Darkenbloom

This is a new book. Condition: Brand New.

A panoramic novel of European history, by an internationally bestselling writer.

The whole truth, as the name implies, is the collective knowledge of all those involved. Which is why you can never really piece it together again afterwards. Because some of those who possessed a part of it will already be dead. Or they're lying, or their memories are bad.

It's 1989, and in a small town on the Austria-Hungary border, nobody talks about the war; the older residents pretend not to remember, and the younger ones are too busy making plans to leave. The walls are thin, the curtains twitch, there is a face at every window, and everyone knows what they are not supposed to say.

But as thousands of East German refugees mass at the border, it seems that the past is knocking on Darkenbloom's door.

Still, though, nobody talks about the war.

Until a mysterious visitor shows up asking questions.

Until townspeople start receiving threatening letters and even disappearing.

Until a body is found.

Darkenbloom is a sweeping novel of exiled counts, Nazis-turned-Soviet-enforcers, secret marriages, mislabelled graves, remembrance, guilt, and the devastating power of silence, by one of Austria's most significant contemporary writers.

'Darkenbloom uses the historical case of Rechnitz to investigate the nature of guilt and remembrance, repression and confession, public memory and public amnesia more broadly ... Menasse is, above all else, an astute observer of human psychology. Her novel's narration roams between characters, whose chunks of worldview and life story form a panorama of the town's haunted present alongside moments where the author-narrator addresses the reader with direct commentary on the Darkenbloomers or reflections on the nature of memory itself ... In Menasse's thoughtful hands, the invented town of Darkenbloom is not a cipher for one specific historical event, but rather a stage to explore more universal concerns.'
-Alexander Wells, The Guardian

'In Eva Menasse's historical novel Darkenbloom, the wartime secrets of a small Austrian town are compromised by the urgent demands of the present ... disturbing events are tempered by rich, omniscient knowledge of the characters, whose quirky humour and humanity amid an impeccable backdrop of clandestine forests and "undulating, dappled" mountain views captivate. Heralding the expansive disruptions of social change, the intricate novel Darkenbloom muses through an Austrian town's troubled past.'
-Foreword Reviews, starred review

'Darkenbloom is an epic achievement that ought to take its place as an essential text of European literature, devastating in its portrayal of how atrocities are perpetuated and disavowed.'
-Kate McLoughin, TLS

Book details and technical specifications

Format: Paperback / softback
ISBN13: 9781922585486
Published: January 2025

Number of pages: 480
Width: 154 mm
Height: 234 mm
Depth: 34 mm

Publisher: Scribe Publications