as a preschool read-aloud book Tullet's books define the genre of participatory bookmaking, encouraging readers to explore and interact with the physical book in all its dimensions. The reward is tremendous: a journey of whimsy and sheer fun that extends well beyond the book's pages. FUN & EDUCATIONAL GIFT: This book's gorgeous graphic visuals make it an irresistible choice for gift-giving, and the addition of educational and emotional concepts offers an appealing bonus. STIMULATES THE IMAGINATION: Celebrate the magic of imagination and play on each page, where every action is a fun adventure! This unique interactive picture book about sound and participation is especially remarkable because the adventure occurs on the flat surface of the simple, printed page. AN INNOVATIVE WAY TO BUILD DEXTERITY: This is the perfect book for young children to learn about following directions using simple hand movements. Parents and children who have enjoyed I Have an Idea!, The Game of Finger Worms, and The Book with a Hole will love this latest and greatest from Hervé Tullet. Perfect for:The millions of children and adults who love Hervé Tullet and his wonderful booksFans of Eric Carle’s Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear?, Bill Martin Jr. and John Archambault’s rambunctious Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, and other books about sound. Hardcover46 Pages Age range: 3-5 yearsChronicle Books, 2025 6 x 10.12 x 6 inchesISBN 9781797239347Children

Say Zoop!: A Book of Sound―Board Book Edition

By Theodor FontaneTranslated by Peter James Bowman PERFECT FOR FANS OF JANE AUSTEN: A seamstress and cavalry officer fall in love across class divides in this “sparkling, tender, delicately ironic” portrait of 19th-century Berlin (New York Review of Books). “A joy for its humanity, subtlety and visual immediacy.”—Independent From Germany’s greatest 19th-century novelist, this realist masterpiece interrogates the strict social codes of a rapidly changing era through a wistful struggle between love and obligation. Lene is an orphaned seamstress; Botho is a nobleman and an officer in one of the Prussian army’s most glittering regiments. But despite their differences of class and education, they fall quickly in love, spending a summer together in a clear-eyed, tender love affair before society’s demands force them cruelly apart. Now married to a wealthy cousin, Botho learns years later that Lene too has an opportunity to marry. Her ex-lover must choose between holding on to regret or letting go of the past – along with the possibility of getting Lene herself back. Unusually progressive for literature of the period, this masterwork of Fontane’s portrays a love story that defies class boundaries, full of tender irony and vivid evocations of a quickly expanding Berlin and its bucolic surroundings. Fontane bring sharp psychological insight to his achingly sympathetic portrayal of two lovers torn between their hearts and the obligations of social circumstance. Paperback 208 pages Pushkin Press Classics, 20265.08 x 7.76 inchesISBN 9781805331612Literature

On Tangled Paths

Original Price: $28.99UP TO 20% ADDITIONAL SAVINGS FOR MEMBERS By Christopher Isherwood; Introduction by Gore VidalEdited by Don Bachardy and James P. White Best known for The Berlin Stories—the inspiration for the Tony and Academy Award-winning musical Cabaret—Christopher Isherwood (1904–1986) was a major figure in twentieth-century fiction and the gay rights movement. Where Joy Resides is the perfect introduction to the author's essential writings. This collection presents two complete novels, Prater Violet and A Single Man; episodes from three other novels, Goodbye to Berlin, Down There on a Visit, and Lions and Shadows; along with excerpts from Isherwood's nonfiction works, Exhumations, Kathleen and Frank, and My Guru and His Disciple. Paperback432 pagesPicador, 20205.32 x 0.96 x 8.4 inchesISBN 9781250254863Literary Collection, Reader

Where Joy Resides: A Christopher Isherwood Reader

"All Quiet on the Western Front" was the focus of our Literatur Café event in January 2026. To buy tickets to future events and find out more, please visit our Programs page here.By Erich Maria Remarque Translated by Kurt Beals "It is very fortunate that Kurt Beals has written a new translation of Erich Maria Remarque’s All Quiet on the Western Front, and produced a crisp, fresh and very much more faithful to the German original version that brings new life to one of the classic novels to come out of the First World War, and makes it well worth reading again, or reading for the first time. Beals’s translation makes it clear why the book has sold millions of copies in almost every language, and been made into two major motion pictures―it is a moving story about war, all war, and not dated at all."― Michael Korda, author of Muse of Fire "A leaner, far more kinetic reading experience than that old Wheen translation...lively, unsentimental...a welcome invitation for a re-read.― Steve Donoghue, Open Letters Review "We all know how the story ends, but Beals’s taut, approachable translation casts the wartime classic in a fresh light."― New Criterion The greatest war novel of all time rendered in a taut, muscular, and urgent new translation. An immediate sensation when it was published in 1929, Erich Maria Remarque’s All Quiet on the Western Front has sold more than twenty million copies worldwide since then, making it the best-selling German novel of all time. Its impact is indisputable: it has been adapted for film, television, and other media; has influenced all subsequent works of war literature; and has been taught in high school and college classes ever since. Until now, one translation―published in 1929, and very much a product of its time―has introduced most readers in English to Remarque’s wrenching portrait of the horrors of trench warfare. Now, nearly a century later, renowned translator Kurt Beals recaptures the energy and descriptive force of the German original, rendering Remarque’s distinctly terse, telegraphic prose into a contemporary idiom, conveying for a new generation the immediacy and intensity of this classic novel. Paperback240 pagesLiveright, 2026Originally published in 19285.2 x 8 inchesISBN 9781324097792War Fiction, Classic Literature

