Daniela Krien’s Love in Case of Emergency #9 on the 2019 all-year Spiegel bestseller list

Daniela Krien ranked #9 on the 2019 all-year Spiegel bestseller list (hardcover, fiction). Here’s what editors who bought it loved about the book:

»What is striking about the novel is the fact that it is so immersive, and memorable, even as it moves so fluidly and effortlessly from one woman’s story to the next. The different perspectives give it a kind of universality. We were all convinced by these five voices and their interlinked lives, and the structure makes it all the more gripping. Intensely readable fiction about modern womanhood that should strike many chords.«
Katharina Bielenberg, MacLehose, UK

»I fell in love with Die Liebe im Ernstfall from the first pages. Daniela Krien’s writing exudes tenderness and sensitivity. The captivating portrait of these women is very human and credible, it oozes authenticity. It is an emotive and poignant story and a deeply warm read that remains with you long after you close the book.«
Ana María Caballero, Editorial Grijalbo, Spain

»I was conquered by the intensity of this novel which tells the story of five women in a simple and luminous language, struggling with the freedom to choose and the price to pay to be themselves. Fragile and courageous women. Real women.«
Cecilia Perucci, Corbaccio, Italy

»Daniela Krien is an outstanding storyteller. Her protagonists are authentic and easy to identify with. In Die Liebe im Ernstfall she brings all five to life and into the mind and the heart of the reader. It's a must read book.«
Karen Kristensen, Forlaget Arvids, Denmark

Doris Dörrie’s Living Writing Breathing #21 on the 2019 all-year Spiegel bestseller list

Doris Dörrie’s Living Writing Breathing made it to #21 of the hardcover nonfiction section of the 2019 all-year Spiegel bestseller list. In absolute figures, this means 65’000 copies. The book has now spent 20 weeks on the list – and counting.

»She writes as though she’s telling a friend about her life. Authentic and warm-hearted.«
Elisa von Hof / Der Spiegel, Hamburg

»So touching, deep and true that it even moves those with no intention of putting pen to paper.«
Dierk Wolters / Frankfurter Neue Presse, Frankfurt

»Using stories from her life, Dörrie motivates her readers to rediscover their own lives through the act of writing. An inspirational book!«
Denis Scheck / Der Tagesspiegel, Berlin

»Living Writing Breathing is like an invitation to see the importance of one’s own life.«
Peter Grubmüller / Oberösterreichische Nachrichten, Linz

Praised for its humour: Thomas Meyer’s Wolkenbruch’s Reckless Rendezvous with the Seductive Spy

»The Swiss author Thomas Meyer has written a darkly comic political satire.«
Karin Grossmann / Sächsische Zeitung, Dresden

»It almost makes you want to cry out: ›Now that’s Jewish humour!‹«
Alexia Weiss / Wiener Zeitung

Spanish and Catalan rights of Patricia Highsmith’s Diaries and Notebooks sold

Anagrama snapped up Spanish world rights of Patricia Highsmith’s Diaries and Notebooks, Navona bought Catalan rights – this takes the language count to eight. Here’s the list of rights sold:

Catalan: Navona
English (North America): Liveright / Norton
English (UK): Weidenfeld & Nicholson
French: Calmann-Lévy
Italian: La Nave di Teseo
Portuguese (BRA): Intrínseca
Spanish (world): Anagrama

20’000 copies sold of Lukas Hartmann’s The Singer

Lukas Hartmann’s novel The Singer has cracked the mark of 20’000 copies sold. Italian rights are sold to Ugo Guanda. Moreover, rave reviews continue to come in, like this one:

»Hartmann dispenses with any pathos and bias, making his realistic novel even more gripping in the process.«
Badische Neueste Nachrichten / Karlsruhe

The press is watching closely: Christoph Poschenrieder’s The Invisible Novel

»Above all, with this small, yet luckily very visible novel, Christoph Poschenrieder succeeds in envisioning a writer who deserves to be snatched from relative invisibility.«
Kristina Maidt-Zinke / Süddeutsche Zeitung, Munich

»The novel performs a cheeky bow before the art of procrastination, or postpone-itis.«
Kester Schlenz / Stern, Hamburg

»The 55-year-old Munich writer portrays his antihero as playful and clever, in excellent, cheeky prose, supported by comprehensive research which Poschenrieder deftly interweaves.«
Günter Keil / Abendzeitung München, Munich

»Perhaps the novel really does exist, and Meyrink has sought out Poschenrieder as a medium, and the aforementioned novel is called The Invisible Novel. Who knows?«
Sven Hanuschek, Münchner Feuilleton           

Just published in translation: For Ever and Always (Doris Dörrie)

Munhakdongne (Korea)

Friedrich Dürrenmatt’s The Visit at the National Theatre London

Dürrenmatt’s The Visit is currently on stage in London’s National Theatre, starring Lesley Manville.

