Everything you’ve always wanted to know about literature but were afraid to ask

K. is an occasional critic, a second-tier commentator who nevertheless writes about important books for a number of well-known broadcasting companies. The discussions he holds with editors about recent publications by Martin Walser, Martin Mosebach, Thomas Hettche, Fritz J. Raddatz and many others are outspoken, witty and direct. At the same time, K. is increasingly preoccupied by questions of survival and moves from Stuttgart to Leipzig because the rents are cheaper. But the fight over time slots for book reviews gets harder ... Has K. himself become incapable of continuing his work, or is he the victim of a book review that is committing self-eradication?

A courageous and deeply personal novel about strong women and the fight for a life after survival

Born into a Jewish pre-war family in Vienna, Fritzi’s childhood is characterised by visits to the Viennese Prater and early romances. As a young woman, she flees to England to escape Nazi persecution. She marries Theo, returns to Vienna and is a vivacious and warm-hearted mother to her daughter Lea. But sometimes, Fritzi is so overcome with a nameless sorrow that she cannot get out of bed in the morning. Later, her daughter Lea’s life also seems to be a success, full to the brim with marriage, children, grandchildren and career. Yet she too is haunted by dark dreams and family memories. When more and more people arrive in Vienna fleeing war and terror in Syria and Afghanistan, this challenges Lea’s feeling of helplessness and her successful life threatens to fall apart.

Rich in imagery, this novel takes us up close to one of the definitive feelings of our time: fear

Spending a year in Antarctica and enduring the polar night in a research station takes stamina and determination. That is what Erika appears to have: a renowned bioacoustics specialist, she listens to whales, goes on long dives and challenges herself by practising aikido. Barely anyone knows that she does all of this in order to fight back a paralysing fear, the fear of a world that threatens to overwhelm her. Then musicologist Judith, a young woman full of contradictions, appears in her circle of friends. As the two women grow close, Erika suspects that Judith has given in to the same force that Erika is battling against. Perhaps she went crazy, or then again, perhaps she found a counter-spell and saved herself...

With intelligence and tenderness, Rosemarie Poiarkov weaves the threads of quotidian life and its secrets, of memory and the present into a compelling contemporary novel.

At the flea market Luise discovers an old wax cylinder, used to record sound more than a century ago. The label reveals it was recorded in 1903, in Vienna’s second district, where Luise happens to live. What does the voice from the past have to say? How well do we listen and what are we willing to hear? The characters in Poiarkov’s immersive debut novel deal with these questions as they face their own issues: Luise’s boyfriend Emil, a sound archivist who loves recording cracking ice and rumbling streets; Luise’s friend Milan who passionately yearns for beautiful Zorica from Novi Sad; her other friend Julia who must face her alcoholic mother; and Josef Grasl, Luise’s father, who roams the streets in search of ghosts from the past.

Some moments feel like regular, everyday life, but turn out to be pivotal turning points that change our future forever.

One hot day in August Elena celebrates her 88th birthday. Everyone is there: her daughters Martina and Renate, her grandson Daniel and his girlfriend Sasha. Their celebration is abundant, with lots of honey schnapps, wild polkas, and much joy. And yet, all Elena can think about is Martina’s childhood friend Rike who fell to her death from the cherry tree right here in the garden fifty years ago. Tina Pruschmann’s intense and heart-felt debut novel delves deep into the lives and fates of its characters. It examines those special moments in life, those turning points that determine our future. They are days of irrevocable decisions; days when time and all its promises and desires come to a standstill.

A critical cultural history of terrorists claiming to act in the name of God while denying his very existence in their actions

Terrorists shoot into a crowd at Bataclan in Paris killing dozens; Guardians of public morals have thousands beheaded during the French Revolution with the aim of realizing the "ideals of enlightenment"; Dostojevsky's "Demons" murder because their nihilism has destroyed any sense of morals – What goes on in these minds? How can people declare themselves lords over life and death, thus putting themselves above God? When they act in the name of God or political ideals, Wali claims provocatively, they are in fact enacting the opposite: What drives these murderers is a fascination with violence, the feeling of absolute power, the desire to spread mortal fear, and the wish to destroy the social fundament of trust.

The last heartache was twenty years ago. Twenty years without heartache: Good grief, what a meek existence! A most unusual love story full of reckless charm

A man and a woman. She: Pernilla Brigido, once an acclaimed theater actress, now a charmingly elegant, vivacious septuagenarian member of Vienna's society. He: Ildefons Krehmayr, known as Illo, affluent master builder, divorcee and father of a puberty-struck daughter. He's twenty years younger and has led a life with temperate passions and ambitions. Coincidence crosses their paths and so begins a ravishingly outrageous love story that Pernilla and Illo waltz through with the grace of well-trained dancers. Until one of them makes a wrong move and oversteps a boundary better left uncrossed. But when the curtain rises once again, the two star-crossed lovers have already set out on a summery roadtrip…

With dark humor and chilling beauty, Cordula Simon writes of no less than the end of the world that looms over us all.

In an unnamed wasteland we see the blinking lights of Lightraff, an artificial town that was speedily built around an oil refinery and promises work in a world destroyed by climate disasters. Koslov, a barkeeper in Darkraff, is hoping to find his luck there, just like famer Schreiber and super slick Haye, who even managed to get a job in the municipality. The three share more than their hopes for better life in Lightraff: They share a single bed in shifts – eight hours a night for each man. Once the oil runs dry and the city's tight structure starts to flail, the three bed-sharers meet for the first time. Henceforth, things simply can't go well…

Only about once in a lifetime you truly get what you wish for. It happens for no apparent reason and comes as a big, unexpected surprise to the wishing person. And then the person has to make sure it doesn't become a burden, overbearing, stifling. My surprise was this summer. A crystal-clear and painfully beautiful coming of age story that we have all been waiting for.

Philine has a mom with a fickle love life and a bunch of changing dads. Instead of going to school she prefers going around the school and in water she turns into a fish. Then she also looses her foothold on land. After a breakdown, Philine moves to a quiet village, where she meets Planta – Planta-who-has-a-plan. Planta who serves her the best scrambled eggs ever at dawn and whose eyes are as blue as a shark pool. He shows her all there is to see, the highest and lowest places, and the bottle house at the lake, where everyone is welcome. Another life seems within reach, a happy, care-free life. But when winter comes and the bottle house commune breaks up, Philine decides not to break and holds on to everything that was, everything that wasn't, and everything that can't be held on to because it's somewhere between the lines and slips through your fingers like the quickest fish in the world: like everything you need to know.

An amusing tour through the history of parenting

A small consolation for 21st century parents: Mothers and fathers have had to face a load of challenges since forever. This tongue-in-cheek book charmingly traces what it was like to be a parent in past eras. Living up to the expectations of being a "good parent" has never been easy. Advice on conception and pregnancy was supposed to help create ideal circumstances before the child was even born. Infant care and child-rearing strategies have changed like seasons in the course of history. What is timeless, however, is parents' love for their offspring. Our ancestors already knew: Puberty is a critical phase and more than one ambitious father's plan was thwarted by teenage rebellion. What's the moral of the story? Most parents pulled through and humankind did not go extinct. So moms and dads, stay calm and carry on!