Rachel Seiffert – författare

The Dark Room tells the stories of three ordinary Germans: Helmut, a young photographer in Berlin in the 1930s who uses his craft to express his patriotic fervour; Lore, a twelve-year-old girl who in 1945 guides her young siblings across a devastated Germany after her Nazi parents are seized by the Allies; and, fifty years later, Micha, a young teacher obsessed with what his loving grandfather did in the war, struggling to deal with the past of his family and his country.

SHORTLISTED FOR THE WALTER SCOTT PRIZE FOR HISTORICAL FICTION 2026FROM THE BOOKER PRIZE-SHORTLISTED AUTHOR OF THE DARK ROOM AND A BOY IN WINTER'A complex, intelligent, deeply compassionate novel about the unglamorous aftermath of war . . . A brilliant piece of story-telling' ANDREW MILLER, author of THE LAND IN WINTER'This fine novel investigates the fate of displaced people in the hazardous, dirty backwash of the second world war' GUARDIAN'Marvellous . . . a wide-ranging novel that beautifully balances the tumultuous reach of history with the everyday concerns of ordinary people' DAILY MAIL'Powerful . . . Seiffert's writing beautifully captures this devastating moment of history' SPECTATORTo be truly alive means having to make choices. To be truly alive is also, quite simply, to love.Northern Germany, 1945. Dead of night and dead of winter, a boy hears soldiers and sees strangers - forced labourers - fleeing across the heathland by his small town: shawls and skirts in the snowfall. The end days are close, war brings risk and chance, and Benno is witness to something he barely understands.Peace brings more soldiers - but English this time - and Red Cross staff officers. Ruth, on her first posting from London, is given charge of a refugee camp on the heathland, crowded with former forced labourers. As ever more keep arriving, she hears whispers, rumours of dark secrets about that snowy night.The townspeople close ranks, shutting their mouths and minds to the winter's events, but the town children are curious about the refugees on their doorstep, and Benno can't carry his secret alone.'Rachel Seiffert's outstanding novel is full of feeling but without sentimentality' JUDGES OF THE WALTER SCOTT PRIZE FOR FICTION'This entire novel reverberates in ways that only haunt the reader more and more deeply, long after its last page' PAUL HARDING, author of THIS OTHER EDEN'She has brought to life a complex interaction between survivors on both sides with humanity and compassion' LINDA GRANT, author of THE STORY OF THE FOREST'The patron saint of this gripping novel is Bertolt Brecht. This is a fascinating novel by one of our very best writers' JEWISH CHRONICLE

The new novel from the Booker Prize-shortlisted author of The Dark Room and A Boy in Winter'Complex, intelligent, deeply compassionate . . . A brilliant piece of story-telling' ANDREW MILLER, Booker Prize-longlisted author of THE LAND IN WINTER'This entire novel reverberates in ways that only haunt the reader more and more deeply, long after its last page' PAUL HARDING, Booker Prize-shortlisted author of THIS OTHER EDEN'Searingly beautiful . . . powerful . . . Seiffert's writing beautifully captures this devastating moment of history' SPECTATORTo be truly alive means having to make choices. To be truly alive is also, quite simply, to love.Northern Germany, 1945. Dead of night and dead of winter, a boy hears soldiers and sees strangers - forced labourers - fleeing across the heathland by his small town: shawls and skirts in the snowfall. The end days are close, war brings risk and chance, and Benno is witness to something he barely understands.Peace brings more soldiers - but English this time - and Red Cross staff officers. Ruth, on her first posting from London, is given charge of a refugee camp on the heathland, crowded with former forced labourers. As ever more keep arriving, she hears whispers, rumours of dark secrets about that snowy night.The townspeople close ranks, shutting their mouths and minds to the winter's events, but the town children are curious about the refugees on their doorstep, and Benno can't carry his secret alone.'Marvellous . . . a wide-ranging novel that beautifully balances the tumultuous reach of history with the everyday concerns of ordinary people' DAILY MAIL'I read Once the Deed Is Done with great pleasure . . . Great characters taking us deep into the physical challenges and moral quandaries of the time' TIM PEARS, author of THE WEST COUNTRY trilogy'Panoramic . . . this fine novel investigates the fate of displaced people in the hazardous, dirty backwash of the second world war' GUARDIAN'The patron saint of this gripping novel is Bertolt Brecht. This is a fascinating novel by one of our very best writers' JEWISH CHRONICLE