»I can afford justice. One billion for Güllen, if someone kills Alfred Ill.«

(Claire Zachanassian in The Visit, Friedrich Dürrenmatt)

Unto Us a Son is Given #20 on the 2019 all-year Spiegel bestseller list

Donna Leon’s Unto Us a Son is Given climbed to #20 of the 2019 all-year Spiegel bestseller list (hardcover, fiction). It ranked #1 for four consecutive weeks in May/June last year and spent a total of 18 weeks on the list.

Praise for Simone Lappert’s Jump and video

Even five months after publication, Simone Lappert’s Jump continues to be lauded by leading media:

»When I was reading the novel in preparation for the evening, I was so immersed in it that I missed my tram stop.« Christian Berzins / NZZ am Sonntag, Zurich

»Simone Lappert uses this [the event] like a key which opens the psyche of her characters, whilst shedding light on the state of society.«
Martin Ebel / Süddeutsche Zeitung, Munich

»Lappert’s writing style is emotive, vivid, empathic.«
Caroline Micaela Hauger / Schweizer Illustrierte, Zurich

Italian rights are sold to Ugo Guanda. 

In case you didn't meet her in Frankfurt last year, please have a look at the video shot for ›12 Swiss books‹ by prohelvetia here: She has such charisma.

100’000 copies of Martin Suter’s Allmen and the Koi sold

Sales of Allmen and the Koi have cracked the six-digit mark just four months after publication of the sixth instalment of the Allmen series.

The first two novels in the series are also available in English, too. Please drop us a line if you’d like to know more.

Release date and shooting of Patricia Highsmith’s latest film versions: Deep Water and Ripley series 

The film version of Patricia Highsmith's Deep Water will be released by 13 November 2020 in the US. Directed by Adrian Lyne, Ben Affleck and Ana de Armas play the leads. 

The TV series based on the five Ripley novels by executive producer Steven Zaillian is to be shot by September 2020. The series features Andrew Scott (Moriarty in Sherlock, the priest in Fleabag) as its main character and Johnny Flynn as Dickie Greenleaf (The Dig). It will mostly be filmed in Italy. The first season will be based on The Talented Mr Ripley and comprised of eight episodes (more info here and here).

We are keeping our fingers crossed that these Highsmith screen versions will match the success of Carol, which premiered in 2015. New York Times critic A.O. Scott considers it one of the ten best movies of the last decade (here).

Tributes to Tomi Ungerer’s last children’s book This and That

»For over 50 years he illustrated the most beautiful children’s books imaginable.«
Andreas Platthaus / FAZ, Frankfurt

»As a person who created 140 books and 40'000 drawings, Ungerer was capable of anything.«
Frédéric Potet / Le Monde, Paris

»The master may have died at the beginning of this year [2019], but his imaginative powers live on.«
Sarah Pepin / Berliner Zeitung, Berlin

»There are countless picture books in existence, but of course the great Tomi Ungerer has created a very special one.«
Katrin Hörnlein / Die Zeit, Hamburg

Foreign rights sold:

French: L'École des Loisirs
Spanish: Kalandraka
Catalan: Kalandraka
Galician: Kalandraka

Just Published: Ingrid Noll, With Love, Karl

These unforgettable stories grant insights into an impressive life, a writer’s work, growing old and show a very personal side of the ›Grande Dame‹ of German crime fiction – funny, affectionate, wicked.

The entire Ingrid Noll gamut in short-story form: her criminal wit, her warm-hearted life experience, her down-to-earth gift of observation. In this book, there’s a cherry on top: autobiographical writing, resonant and impressive. A letter to her deceased mother, the role of her father. How she fell in love with her first grandchild. The first years of her life in China. How she would like her last 24 hours to play out. What annoys her about getting old.

Just published in translation: Traps (Friedrich Dürrenmatt)

Polirom (Romania)

Just published in translation: The Pledge (Friedrich Dürrenmatt)

Adelphi (Italy)