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Search results „Donna Leon”

Blogposts (130)

30 Jahre Commissario Brunetti – Donna Leon über ihre Ermittlerfigur

from 27/10/2023

»Guido Brunetti leistet mir beste Gesellschaft.« Ein Interview mit Donna Leon

from 08/06/2021

Ewige Jugend: Donna Leon und ihre Silberhochzeit mit Commissario Brunetti

from 07/06/2016

Milde Gaben — Platz 1 Spiegel-Bestsellerliste! Drei Fragen an Donna Leon

from 04/06/2022

Diogenes feiert Donna Leon

from 04/06/2021

Alles Gute zum 80. Geburtstag, Donna Leon!

from 30/09/2022

Auf Brunettis Spuren durch Venedig

from 21/07/2016

Donna Leon: »Tod zwischen den Zeilen«

from 12/06/2015

Ross Macdonald in neuen Übersetzungen

from 08/07/2014

Der Diogenes Verlag macht eine literarische Reise nach Italien: Für die Ferien empfehlen wir diese 10 Bücher all'italiana

from 08/07/2022

»Gefährliche Ferien«: Reisen Sie zu den Schauplätzen Ihrer Lieblingskrimis

from 04/05/2016

Donna Leon und Brunetti feiern 25. Jubiläum

from 25/05/2016
More blogposts

Books and authors (8)

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Die Welt ist im Kopf
Im Warenkorb
Christoph Poschenrieder

The World in the Head

He is done with studying – now he wants to live. A month-long journey takes the young Schopenhauer from Dresden to Venice, from Goethe to Lord Byron, over rugged mountains and through broad valleys into the labyrinth of canals – and the maelstrom of reality. Schopenhauer would be only too pleased to see philosophers and writers reacting to his ideas – to see Hegel giving up his throne, and the elderly Goethe paying tribute to him, a mere 30 year old. But publication of his groundbreaking work has been delayed. And so Schopenhauer leaves Dresden for Italy in the late summer of 1818 without his book in his suitcase – he is still a nobody. Even before he arrives he attracts the attention of Metternich's secret police: Goethe's note recommending him to Lord Byron – a man with a wide reputation as a poet and as a figure of scandal – casts suspicion on Schopenhauer and makes him unwelcome in Austrian-occupied Veneto. But once he gets to Venice, Schopenhauer refuses to be driven out and certainly not after he meets Teresa. For Teresa shows the young philosopher that he still needs to rethink one point in his world view: his idea of love.
Christoph Poschenrieder gives us a Schopenhauer who is somewhat different from what he is generally imagined. His hero still sees the world through the lens of his philosophy, it is true, but that philosophy, like the man himself, is surprisingly sensual and lively.

Further readings
  • Fact sheet PDF
Fräulein Hedwig
Im Warenkorb
Christoph Poschenrieder

Miss Hedwig

Hedwig is an unmarried woman who works in the countryside as a primary school teacher. Already at a young age, she frequently reports being ill. The pastor sees her as a lost soul; the doctor diagnoses a nervous disorder — and her family doesn’t understand her.


It is the turn of the 20th century — an old era gives way to modernity, and Hedwig is leading a quiet, solitary life. Her emotional outbreaks begin to increasingly unsettle those around her. Eventually, the rise of the Nazi dictatorship puts her life as a mentally ill woman in grave danger.

Further readings
  • Fact sheet PDF
Donna Leon

Donna Leon

Donna Leon, born in New Jersey in 1942, has worked as a travel guide in Rome and as a copywriter in London. She taught literature in universities in Iran, China, and Saudi Arabia. The Brunetti novels brought her to world-wide fame. Donna Leon lived in Italy for many years, and although she now lives in Switzerland, she often visits Venice.

Der Spiegelkasten
Im Warenkorb
Christoph Poschenrieder

The Mirror Box

A moving novel about the power of memory and imagination – set both in the horrifying reality of World War I and the virtual world of today. In spring of 1915 the German-Jewish officer Ismar Manneberg writes a letter from the trenches to a woman who does not really exist – addressing it to any old Miss Müller. After all, all of his comrades are sending letters home. Much to his surprise, he gets a reply. Ninety years later a great-nephew finds Ismar Manneberg's photo album, and in it the faded picture of a mirror box. The young man is in the midst of a personal and career-related crisis. When an email arrives from ›WarGirl18‹, who seems to know something about the mysterious mirror box, he completely loses the plot. Events from long ago are charged with an immense explosive force that brings them all the way into the present. A prominent story that you think you already know – told from a radical new perspective.