All Quiet on the Western Front [Paperback]

Von Rainer Maria Rilke Herausgegeben von Angelika Overath und Manfred Koch. Mit farbigen Abbildungen Wie in einem Paradiesgarten durchstreifen Tiere Rilkes Werk. Da tritt das fabelhafte Einhorn hervor, Delphine springen, Flamingos neigen ihr Haupt, Löwen brüllen, Schwäne gleiten. Hunde allerlei Art schmücken Landgüter oder verwildern in Städten. Der Dichter dreht gestürzte Marienkäfer auf der Fensterbank um, damit sie weiterleben können, und erfährt im Vogelflug seine Idee des »Weltinnenraums«. Auch wenn die Sphäre der Engel unzugänglich bleibt, geben Tiere doch Zeichen einer geheimen All-Verbundenheit der Wesen. Sie werden zu Lebenskomplizen, Echos der Seele. Die Anthologie versammelt Gedichte und Prosatexte aus Rilkes Werken, ergänzt durch ausgesuchte Tierbilder und abgerundet mit einem kundigen Nachwort der Herausgeber. Hardcover111 pages Text in German Insel Verlag, 20254.8 x 0.47 x 7.2 inchesISBN 9783458195498Literature

Rilkes Tiere

Von Matthias ReinerIllustrationen von Antje Damm »Und die Welt hebt an zu singen, triffst du nur das Zauberwort«: Kinder lieben Gedichte! Abzählverse, Gebete zur Nacht, Zaubersprüche, Nonsense-Reime von »Meine Mu, meine Mu, meine Mutter schickt mich her…« bis zu »Eine kleine Dickmadam/wollte mit der Trambahn fahrn«. Der vorliegende Band versammelt Gedichte für Kinder von Mascha Kaléko bis Christine Nöstlinger oder Robert Gernhardt: »Alarm! Hier spricht die Polizei/Bertolt Biber, der ist frei!« – Und durchgehend farbig illustriert von Antje Damm: zum Vorlesen und selbst Anschauen! Hardcover94 pagesText in GermanInsel Verlag, 202511.8 x 1.2 x 18.6 cmISBN 9783458645498Children's Literature

Die schönsten Gedichte für Kinder

By Anna Gmeyner Translated by Kate Phillips Preface by Eva Ibbotson Written in 1936-7 by a young Austrian playwright living in exile in London, Manja opens, radically, with five conception scenes all set on the same night in 1920. In the midst of the turbulent Germany of the Weimar Republic, it goes on, equally dramatically, to describe the lives of the children and their families up until 1933 when the Nazis came to power. The four boys and one girl, Manja, become friends, but their companionship is doomed because of the differences between their parents; one father is a left-wing activist, another a Nazi, another a financier, another a Jewish musician. Yet Manja is far from being a political novel. Its startling originality lies in the way the the political background is perceived, steadily, from the child's point of view. It has been compared with PB no. 152 Crooked Cross by Sally Carson, who was born the same year as Anna Gmeyner. 'What is so unusual,' wrote the playwright Berthold Viertel in 1938, 'is the way the novel contrasts the children's community - in all its idealism, romanticism, decency and enchantment - with the madhouse community of the adults.' Meanwhile the Manchester Guardian called it 'a remarkable novel, a book of truth and tenderness' and the New York Times referred to it as 'a tale of terrible beauty'. The Preface is by the author's daughter, writer Eva Ibbotson; the new translation is by Kate Phillips.Hardcover552 pagesPersephone Books, 2003Originally published in 1939‎5.35 x 7.64 inchesISBN 9781903155295Literary Fiction

Manja

By Elisabeth de Waal Anita, who has lived in Austria through the Second World War, comes to live in a large English country house in the early 1950s. She forms a close bond with its elderly owner, Mr Barlow, and another with his grandson Tony. But what does the future hold for any of them, for the house, and for England itself? Paperback322 pagesPersephone Press, 20195.51 x 1.1 x 7.48 inchesISBN 9781910263211 Literature

Milton Place

By Sally CarsonPreface by Laura Freeman Crooked Cross describes, through the eyes of one ordinary family, the Nazis’ growth in power between December 1932 and August 1933. It is extraordinarily prescient, anticipating all the horrors they were about to inflict on the world, and in this respect it joins a small group of novels, PB no. 39 Manja and PB no. 136 The Oppermanns among them, which were written to try to alert the world to what was happening. The main focus of the novel is on disaffected German youth: it shows with great subtlety that by the early 1930s there was huge unemployment, and a corresponding feeling of futility, and that what the Nazis did so skillfully was to provide a sense of purpose. Crooked Cross is an incisive account on why some young men who feel disaffected, lost or ignored turn towards authoritarian governments. Hardcover380 pagesPersephone Press, 2025Originally published in 19345.51 x 1.1 x 7.48 inchesISBN 9781910263426Literature

