The Life-Writer

, said Katrin, I don’t want you to be like poor Dennis, of course I don’t. But you can’t just give up.

To his wife, family, friends, colleagues, strangers he became a living horror, his black eyes, black as anthracite, burning brilliantly in his sunken face

the man whose only thought was not to die, who had no other interest, no other conversation, nobody else’s doings, hopes, fears, interested him in the least, nothing in the world outside himself, no past, present or future, nothing, all he thought about and spoke about was how not to die.

Rich and allusive and unashamedly moving.”

—The Independent

“Spellbinding.”—The Irish Times

The Times Literary Supplement

The Sunday Times

Minneapolis Star Tribune

Publishers Weekly, Starred Review

Wall Street Journal

New York Times Book Review (Editors’ Choice)