Further readings
  • Fact sheet PDF
Kind ohne Namen
Im Warenkorb
Christoph Poschenrieder

A Child with No Name

A modern saga about the fear of the other, set in a small village.

After a year at university, Xenia returns to her home – a village in the middle of nowhere. She is pregnant, but does not want anyone to find out.

When a dozen foreigners are provided with temporary accommodation in the school, there is uproar in the village. In order to restore peace, Xenia’s mother gets involved in an ominous deal with the secret ruler of the region, unknowingly endangering the life of her unborn grandchild.

Further readings
  • Fact sheet PDF
  • Extract in German
Gabriella Gamberini Zimmermann

Gabriella Gamberini Zimmermann

Gabriella Gamberini Zimmermann, born in France in 1957, emigrated to Venice, where Donna Leon was one of her close neighbours for a number of years.

Das Sandkorn
Im Warenkorb
Christoph Poschenrieder

A Grain of Sand

1914. A man scatters sand from the South of Italy on the streets of Berlin. At a time of war, such behaviour is not only strange, but suspicious, too. The inspector who takes on the mysterious case finds himself caught up in a story of love and taboo between two men and a woman: Jacob Tolmeyn, an art historian from Berlin, fears persecution due to his homosexuality and takes up a research post in Southern Italy, far away from the dangers of the big city. He inspects the Staufian forts together with his assistant Beat, a former Papal Swiss Guard, when they meet Letizia, an Italian women’s rights campaigner. The three of them experience the dangers and opportunities of their era until Tolmeyn returns to Berlin, where he unwillingly attracts the inspector’s attention with a trail of sand.

A Grain of Sand on the Longlist of the German Book Prize 2014.

Further readings
  • Fact sheet PDF
  • Extract in German
Der unsichtbare Roman
Im Warenkorb
Christoph Poschenrieder

The Invisible Novel

A writer is led into temptation by the German Foreign Office.

The novel about the power of conspiracy theories and fake news tells the story of a genuine historical event with mischievous and laconic humour.

Who is to blame for World War I? In 1918 the question becomes ever more urgent. In his villa on Lake Starnberg the bestselling writer Gustav Meyrink receives an offer from the German Foreign Office. Would he be willing – for a decent fee – to write a novel pinning the blame for all the blood spilled on the freemasons? Meyrink, who is actually an unpatriotic writer and yoga practitioner, accepts the advance – and gets himself into hot water.

»Words win wars.«

Further readings
  • Fact sheet PDF
  • Extract in German
Roberta Pianaro

Roberta Pianaro

Roberta Pianaro, born in 1948, has a jewellery workshop and a much used kitchen. Donna Leon calls Roberta the ›Risotto Queen‹ and often gets to enjoy her cooking. Just as well, for numerous dishes from Roberta's kitchen are served to the Brunettis as well.
Ein Leben lang
Im Warenkorb
Christoph Poschenrieder

For a Lifetime

A group of childhood friends are just beginning to go their separate ways when one of them is suddenly arrested for murder, charged with killing his uncle out of greed. The seemingly endless trial, based on circumstantial evidence, turns everything on its head. The accused man’s friends take his side: surely he cannot – he must not – be a murderer. But fifteen years after the verdict, when a journalist reopens the investigation, loyalties are brought into question once more.

Further readings
  • Fact sheet PDF
  • Extract in German
Mauersegler
Im Warenkorb
Christoph Poschenrieder

Common Swift

Five old friends – successful, affluent men who have shaped the country – venture into an experiment. Together they found a flatshare in a beautiful house with a sea view, and make a pact: each of them should be able to die in the way he chooses – and the others will help him. But first they enjoy their retirement. They smoke, drink, eat, what and when they want, without having wives or nurses telling them not to. When it gets serious for the first of them, they activate the ›Death Angel Programme‹ as designed by the computer buff of the flatshare. And they hire Katarina, a nurse from Kirgizia, who has her very own ideas about how to fill the villa with life again...

Further readings
  • Fact sheet PDF
  • Extract in German
Toni Sepeda

Toni Sepeda

Toni Sepeda (1942–2020) taught literature and art history at the University of Maryland for many years, the same institution where Donna Leon used to work. She has co-authored an American guide to Venice. One of her university lecture series was dedicated to Brunetti's Venice.


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