Crooked Cross

By Franz KafkaTranslated by Edwin Muir and Willa Muir Trapped in a bureaucratic quagmire, K., a land surveyor, struggles to gain access to the mysterious, impenetrable Castle, a symbol of unassailable authority. His attempts are met with inexplicable delays, administrative hurdles, and a pervasive sense of alienation. Franz Kafka infuses his narrative with existential dread, crafting a story that is both exasperating and amusing yet deeply human. It’s a tale of the individual’s struggle against the overwhelming forces of bureaucracy, power, and the quest for identity in a world that often seems indifferent. Well into the twenty-first century, Kafka’s tale resonates with anyone who has ever felt unheard or lost in a maze of red tape. Published posthumously in 1926, The Castle was first translated into English in 1930 by Edwin and Willa Muir. Although incomplete because of Kafka’s untimely death in 1924, the novel remains a seminal work. Despite Kafka’s instruction to his close friend Max Brod to destroy all unpublished manuscripts after his death, The Castle was preserved and published. The novel stands alongside Kafka’s “The Metamorphosis” and The Trial as one of the twentieth century’s most significant and existentially profound absurdist literary contributions. Paperback224 pages Dover Publications, 20255 x 8 inchesISBN 9780486855394Literature

The Castle

By Gabriele TergitTranslated by Sophie Duvernoy "A blend of page-turner and the highest literary quality." ―Der Tagesspiegel "Anyone who reads it will accompany the characters for many decades and take some of them very much to their hearts." ―Berliner Zeitung Three generations of German Jewish family undergo the tumult, upheaval, and brutality of nineteenth and twentieth-century history in this panoramic and skillfully nuanced family drama, rich with gossip and incident, capturing a Germany now lost to time. Gabriele Tergit’s Effingers is a novel, at once epic and intimate, about the lives and fates of three generations of a German Jewish family. Beginning in 1878 and ending in 1948, we follow the Effingers, a family of modest craftsmen from southern Germany, who are joined through marriage to two families of high-society financiers in Berlin, the Goldschmidts and the Oppners. The Effingers soon rise to prominence as one of the most important German industrialist families in Berlin, but with the outbreak of World War I, they fall on hard times and must navigate the tumultuous changes of the Weimar Republic. Full of parties and drama and delicious gossip, and featuring a kaleidoscopic cast of characters, Effingers is a keenly observed account of German Jewish life in all its richness and complexity. Tergit's precise and limpid prose dazzles in Sophie Duvernoy's elegant translation. Woefully underrated when it first appeared in 1951, and only recently rediscovered in Germany, Effingers is a meditation on identity and nationality that establishes Tergit as one of the most significant writers of the twentieth century. Paperback864 pagesNYRB Classics, 20255 x 8 inchesISBN 9781681379791Literature, Fiction

Effingers

By Rainer Maria RilkeTranslated by Geoffrey Lehmann “The New Poems are for me Rilke’s greatest poems, written under the shadow of ‘mon grand ami Auguste Rodin’ to whom their second volume was dedicated. They are ‘method’ poems. Not waiting for inspiration, but taking the handicraft of a poem, and setting himself subjects, the way a shoemaker might, or a sculptor. ‘Thing-poems,’ Dinggedichte, poems about things, but also poems that are ‘a thing.’ The two volumes are, in my view, two of the most beautifully made poetic sequences ever.” —Michael Hofmann ”In Rilke not only do the stones and trees become human—as they have done always and everywhere poems have been made—but humans become things and nameless beings and only then gain their ultimate humanity.” —Robert Musil Fresh, beautiful new translations of one of the most important poets of all time, publishing in celebration of the 150th anniversary of Rainer Maria Rilke’s birth. Rilke is one of the greatest poets of the twentieth century, revered throughout the world. Geoffrey Lehmann has selected fifty of Rilke’s finest poems from the two volumes of New Poems, considered the center of gravity of Rilke’s achievement. Lehmann’s refined ear and perfect mastery of English verse form give his renderings of Rilke a precision and poise equal to that of the German originals. In celebration of the 150th anniversary of Rilke’s birth, a master poet lives anew. Paperback128 pagesNYRB Poets, 20254.5 x 7 inchesISBN 9781681379944Poetry

