The opening of Julia Frank’s novel is among the most powerful in recent years, a narrative so assured that the reader is gripped…This is a great, big silence-breaker of a novel, a laser beam into the German darkness from a writer who, one feels, has a great deal more to say
Norman Lebrecht, Evening Standard

The opening of Julia Frank’s novel is among the most powerful in recent years, a narrative so assured that the reader is gripped…This is a great, big silence-breaker of a novel, a laser beam into the German darkness from a writer who, one feels, has a great deal more to say
Norman Lebrecht, Evening Standard

Franck’s command of the language of misery and loss is awesome, but so is her gift for describing the warmth of burgeoning life when things are going right.
Melissa Katsoulis, The Times

It is not surprising that this book won the German Book Prize…It is a rich moving and complex novel... The narrative is gripping, the atmosphere densely oppressive. The tone has the authority which comes only when people, feelings, thoughts, scenes, and actions have been so thoroughly imagined that you can’t conceive of events turning out otherwise than they are presented.
Allan Massie, The Scotsman

Franck’s command of the language of misery and loss is awesome, but so is her gift for describing the warmth of burgeoning life when things are going right
Melissa Katsoulis, The Times

Franck’s command of the language of misery and loss is awesome, but so is her gift for describing the warmth of burgeoning life when things are going right
Melissa Katsoulis, The Times

Elegant novel … Franck’s great strength is her ability to place her characters in unenviable situations yet retain the reader’s sympathy.
Gordon Darroch, Herald

Elegant novel … Franck’s great strength is her ability to place her characters in unenviable situations yet retain the reader’s sympathy.
Gordon Darroch, Herald

One of the most haunting works I have ever read about 20th century Germany…The book’s moral perspective is faultless, as is Franck’s sensitivity to character, sexuality and the struggle to be a free woman in a fascist society…The Blind Side of the Heart is a masterpiece.
Julia Pascal, Independent

Julia Franck’s novel, winner of the German Book Prize, is beautifully constructed… Franck has a remarkable ability to capture the nuances of human behaviour, and her subtle depiction of Helen’s growing coldness, or 'blindness' and the wider blindness of a society heading for disaster, is utterly compelling.'
Independent

It is not surprising that this book…won the German Book Prize…it is a rich moving and complex novel. It demands close attention from the reader, and deserves to get it. One German critic called it “a great novel, a story without a happy end, a period painting that deals with destiny and involvement in historical events – a family story told with painful precision”. This is an accurate assessment…the narrative is gripping, the atmosphere densely oppressive. The tone has the authority which comes only when people, feelings, thoughts, scenes, and actions have been so thoroughly imagined that you can’t conceive of events turning out otherwise than they are presented.
Allan Massie, The Scotsman

It is not surprising that this book…won the German Book Prize…it is a rich moving and complex novel. It demands close attention from the reader, and deserves to get it. One German critic called it “a great novel, a story without a happy end, a period painting that deals with destiny and involvement in historical events – a family story told with painful precision”. This is an accurate assessment…the narrative is gripping, the atmosphere densely oppressive. The tone has the authority which comes only when people, feelings, thoughts, scenes, and actions have been so thoroughly imagined that you can’t conceive of events turning out otherwise than they are presented.
Allan Massie, The Scotsman

With its intriguing plot and strong characterisation, Julia Franck’s novel depicts beautifully both personal and historical tragedies, and gives us a compelling portrait of a remarkable woman in difficult times.
WBQ

With its intriguing plot and strong characterisation, Julia Franck’s novel depicts beautifully both personal and historical tragedies, and gives us a compelling portrait of a remarkable woman in difficult times.
WBQ

Read it and weep.
http://lizzysiddal.wordpress.com

Read it and weep.
http://lizzysiddal.wordpress.com

One of the most haunting works I have ever read about 20th century Germany…The book’s moral perspective is faultless, as is Franck’s sensitivity to character, sexuality and the struggle to be a free woman in a fascist society…The Blind Side of the Heart is a masterpiece
Julia Pascal, The Independent

One of the most haunting works I have ever read about 20th century Germany…The book’s moral perspective is faultless, as is Franck’s sensitivity to character, sexuality and the struggle to be a free woman in a fascist society…The Blind Side of the Heart is a masterpiece
Julia Pascal, The Independent

It is an admirable book and in its best passages is inspired and haunting
Jane Yager, TLS

It is an admirable book and in its best passages is inspired and haunting
Jane Yager, TLS

Generations of women survive, most movingly, in the wreckage left by total war
Boyd Tonkin, Independent

Generations of women survive, most movingly, in the wreckage left by total war
Boyd Tonkin, Independent

There is a relentless sense of purpose about the complex, ever-shifting narrative that continually tests the reader
Eileen Battersby, Irish Times

There is a relentless sense of purpose about the complex, ever-shifting narrative that continually tests the reader
Eileen Battersby, Irish Times

Heart-rending
The Guardian, AS Byatt

Heart-rending
The Guardian, AS Byatt

This novel shows epoch-making events through the eyes of the people – above all the women – who bear their brunt.’ ‘Franck movingly matches private and public life in a novel attuned to every exercise of power – and every act of resistance. As ever, Anthea Bell translates with grace and tact.
Independent

This novel shows epoch-making events through the eyes of the people – above all the women – who bear their brunt.’ ‘Franck movingly matches private and public life in a novel attuned to every exercise of power – and every act of resistance. As ever, Anthea Bell translates with grace and tact.
Independent

Beautifully constructed; […] Franck has a remarkable ability to capture the nuances of human behaviour,and her subtle depiction of Helene’s growing coldness, or “blindness”, and the wider blindness of a society heading for disaster, is utterly compelling.
Independent on Sunday

Beautifully constructed; […] Franck has a remarkable ability to capture the nuances of human behaviour,and her subtle depiction of Helene’s growing coldness, or “blindness”, and the wider blindness of a society heading for disaster, is utterly compelling.
Independent on Sunday

Begins in 1945, with a shocking scene in which a mother abandons her seven-year-old son at a provincial railway station. Then it flashes back into what’s possible the best fictional treatment of both the first and second world wars in Germany that I’ve ever read. Helene, the central character, is ambiguous and ambivalent, drawn with incredible psychological and emotional acuity.
Zoe Strachan, Sunday Herald, Christmas round up

Begins in 1945, with a shocking scene in which a mother abandons her seven-year-old son at a provincial railway station. Then it flashes back into what’s possible the best fictional treatment of both the first and second world wars in Germany that I’ve ever read. Helene, the central character, is ambiguous and ambivalent, drawn with incredible psychological and emotional acuity.
Zoe Strachan, Sunday Herald, Christmas round up

A rich, affecting novel
David Evans, Independent on Sunday, Christmas round up

A rich, affecting novel
David Evans, Independent on Sunday, Christmas round up