Author:Otto B Kraus,Lewys Taylor
Brought to you by Penguin.
'We lived on a bunk built for four but in times of overcrowding, it slept seven and at times even eight. There was so little space on the berth that when one of us wanted to ease his hip, we all had to turn in a tangle of legs and chests and hollow bellies as if we were one many-limbed creature, a Hindu god or a centipede. We grow intimate not only in body but also in mind because we knew that though we were not born of one womb, we would certainly die together.'
Alex Ehren is a poet, a prisoner and a teacher in block 31 in Auschwitz-Birkenau, the children’s block. He spends his days trying to survive while illegally giving lessons to his young charges while shielding them as best he can from the impossible horrors of the camp. But trying to teach the children is not the only illicit activity that Alex is involved in. Alex is keeping a diary…
Originally published as THE PAINTED WALL, Otto Kraus’s autobiographical novel, tells the true story of 500 Jewish children who lived in the Czech Family Camp in Auschwitz-Birkenau between September 1943 and June 1944.
‘Otto B Kraus brings together the strength of his own personal experience in the tiny barracks-school immersed in the darkness of Auschwitz with the story telling powers of an exceptional writer…He will from now on occupy the important place he deserves among writers of the twentieth century’
—— ANTONIO ITURBE, bestselling author of THE LIBRARIAN OF AUSCHWITZI read Ota Kraus' manuscript and am impressed. Yes, it deserves to be published.
—— ELI WIESEL, author of NIGHTHigh and glittering excitement
—— New York TimesNothing more exciting has been launched since Hemingway's Old Man and the Sea
—— GuardianOur Friends in Berlin is an immensely enjoyable Buchanesque adventure... Its descriptions of London under bombardment are vividly sensuous and beautiful… Its characters are intriguing and deftly presented… Most memorably of all, though, the book and its cast are shot through with a persuasive postmodern melancholy, the hard-wired ambivalence that is very much Le Carré rather than Buchan. This sensibility allows the novel to illuminate complex times.
—— GuardianQuinn’s gripping plot about spying is matched by the evocatively gloomy atmosphere of wartime London that he conjures up.
—— The TimesA wartime novel with atmospheric evocations of London in the Blitz
—— Sebastian Faulks , Good HousekeepingAnthony Quinn's Our Friends in Berlin is set in the Blitz, and captures the horror and strange romance of blackouts, near-death experiences and not knowing who to trust. An Atmospheric thriller.
—— Grazia, This Winter's Must ReadsA tightly woven spy thriller full of narrative hairpin bends and cinematic set pieces, this is so atmospheric you can almost taste the cigarettes
—— Claire Allfree , MetroAn eye for a plot, a profound gift for character and a faultless sense of period and place: Anthony Quinn was always going to write first-rate thrillers, and Our Friends in Berlin is pure pleasure.
—— David HareThe best spy novel set in wartime London. A masterpiece… Anthony’s book is wonderful. He is a master at creating page-turning tension. Our Friends in Berlin grips the reader from the very first page and won’t let go. Good authors create period authenticity; superb authors add their own creative mood music to that. Anthony Quinn’s Blitz-battered London is more than black out curtains, blast tape and wrecked buildings, it is an eerie setting of Hitchcockian menace.
—— Edward Wilson, author of A Very British EndingWild horses could not have spoilt my enjoyment of this pitch-perfect reimagining of British counter-espionage and anti-fascism during the Blitz. I raced through it – twice… to spend more time with Anthony Quinn’s superb characters… [a] classy, entertaining performance.
—— TabletA masterful evocation of wartime London and the plotting of Nazi sympathisers. Quinn’s storytelling is gripping, his writing delightful. An addictive page-turner that expertly combines both love story and thriller. You won’t want it to end.
—— David Young, award-winning author of Stasi ChildThis tale of wartime espionage is clever, perceptive and a very good read… Quinn’s vividly imagined portrait is entirely convincing… This story is beautifully written and elaborately plotted… the plaudits are well deserved.
—— Literary ReviewAnthony Quinn writes novels that I live in while reading them. Our Friends in Berlin, set in wartime London, didn't disappoint.
—— Red *This Month's Best Books*Quinn paints a gripping picture of a city trying to carry on as normal under extreme circumstances… You’ll find the pages turning faster as you approach the end.
—— Pat Carty , Hot PressI was sucked into this story from the start; something about it kept me in a trance… Excellent.
—— William Leith , Evening StandardAn addictive cocktail of action, romance and politics
—— Anthony Cummins , Observer