Fifty Poems

By Stefan ZweigTranslated by Anthea Bell, Eden Paul, Cedar Paul "The fates of men are nothing to the universe, Zweig tells us – but he makes us care"—Sunday Times "Thoughtful, highly observant, and humane" —Guardian Five tales of family breakdown, political struggle, and monomaniacal obsession from one of the defining voices of the European Jewish diaspora. Moving back through time from the First World War to Ancient Rome, these stories play on the tension between religion, society and individual with masterful irony. We encounter heroes and bookworms, visionaries and gadabouts, patriarchs and rebels – united across the centuries by faith, and by the intensity with which they live and die, their individual passions blazing out against the forces of history. Includes: "Buchmendel," "Downfall of the Heart," "The Miracles of Life," "In the Snow," and "The Buried Candelabrum" Paperback288 pagesPushkin Press, 2025 5.07 x 7.78 inchesISBN 9781805331834Literature

The Last Miracle: Jewish Stories

By Mélanie Boureau Embrace the free-wheeling spirit of the roaring twenties with this beautiful, Parisian themed adult coloring book. A coloring book of rebellious flapper girl fashion, sensational hats, art deco patterns and chic Parisienne architecture, The Jazz Age: A Twenties-Inspired Coloring Book is the perfect celebration of creative freedom. Add color to Mélanie Boureau's beautiful hand-drawn scenes and experience the glamour of one of the world's most beautiful cities. Designed for adult colorists, this charmingly illustrated collection invites you to explore the spirit of the 1920s through scenes that evoke freedom, creativity, and timeless style. From sensational hats and beaded dresses to ornate architecture and bold geometric patterns, each page is a tribute to the era's visual richness. Perfect for relaxing, gifting, or sparking artistic inspiration, this coloring book is more than a pastime--it's a celebration of individuality and expression. Whether you're rediscovering the Charleston or imagining a stroll through 1920s Paris, the book offers a creative escape into a world of elegance and edge. The Jazz Age is ideal for fans of vintage fashion, decorative arts, and mindful coloring. Paperback72 pagesSkittledog, 20259.76 x 9.61 x 0.39 inchesISBN 9781837760923 Coloring Book, Jazz

The Jazz Age: A Twenties-Inspired Coloring Book

By Ulrich Alexander Boschwitz, translated by Philip Boehm A prophetic lost classic from interwar Germany, now translated into English for the first time, following a group of Berliners on the skids as their nation unravels. Berlin in the 1920s is the largest city in Europe, a cultural mecca, and a political mess: a hedonistic Babylon, though there’s little glamor for the hundreds of thousands out of work, the war wounded, the prostitutes, and the beggars. Come evening they too want to shed their cares at the Jolly Huntsman pub, where they gather to drink, dance, and reassert their pride. But there’s disaster lurking in the alleys and flophouses, a disaster that the twenty-two-year-old author Ulrich Alexander Boschwitz saw coming for his nation. In this dark comedy of petty theft, soapbox speeches, and bar fights is the disarray of a country devouring itself. Tragically, Germany’s self-destruction engulfed the author, who was killed five years after finishing this novel. When Boschwitz’s The Passenger was rediscovered in 2021, it was heralded as a masterpiece that captured the terror of the Nazi reign. Now, Berlin Shuffle—his literary debut from 1937, finally available in English, with a preface by the preeminent translator Philip Boehm—brings to life the society that would enable fascism’s takeover. The triumph of one of world literature’s spectacular talents, Berlin Shuffle is a dire warning sent from a pivotal moment in history to our own time. Hardcover256 pagesMetropolitan Books, 20255.38 x 1 x 8.25 inchesISBN 9781250869494 Literature, Fiction

Berlin Shuffle

By Charlotte Gastaut “A stunning, timeless marriage of story and craft. . . . Each page turn reveals new visual surprises through clever use of die-cuts and overlapping translucent pages. The physical act of turning pages becomes part of the dance itself, with readers uncovering hidden elements and watching scenes transform before their eyes."―Kirkus, starred review Inspired by the ballet of the same name; this spectacular gift book uniquely tells the age-old tale of romance and betrayal Exploring timeless themes of love, innocence, deception and betrayal, Charlotte Gastaut magnificently retells the story of Giselle using die-cut paper and transparent book leaves to fully immerse us in one of the world’s most famous and haunting ballets. Hardcover44 pagesAge range: 6 to 9 years oldTate Publishing, 202511.42 x 12.6 inchesISBN 9781849769488Children's, Picture Book

Giselle

By Olga Tokarczuk Translated by Antonia Lloyd-Jones AN INSTANT NATIONAL BESTSELLER! A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK OF THE YEAR “A folk horror story with a deceptively light and knowing tone … elegant and genuinely unsettling.” —The New York Times Book Review The Nobel Prize winner’s latest masterwork, set in a sanitarium on the eve of World War I, probes the horrors that lie beneath our most hallowed ideas September 1913. A young Pole suffering from tuberculosis arrives at Wilhelm Opitz’s Guesthouse for Gentlemen in the village of Görbersdorf, a health resort in the Silesian mountains. Every evening the residents gather to imbibe the hallucinogenic local liqueur and debate the great issues of the day: Monarchy or democracy? Do devils exist? Are women born inferior? War or peace? Meanwhile, disturbing things are happening in the guesthouse and the surrounding hills. Someone—or something—seems to be watching, attempting to infiltrate this cloistered world. Little does the newcomer realize, as he tries to unravel both the truths within himself and the mystery of the sinister forces beyond, that they have already chosen their next target. A century after the publication of The Magic Mountain, Olga Tokarczuk revisits Thomas Mann territory and lays claim to it, with signature boldness, inventiveness, humor, and bravura. Paperback320 pagesRiverhead Books, 20255.2 x 8 inchesISBN 9780593712955Historical Fiction

