Author(s): Jenny Erpenbeck; Michael Hofmann (translator)

General Fiction

Berlin. 11 July 1986. They meet by chance on a bus. She is a young student, he is older and married. Theirs is an intense and sudden attraction, fuelled by a shared passion for music and art, and heightened by the secrecy they must maintain. But when she strays for a single night he cannot forgive her and a dangerous crack forms between them, opening up a space for cruelty, punishment and the exertion of power. And the world around them is changing too: as the GDR begins to crumble, so too do all the old certainties and the old loyalties, ushering in a new era whose great gains also involve profound loss. From an internationally acclaimed, multi award-winning author: this is a story of love and betrayal set in Berlin during the years before and after the fall of the Wall.  

Matilda Bookshop Review

A chance encounter between Katharina and Hans in late eighties East Germany, and their subsequent self-abnegating relationship, is merely the stepping off point for this masterful novel. Dissecting the deeply personal, their shared love of art in all its forms is beautifully explored, against the broad swathe of history, the distortion of the aims of democratic socialism, this is a clear-eyed renunciation of the corrosive impact of power imbalances. Kairos, tellingly titled for the Ancient Greek for ‘opportune time’ is a deeply intense and rewarding work. GAVIN