Kairos

Synopsis

Winner of the 2024 International Booker Prize, Kairos is an unforgettable novel of love, obsession, and political upheaval set in East Berlin during the final years of the German Democratic Republic. When nineteen-year-old Katharina begins an affair with the much older Hans, their relationship unfolds against the backdrop of a country on the brink of collapse. As the Berlin Wall falls and East Germany disappears, the changing political landscape mirrors the shifting power, desire, and contradictions within their own lives.

Intimate, psychologically complex, and historically rich, Kairos is both a devastating love story and a profound meditation on memory, freedom, and the end of an era. Beautifully translated by Michael Hofmann, it confirms Jenny Erpenbeck as one of the most important writers of contemporary European literature.

About the Author

Jenny Erpenbeck is one of Germany's most acclaimed contemporary novelists. Her work has been translated into more than thirty languages and has received numerous international honours, including the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize, the Thomas Mann Prize, and the 2024 International Booker Prize for Kairos. This edition is translated from the German by Michael Hofmann.

Publisher
New Directions

Publication Date
April 8, 2025

Format
Paperback

Pages
384

Subjects
Literary Fiction · Translated Fiction · German Literature · Historical Fiction

ISBN
9780811238533