The Empusium: A Health Resort Horror Story [Paperback]

By Fiona Watt Illustrated by Antonia Miller Discover the magical world of Sticker Dolly Dressing! Use the stickers to dress the doll characters in this exciting version of the The Nutcracker ballet. Clara's uncle gives her a wooden nutcracker doll for Christmas, which, after a battle with the evil Mouse King, transforms into a real-life prince. Clara and the prince travel through a forest, filled with twirling snowflakes, before arriving the kingdom of the Sugar Plum Fairy, where trees are made of candy floss, cupcakes and candy canes. Clara eventually returns home. Has her experience been real or is it all an amazing dream? - The number 1 bestselling sticker series with characters to dress and colorful scenes to decorate- Over 200 stickers in every book!- With 12 scenes to complete- Easy to remove perforated sticker pages for decorating each scene- Hours of enjoyment to stimulate any child's imagination- Develop children's concentration and fine motor skills- Ideal for ages 5+- 44 pages of screen-free fun! Paperback44 pagesAge range: 5 years and upUsborne, 20259.38 x 12 inchesISBN 9781836051763Children's, Activity Book

Sticker Dolly Dressing: The Nutcracker

By Christine Estima A sweeping, tragic romance and feminist adventure about translator and resistance fighter Milena Jesensk 's torrid love affair with Franz Kafka. In 1919, Milena Jesensk , a clever and spirited twenty-three-year-old, is trapped in an unhappy marriage to literary critic Ernst Pollak. Since Pollak is unable to support the pair in Vienna's post-war economy, Jesensk must supplement their income by working as a translator. Having previously met her compatriot Franz Kafka in the literary salons of Prague, she writes to him to ask for permission to translate his story "The Stoker" from German to Czech, becoming Kafka's first translator. The letter launches an intense and increasingly passionate correspondence. Jesensk is captivated by Kafka's energy, intensity, and burning ambition to write. Kafka is fascinated by Jesensk 's wit, rebellious spirit, and intelligence. Jesensk and Kafka meet twice for lovers' trysts, but can such an intense connection endure beyond a fleeting affair? In her remarkable debut novel, Christine Estima weaves little-known facts and fiction into a rich tapestry, powerfully portraying the struggles of a woman forced to choose between the roles of wife, lover, and intellectual. Paperback384 pagesHouse of Anansi Press, 20255.25 x 1 x 7.75 inchesISBN 9781487013318Biography, Literary History

Letters to Kafka

By Júlia SardàIllustrated by Júlia Sardà "With the second installment in her Three Sisters trilogy, Sardà has struck gold. Both narrative and aesthetic ooze style, coolly occupying the intersection between cautionary folktale and coming-of-age fantasy epic. . . . The result is singular, not merely a modern classic but one for the ages. . . . Utterly spellbinding." —Kirkus Reviews (starred review) "Sardà’s intricate artwork reflects Carmela’s inner journey as much as her outer one, truly letting loose as Carmela gleefully unlocks her own free-spirited magic. A wild rumpus of sorts and a love letter to the outcasts, “the lonely, the lost, and the different ones”—and that is a beautiful, empowering thing."—Booklist (starred review) Gorgeous illustrations are the star of this fantastical adventure about hidden magic, growing up, and braving the unknown to find yourself. Everything is changing for Carmela. Her older sister, Franca, has new, mean friends, and Carmela is feeling lost and lonely. So she decides to go for a walk—to walk until she can’t anymore, then walk a bit more. Her walking takes her to a strange tower, and what she finds there will transform her life forever. In this companion to The Queen in the Cave, her authorial debut, renowned illustrator Júlia Sardà ventures into a mesmerizing world where mermaid grease washes away envy, a giant’s hair helps you face bullies, a circular library holds all your secrets, and a dome of crystal prisms opens a view to the cosmos. Dreamlike and filled with whimsy, the artist’s kaleidoscopic patterns, decorative borders, glowing colors, and layered, elaborately detailed imagery will bewitch young readers as readily as the title character does Carmela—and beckon them to return for many a visit. Hardcover64 pagesAge range: 5-9 years Candlewick Studio, 2025 7.48 × 9.64 inchesISBN 9781536243017Children

The Witch in the Tower (The Three Sisters)

