There, he falls into the open arms of the growing literary community that circles around Bertolt Brecht, an earlier returnee. Kanon’s protagonist is Alex Meier, a German-born American writer of considerable note who returns to East Germany. At least as effectively as any work of history, Leaving Berlin casts light on the early Cold War.Įstimated reading time: 5 minutes Blackmail and murder in the early Cold War And before Walter Ulbricht’s East German regime had begun shooting at will at everyone who crossed into the American, British, or French zones.
Before the Wall went up, when the border between East and West was still porous. Kanon has chosen as his setting the bleakest possible time and place: rubble-choked Berlin in 1949 as the Allied airlift to the isolated western zone of the city was underway. And Leaving Berlin brilliantly conveys that atmosphere. Then, it seemed as though open war might well break out between the two erstwhile allies, now both emerging superpowers. Set in the years immediately following World War II, they conjure up the fear and desperation that hung over Europe in the early days of the Cold War. Falling into the book is like falling into a vice it grips you, pitilessly, until the last page' Richard & Judy Book Club 'Hugely exciting' Daily Telegraph 'One of the most exciting books I've read in years' Alexander McCall Smith, author of The No.Joseph Kanon’s historical spy novels reek of authenticity. Praise for Leaving Berlin: 'An unforgettable picture of a city wrecked by defeat and betrayal.īrilliant' The Times 'Leaving Berlin is hauntingly and beautifully written.
But almost from the start things go fatally wrong.Įspionage, like the black market, is still a way of life. Now, the politics of his youth have left him embroiled in the McCarthy witch-hunts.įaced with deportation and the loss of his family, Alex makes a desperate bargain with the fledgling CIA: he will earn his way back to America by acting as their agent in his native Berlin. Berlin is still in ruins almost four years after the war, caught between political idealism and the harsh realities of Soviet occupation.Īlex Meier is a young Jewish writer who fled the Nazis for America before the war. He is the master of the shadows of the era' The Times From the author of The Good German (made into a film starring George Clooney), Leaving Berlin is a sweeping post-war story and an international bestseller. * Don't miss THE ACCOMPLICE, the next heart-pounding and intelligent espionage novel from 'master of the genre' (The Washington Post), Joseph Kanon * 'Up there with the very best.
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