Ada's Realm

“This book really stretches how writing works. It’s got sentient objects that are both waiting and intervening in the action—as far as a door knocker can do so—to bring about justice over many, many hundreds of years. The story encompasses four loops in history: from the very beginning of colonial Ghana, then we loop into Victorian London, and a Nazi concentration camp, and present-day Berlin. All the novel’s protagonists are reincarnations of one woman called Ada, they’re all dealing with pregnancy, and there’s one particular object that ties them all together. It’s beautifully written with multiple voices and languages, sensitively translated by Jon Cho-Polizzi.” Read more...

The Best 21st-Century German Novels

Katy Derbyshire, Translator