Read more
For Elisabeth - a young painter - the GDR is her generation''s chance to build an 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. This fervid, ground-breaking novel, written when Reimann was only twenty-seven, remains one of the cult classics of East German literature.
About the author
Brigitte Reimann (1933-1973) was among East Germany's most significant writers. Like her heroines, she was spirited and outspoken, addressing issues and sensibilities otherwise repressed in the GDR. She believed passionately in socialism, yet never joined the party; stayed with her second husband, yet pursued a series of affairs. Her stated aim was to live 'thirty wild years instead of seventy well-behaved ones'. In 1960, her brother left for the West and she began writing Siblings. She died from cancer at the age of thirty-nine, a celebrated writer and cult figure.Lucy Jones is a British translator based in Berlin. She has translated the work of Anke Stelling and Ronald M. Schernikau, among others, and was runner-up in the Schlegel-Tieck Prize in 2023 for her translation of Die Geschwister (Siblings) by Brigitte Reimann. Her own writing has appeared in SAND, Pigeon Pages NYC, LitroMag and others.
Report
Atmopsheric... complex, prickly, funny... Reimann's novel has the tense mood of a play - a family drama by Henrik Ibsen or Arthur Miller - with plenty of fiery dialogue between the characters about politics, industry and art... [Reimann] is a flash of colour in a grey landscape Johanna Thomas-Corr The Sunday Times
