An Honest Man

'A compelling story of love and betrayal in the divided Berlin of the 1980s' Sunday Times Best Books of 2019

'A beautifully written, evocative literary thriller set in Berlin shortly before the fall of the Wall' Financial Times Best Books of 2019

'A powerful and moving love story by a writer at the top of his game' John Boyne

In West Berlin in 1989, eighteen-year-old Ralf has just left school and is living a final golden summer with his three best friends. They spend their days swimming, smoking and daydreaming about the future, oblivious to the storm gathering on the other side of the Berlin Wall.

But an unsettling discovery about his family and a meeting with the mysterious Oz shatters everything Ralf thought he knew about love and loyalty. And as old Cold War tensions begin to tear his life apart, he finds himself caught up in a web of deceit, forced to make impossible choices about his country, his family and his heart.

“The stunning, powerful and addictive new novel by the prize-winning author of The Spring of Kasper Meier ...-- Attitude magazine”

The Other Hoffmann Sister confirms [Fergusson's] talent for atmospheric, morally complex historical fiction - The Sunday Times

Beguiling, unsettling, and wonderfully atmospheric - Sarah Waters, praise for The Spring of Kasper Meier

The rhythms of the prose call Graham Greene to mind - The Scotsman, praise for The Spring of Kasper Meier

I quickly found myself hooked...a compelling story that held me captive until the last page. And thank God it had a proper ending that left me smiling! - Ruth Hogan

Fiercely beautiful, this tender, yet powerfully told story of love and discovery cradles the reader in the most pleasurable way. A lush, unforgettable read - Kate Mayfield, author of The Parentations

Ben Fergusson's debut novel, The Spring of Kasper Meier, was awarded the Betty Trask Prize and the HWA Debut Crown, and was shortlisted for the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award. The Other Hoffmann Sister and An Honest Man complete a trilogy of novels set in the same apartment block in Berlin at key moments in the city's twentieth-century history. His short fiction has been published in journals internationally and in 2020 he won the Sean O'Faolain International Short Story Prize. He also translates from German, winning a 2020 Stephen Spender Prize for poetry in translation. Ben lives in Berlin with his husband and son.

'A compelling story of love and betrayal in the divided Berlin of the 1980s' Sunday Times Best Books of 2019 'A beautifully written, evocative literary thriller set in Berlin shortly before the fall of the Wall' Financial Times Best Books of 2019 'A powerful and moving love story by a writer at the top of his game' John Boyne In West Berlin in 1989, eighteen-year-old Ralf has just left school and is living a final golden summer with his three best friends. They spend their days swimming, smoking and daydreaming about the future, oblivious to the storm gathering on the other side of the Berlin Wall.But an unsettling discovery about his family and a meeting with the mysterious Oz shatters everything Ralf thought he knew about love and loyalty. And as old Cold War tensions begin to tear his life apart, he finds himself caught up in a web of deceit, forced to make impossible choices about his country, his family and his heart.

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