Hinterland

The year is 1944 and Veit Kolbe, a young German soldier, injured fighting in Russia, is recovering at Mondsee, a village and a lake below Drachenwand mountain, close to Salzburg in Austria. Here he meets Margot and Margarete, two young women who share his hope that sometime, sooner or later, life will begin again. The war is lost but how long will it take before it finally comes to its end? In Hinterland, Arno Geiger tells of Veit’s nightmares and the strangely normal life of the small village, of the Brazilian who dreams of returning to Rio de Janeiro, of the landlady and her rallying calls, of Margarete the teacher with whom Veit falls in love, but who doesn't return his affection. But when Veit’s wounds are healed his next call-up orders arrive. The military outlook for Germany and Austria looks increasingly grim and Veit’s luck has run out . . .

A great anti-war novel, in the middle of which a love story . . . develops, full of tenderness - as around it the world shatters . . . This impressive, subtle book, A profound, distinctive and timeless investigation into what concerns everyone of us: aging and illness, home and family. A meditation on the things we find hard to deal with. A great work of literature about what makes life worth living no matter what, A book about the search for a lost world, a lost home and a character presumed lost, as well as about a rediscovered relationship. A powerful, grown-up, curious, and touchingly delightful book

Arno Geiger grew up in the Austrian Alps, in a village overlooking Lake Constance. His grandparents were farmers, his father was the local government clerk and his mother a primary school teacher. He studied German and comparative literature at university and his debut novel appeared in 1997. In 2005, he was awarded the inaugural German Book Prize, and his writing has won numerous other prizes. His autobiographical novel The Old King in His Exile was translated into twenty-eight languages and won several literary prizes. He is married and lives in Vienna.