Win Three Novellas from Melville House – the German Book Office’s Book(s) of the Month

In What's the Buzz by Helen Gregg

All books have now been given away. Thank you to everyone who entered!

For August, the German Book Office is featuring three novellas from Melville House, all translated from the German. All three are part of Melville House’s ‘Art of the Novella’ line.

A German classic, Michael Kohlhaas tells the story of a sixteenth-century man who suffers injustice and takes the law into his own hands. After horse trader Kohlhaas protests an unfair tax, things escalate until he becomes the heroic leader of a rebellion against the king.

Close to Jedenew begins like a classic German fable: Children from the rural village of Jedenew, Poland, get together late at night to play together in the dark woods. But their game is to pretend they live in the imaginary world of the Jedenew that came before them—when it wasn’t occupied by the Nazis, and their Jewish friends weren’t mysteriously disappearing one by one.

The hero of A Happy Man, named This, is a smart, interesting, quirky, jazz-playing zombie, who has a wife suffering from depression, and a discontented teenaged daughter. They find This’s contentedness more and more irritating, yet he just can’t help it—life makes him happy.

Want to win a complete set? Email your name and mailing address to gregg (at) newyork (dot) gbo (dot) org. A set of all three will go out to every TENTH respondent (note the difference if you’ve entered previous giveaways). Good luck!

About the Author

Helen Gregg