By Charlotte Beradt Translated by Damion SearlsPreface by Dunya Mikhail "Beradt offers us not a complex hermeneutics of totalitarianism but rather a quite straight forward picture of the psychological effects of propaganda and manipulation upon a populace. . . . How does one become a totalitarian subject? What—aside from the threat of violence—are the necessary conditions? These are questions Beradt’s dreaming people daren’t ask themselves in the cold light of day, but the queries reappear under cover of night." —Zadie Smith, New York Review of Books "A strange, enthralling book. . . . The Third Reich of Dreams is a collective diary, a witness account hauled out of a nation’s shadows and into forensic light." —Mireille Juchau, The New Yorker The hidden history of a nation sleepwalking its way into evil. Charlotte Beradt began having unsettling dreams after Adolf Hitler took power in 1933. She envisioned herself being shot at, tortured and scalped, surrounded by Nazis in disguise, and breathlessly fleeing across fields with storm troopers at her heels. Shaken by these nightmares and banned as a Jew from working, she began secretly collecting dreams from her friends and neighbors, both Jewish and non-Jewish. Disguising these “diaries of the night” in code and concealing them in the spines of books from her extensive library, she smuggled them out of the country one by one. Available again for the first time since its publication in the 1960s, this sensational book brings together this uniquely powerful dream record, offering a visceral understanding of how terror is internalized and how propaganda colonizes the imagination. After Beradt herself fled Germany for New York, she collected these dream accounts and began to trace the common symbols and themes that appeared in the collective unconscious of a traumatized nation. The fear of dictatorship was ever-present. Dreams of thought control, even the prohibition of dreaming itself, bore witness to the collapse of outer and inner worlds. Now in a haunting new translation by Damion Searls and with an incisive foreword by Dunya Mikhail, The Third Reich of Dreams provides a raw, unfiltered, and prophetic look inside the experience of living through Hitler’s terror. Hardcover152 pagesPrinceton University Press, 2025 5.5 x 8.5 inchesISBN 9780691243511History

The Third Reich of Dreams: The Nightmares of a Nation

By Alexander M. Frey Translated, with an introduction, by W.C. Bamberger Phantomata, gentlemen, human or machine, female riddle for all scholars of civilized lands. A highly honored audience will see for themselves that they do not know what she is. What might she be—the greatest miracle of hypnosis, or the mechanical masterpiece of all time? Four tales of grotesque empathy from the Weimar Republic that include all the ingredients endemic to that period: maimed beggars, female automatons, cultural prosthetics, and the spiderweb of thin lines separating everyone from opulent decadence and dire poverty. First published in 1924, Fantastic Orgy is most notable for its title story, an account of a drinking rout organized for maimed beggars in honor of a sideshow attraction: a mechanical woman doomed to early death through disintegration from entertaining the masses—a depiction of a robotic woman preceding Fritz Lang’s less sympathetic presentation in Metropolis by several years. All four stories explore the emotional and material needs of a crippled society: the sociological, economic, and moral trap of poverty, and the hypocritical righteousness of charity. Like an etching by Georg Grosz or Otto Dix translated into literary form, Alexander Frey presents the troubling, at times fantastical notion of a prosthetic humanity for damaged times. Paperback 88 pagesWakefield Press, 20254.3 x 6.9 inchesISBN 9781939663948Literature

Fantastic Orgy

By Katherine Bucknell "Christopher Isherwood Inside Out is the best biography I’ve ever read. The subject, Christopher Isherwood, was a mindful, moral man, an example for all, and a wonderfully talented writer. The author, Katherine Bucknell, explores every moment of his life—English, German, American—and links them all to the vast ongoing project of his life and work. The book is long but every page is full of surprises." —Edmund White "[Bucknell’s] big blue book breathes and glistens. Her subject, who regularly meditated as a convert with Aldous Huxley to the Hindu philosophy Vedanta, is reincarnated. . . Stone by stone, [Bucknell has] built up a gritty, gorgeous monument to a curiously indelible 20th-century figure." —Alexandra Jacobs, New York Times A stunningly intimate exploration of the writer and gay cultural icon and of his lifelong search for authenticity. The story of Christopher Isherwood’s life is one of pilgrimage: away from the constraints of inheritance and empire and toward authenticity and spiritual illumination. Isherwood—the author of Goodbye to Berlin, which inspired Cabaret, and A Single Man—was born the heir to a crumbling English estate. He died an icon of gay liberation in California while his partner of thirty years, Don Bachardy, painted his death portrait. Isherwood began his career depicting the psychological wreckage of World War I. While living in Berlin, he began to write his reputation-making fiction and (with W. H. Auden) plays inspired by the city’s nightlife, its artistic underbelly, its fevered politics. When Hitler took power, he fled with his German boyfriend, who was pursued and arrested by the Gestapo. Isherwood left Europe and found work as a screenwriter in Hollywood, where he became the disciple of a Hindu monk, Swami Prabhavananda. Together they translated the Bhagavad Gita. Isherwood shed his family ghosts and became a chief instigator of the cultural shift that made gay liberation possible. Every step of the journey served his writing; one of our greatest diarists, he recorded his experiences and transformed them in fiction and memoir. Katherine Bucknell charts the quest of the restless, penetrating, blackly comic mind through books, films, foreign lands, love affairs, and collaborations toward self-understanding and happiness. Here is Christopher Isherwood Inside Out. Paperback896 pagesPicador, 20255.4 x 1.7 x 8.2 inchesISBN 9781250390578Biography

