Alone in Berlin

THE ACCLAIMED INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER

One of the most extraordinary and compelling novels written about World War II. Ever Alan Furst

Inspired by a true story, Hans Falladas Alone in Berlin is a gripping wartime thriller following one ordinary mans determination to defy the tyranny of Nazi rule

Berlin, 1940, and the city is filled with fear. At the house on 55 Jablonski Strasse, its various occupants try to live under Nazi rule in their different ways: the bullying Hitler loyalists the Persickes, the retired judge Fromm and the unassuming couple Otto and Anna Quangel. Then the Quangels receive the news that their beloved son has been killed fighting in France. Shocked out of their quiet existence, they begin a silent campaign of defiance, and a deadly game of cat and mouse develops between the Quangels and the ambitious Gestapo inspector Escherich. When petty criminals Kluge and Borkhausen also become involved, deception, betrayal and murder ensue, tightening the noose around the Quangels necks ...

This Penguin Classics edition contains an afterword by Geoff Wilkes, as well as facsimiles of the original Gestapo file which inspired the novel.

Terrific ... a fast-moving, important and astutely deadpan thriller
Irish Times

An unrivalled and vivid portrait of life in wartime Berlin
Philip Kerr

To read Falladas testament to the darkest years of the 20th century is to be accompanied by a wise, somber ghost who grips your shoulder and whispers into your ear: "This is how it was. This is what happened"
The New York Times