Siblings (Paperback) - Brigitte Reimann

'Spare, chilling, with wild flashes of vivid colour and the tempo of a thriller, Siblings jolts us into the beating heart of a family and post-war East Germany, conjuring the political dreams and divisions that make and ultimately break both' Lisa Appignanesi

1960. The border between East and West Germany has closed.

For Elisabeth - a young painter - the GDR is her generation's chance to build a glorious, 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. The result is this ground-breaking classic of post-war East German literature.

Translated by Lucy Jones

About the Author

Brigitte Reimann (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 passion ately 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 (Translator)
Lucy Jones is a literary translator who lives in Berlin. She has translated the works of Anke Stelling, Theresia Enzensberger and Silke Scheuermann, among others. Her own writing has been published in Litro magazine, SAND journal, Pigeon Pages and 3am magazine.