1960. The border between East and West Germany has closed. For Elisabeth – a young painter – the GDR is her generation’s chance to build a glorious, egalitarian socialist future.

For her brother Uli, it is a place of stricture and oppression. Separating them is the ever-wider chasm of the Party line; over them loom the twin spectres of opportunity and fear, and the shadow of their defector brother Konrad. In prose as bold as a scarlet paint stroke, Brigitte Reimann battles with the clash of idealism and suppression, familial loyalty, and desire.

The result is this ground-breaking classic of post-war East German literature. Translated by Lucy Jones

Format: Paperback
Published: UK, 2024
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
Pages: 144
Language: EnglishISBN 13: 9780241555842
ISBN 10: 0241555841