The new novel from the Booker Prize-shortlisted author of The Dark Room and A Boy in Winter'Seiffert writes short, fast narratives about the big historical events that have shaped our time' The TimesTo be truly alive means having to make choices. To be truly alive is also, quite simply, to love.Northern Germany, 1945. Dead of night and dead of winter, a boy hears soldiers and sees strangers - forced labourers - fleeing across the heathland by his small town: shawls and skirts in the snowfall. The end days are close, war brings risk and chance, and Benno is witness to something he barely understands.Peace brings more soldiers - but English this time - and Red Cross staff officers. Ruth, on her first posting from London, is given charge of a refugee camp on the heathland, crowded with former forced labourers. As ever more keep arriving, she hears whispers, rumours of dark secrets about that snowy night.The townspeople close ranks, shutting their mouths and minds to the winter's events, but the town children are curious about the refugees on their doorstep, and Benno can't carry his secret alone.

'Wonderful . . . all killer, no filler' Red Magazine'Dazzling stories, as inventive as they are inspiring' Daily Mirror'Where power and feminist rage meet' Stylist______________________________A fun and fearless anthology of feminist tales, by fifteen bestselling, award-winning writers:Margaret Atwood, Susie Boyt, Eleanor Crewes, Emma Donoghue, Stella Duffy, Linda Grant, Claire Kohda, CN Lester, Kirsty Logan, Caroline O'Donoghue, Chibundu Onuzo, Helen Oyeyemi, Rachel Seiffert, Kamila Shamsie and Ali Smith - introduced by Sandi Toksvig. DRAGON. TYGRESS. SHE-DEVIL. HUSSY. SIREN. WENCH. HARRIDAN. MUCKRAKER. SPITFIRE. VITUPERATOR. CHURAIL. TERMAGANT. FURY. WARRIOR. VIRAGO. For centuries past, and all across the world, there are words that have defined and decried us. Words that raise our hackles, fire up our blood; words that tell a story.In this blazing cauldron of a book, fifteen bestselling, award-winning writers have taken up their pens and reclaimed these words, creating an entertaining and irresistible collection of feminist tales for our time.'A slick collection of clever tales, with something for bluestockings and banshees alike' Guardian'Delightful, thought-provoking' Louisa Young, Perspectives

A fun and fearless anthology of feminist tales, by sixteen bestselling, award-winning writers.'Wonderful . . . all killer, no filler' Red Magazine'Dazzling stories, as inventive as they are inspiring' Daily Mirror'Where power and feminist rage meet' StylistBANSHEE. DRAGON. TYGRESS. SHE-DEVIL. HUSSY. SIREN. WENCH. HARRIDAN. MUCKRAKER. SPITFIRE. VITUPERATOR. CHURAIL. TERMAGANT. FURY. WARRIOR. VIRAGO.For centuries past, and all across the world, there are words that have defined and decried us. Words that raise our hackles, fire up our blood; words that tell a story. In this blazing cauldron of a book, sixteen bestselling, award-winning writers have taken up their pens and reclaimed these words, creating an entertaining and irresistible collection of feminist tales for our time.STORIES BY: Margaret Atwood, Susie Boyt, Eleanor Crewes, Emma Donoghue, Stella Duffy, Linda Grant, Annie Hodson, Claire Kohda, CN Lester, Kirsty Logan, Caroline O'Donoghue, Chibundu Onuzo, Helen Oyeyemi, Rachel Seiffert, Kamila Shamsie, Ali Smith, with an Introduction by Sandi Toksvig

Stevie comes from a long line of people who have cut and run. Just like he has.Stevie's been to London, taught himself to get by, and now he's working as a labourer not so far from his childhood home in Glasgow. But he's not told his family - what's left of them - that he's back. Not yet.He's also not far from his Uncle Eric's house: another one who left - for love this time. Stevie's toughened himself up against that emotion. And as for his own mother, Lindsey ... well, she ran her whole life. From her father and Ireland, from her husband, and eventually from Stevie too.This is a powerful novel about the risk of love, and the madness and betrayals that can split a family. If you cut your ties, will you cut yourself adrift?Rachel Seiffert is an extraordinarily deft and humane writer who tells us the truth about love and about hope.