Christopher Isherwood: Inside Out

By Sheridan Le Fanu "Succeeds in inspiring a mysterious terror better than any other writer"—M.R. James In an isolated castle deep in the Austrian forest, Laura leads a solitary life with only her ailing father for company. Until one moonlit night, a horse-drawn carriage crashes into view, carrying an unexpected guest – the beautiful Carmilla. So begins a feverish friendship between Laura and her mysterious, entrancing companion. But as Carmilla becomes increasingly strange and volatile, prone to eerie nocturnal wanderings, Laura finds herself tormented by nightmares and growing weaker by the day… Pre-dating Dracula by twenty-six years, Carmilla is the original vampire story, steeped in sexual tension and gothic romance. Paperback160 pagesPushkin Press, 20255.07 x 0.5 x 7.8 inchesISBN 9781805332121Literature, Fiction

Carmilla: The Dark Sapphic Romance That Inspired Dracula [Paperback]

By Ernst Toller Translated by Drew Lichtenberg Hoppla, We're Alive is a landmark drama of the Weimar Republic and one of the founding works of what would become known as a powerful portrait of a fragile democracy at war with itself, inevitably corrupted from within by the rising forces of capitalism and fascism. Toller's main character Karl Thomas, a participant in the failed Communist revolution of 1919, has spent eight years in a mental hospital. Released into the much-changed Germany of 1927, Thomas encounters each of his former comrades in a world where all of the lessons of the first World War and the revolution seem to have been forgotten. Building to a powerful and tragic climax, Toller’s play has lost none of its power to shock, provoke, and awaken readers. Paperback86 pagesBerlinica Publishing, 20195 x 8 inchesISBN 9783960260424Theater

Hoppla, We're Alive!

By Hermann HesseTranslated by Basil Creighton A semi-surreal masterpiece about a man who believes his life is irredeemable until he ventures into the world of pleasure. The quest for self-discovery never ends, especially for Harry Haller―better known as the Steppenwolf. After a life spent in self-imposed isolation, Harry meets the mysterious Hermine and becomes captivated by her intoxicating power. Through their nighttime adventures, the Steppenwolf experiences the decadent underbelly of the bourgeois society he always despised. Harry becomes a man divided―lost in a surreal underground world of pleasure and set on a collision course with his innermost desires. Paperback256 pagesVintage Classics, 2025Originally published in 19275 3x16 x 8 inchesISBN 9798217006946 Literary Fiction, German Modernism

Steppenwolf

By David Carter See the vibrant artistry of Vincent van Gogh burst into life through dazzling three-dimensional interpretations of 5 of his most celebrated works. This imaginative book transforms renowned masterpieces into interactive pop-up creations, offering a new and tactile appreciation of one of history’s most visionary artists. Each scene draws readers into Van Gogh’s universe, revealing the swirling night sky of The Starry Night in dramatic relief; the serene intimacy of The Bedroom; and the vibrant colors of Wheatfield with Cypresses. The street scene of Café Terrace at Night and the delicate beauty of Almond Blossom emerge in meticulous detail, emphasizing the dynamic movement and profound emotion of his technique. These exquisite pop-ups amplify the expressive contours and vibrant hues that define his genius, inviting an entirely novel engagement with these iconic paintings. Van Gogh: The Pop-Up Book is both visually stunning and deeply immersive, offering a memorable journey into the creative spirit of a true master. This extraordinary volume is a perfect addition to any collection, bringing Van Gogh’s unparalleled vision to life in an unforgettable way. Hardcover12 pagesPrestel, 20258.25 x 10.25 inchesISBN 9783791391564Pop-Up Book, Vincent van Gogh

Van Gogh: The Pop-Up Book

Written and Illustrated by Wanda Gág Inducted into the Picture Book Hall of Fame in 2017 by the Indies Choice Book Awards. The original American classic with a refrain that millions of kids love to chant: Hundreds of cats, thousands of cats, millions and billions and trillions of cats. Once upon a time there was an old man and an old woman who were very lonely. They decided to get a cat, but when the old man went out searching, he found not one cat, but millions and billions and trillions of cats! Unable to decide which one would be the best pet, he brought them all home. How the old couple came to have just one cat to call their own is a classic tale that has been loved for generations. Winner of a Newbery Honor, this collector’s edition of Wanda Gág’s original edition—featuring a heavy interior stock, spot gloss and embossing on the cover, and a thread-sewn binding—will bring this beloved tale to a whole new generation of readers. Paperback32 pagesAge range: 2-5 yearsPuffin Books, 2006Originally published in 195210.5 x 7.25 inchesISBN 9780142407080Classic Children's Book

Millions of Cats

By Erich KästnerIllustrated by Walter TrierTranslated by Anthea Bell The book behind the world-famous film — in a new translation by Anthea Bell Luise has ringlets. Lottie has braids. Apart from that they look exactly the same. But they are sure that they have never set eyes on each other in their lives. When the two girls meet at a summer camp and discover the secret behind their similarity, they decide to switch places. Everyone is fooled (apart from the dog) and, despite a few mistakes and misadventures, everything goes to plan for Luise as Lottie and Lottie as Luise – until their father meets a young, beautiful woman and things start to unravel… Funny, moving, affectionate and improbable, The Parent Trap has twice been adapted for film – but the book remains one of the great classics of German children’s literature. Paperback144 pagesAge range: 8-12 yearsPushkin Children's Books, 20255.08 x 7.8 inchesISBN 9781805331704Children's Books

The Parent Trap

By Irmgard KeunTranslated by Kathie von Ankum “A highly original, extremely stylish novel...The narrator is a young woman whose irreverent and funny voice you will not easily forget.” —Daniel Kehlmann, New York Times Book Review “A young girl navigates interwar German society and the expectations—or lack thereof—placed upon women, in this poignant, melancholy novel from the late Keun…[This] heartbreaking story of dashed hopes is one that still has the power to affect and inspire.” —Publishers Weekly This enthralling tale of a “material girl” in 1930s Berlin is the masterpiece of a literary icon, rediscovered and restored to the same heights as such luminaries as Isherwood and Brecht. In 1931 a young woman writer living in Germany penned her answer to Anita Loos’s Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and the era of cinematic glamour: The Artificial Silk Girl. Though a Nazi censorship board banned Irmgard Keun’s work in 1933 and destroyed all existing copies, the novel survived, as fresh and relevant today as the day it was written. The Artificial Silk Girl is the story of Doris, beautiful and striving, who vows to write down all that happens to her as the star of her own life story. But instead of scripting what she hopes will be a quick rise to fame and fortune as either an actress or the mistress/wife of a wealthy man, she describes a slow descent into near prostitution and homelessness. Prewar Berlin is not the dazzling and exciting city of promise it seems; Doris unwittingly reveals a bleak, seamy urban landscape. Paperback224 pagesOther Press, 20255.24 x 8 inchesISBN 9781635425086Fiction, Literature

The Artificial Silk Girl: A Novel

By Siegfried KracauerAfterword by Johannes von MoltkeTranslated by Carl Skoggard “The reissue of this novel now is valuable, beyond its considerable historical and aesthetic virtues, because it makes pertinent points about today’s world, bedeviled by war, misery, poverty, and the enticing lure of despotism as an answer to democracy’s shortcomings.” —Thomas Filbin, The Arts Fuse “Ginster’s name belongs with modern literature’s antiwar activists from the Good Soldier Švejk to Yossarian.” —Kirkus Reviews When World War I breaks out, a young architecture student in Munich does everything in his power to avoid being enlisted into the German military in this perceptive, wickedly humorous novel by a prominent twentieth-century writer, journalist, and film critic. Siegfried Kracauer’s Ginster is the great World War I novel you’ve never heard of. Here, the sheer horrors are kept offstage, as in Greek tragedy, and merely reported from time to time. The setting is the German home front. Its Chaplinesque antihero—Ginster—spends the war gumming up the German war machine as he maneuvers to stay out of its clutches and save his own skin. Which he does; however, there is a deeper struggle going on between Ginster’s dreamy self-absorption and the pitiless organization of society, war or no war. Ginster has no wish to do anything. Alas, his reveries are forever being interrupted by the demands of an other-minded world. All the scenes of Ginster are well to the rear of the military action, yet with Kracauer narrating, military language saturates all aspects of civilian life in the homeland. Ginster’s nearest and dearest are so gung-ho, he feels that he’s at the front when he visits them. War, the author seems to say, is merely ordinary life seen from the back instead of the front. As a new European war darkens our horizon, one no more expected than was World War I, Kracauer’s novel feels timelier than ever. Paperback336 pagesNYRB Classics, 2025Originally Published in 19285 x 8 inchesISBN 9781681378145German Literature

Ginster

Written and illustrated by Aaron Becker The Caldecott Honor–winning creator of the Journey trilogy celebrates color and nature with a joyously simple die-cut book. People always ask for your favorite color. But who said you can only have one? Open this gorgeous board book to find an ode to ever-changing colors, offering a spectrum of hues evoking the sun, the sea, clouds, and dew-dappled fruit. In colorful grids of small squares—some translucent inserts, some painted on the page—Aaron Becker uses layering to make colors shift and transition from spread to mesmerizing spread. As fun to look at as an alluring paint-chip display and as inspiring as an artful concept book can be, My Favorite Color promises to be a favorite, well-thumbed read and a prized art object in itself. Hardcover16 pagesAge range: 4-8 yearsCandlewick Studio, 20208.5 x 8.5 inchesISBN 9781536214741 Children's Literature, Board Books

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