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Takis Würger is a major up-and-coming international writer whose profile promises only to grow with this new book, a historical novel set in 1942 and partially based on real events. The inspiration for its eponymous character, Stella Goldschlag, was the subject of a 1993 biography and featured in a 2019 German docudrama, The Invisibles . Stella sparked a major media conversation about memory and historical representation when it was published in Germany in 2019. It became a bookseller favorite and hit the bestseller lists for thirteen weeks there. Stella will appeal to fans of Bernhard Schlink’s The Reader and the TV series Babylon Berlin , based on the books of Volker Kutscher. In Germany, the novel was praised by Booker International shortlisted author Daniel Kehlmann, who said: “You may start this book feeling skeptical, but you will read gripped and startled, and you will finish it feeling real admiration.” Würger’s previous novel, The Club , was the winner of the lit.Cologne prize for debut fiction and a major bestseller in Germany. Grove’s edition was well received by Adelle Waldman in the New York Times Book Review and Malcolm Forbes in the Minneapolis Star Tribune , and New York Times -bestselling author Megan Abbott praised it as “cunning, sinuous . . . so wildly entertaining.” The novel is translated by Liesl Schillinger, a New York-based literary critic, translator, and writer, who considers it one of the most exciting projects she has worked on. She is looking forward to getting the word out, including to writer friends such as Amor Towles and fellow literary critics. Stella was the subject of major international publishing auctions and has sold in fourteen territories, including to Gallimard in France, Feltrinelli in Italy, and Salamandra in Spain. German rights were acquired by Hanser Verlag in a very competitive auction and German paperback rights were sold in a significant preempt. In Germany, the novel was a major bestseller, reaching #4 on the Spiegel bestseller list and spending thirteen weeks on the list. It was also a bestseller in Italy and is due to be published in other territories in 2020 or 2021. Books like All the Light We Cannot See and The Nightingale have shown the continuing readership for World War II stories, and while this novel operates in a much speedier mode, it will appeal to many of those readers, as well as fans of Half-Blood Blues by Esi Edugyan and the works of Anna Funder. Würger traveled to the US to promote The Club with the support of the Goethe Institut and Deutsches House/NYU, and we hope for their support with this new novel. A talented journalist who works as a war reporter for Der Spiegel , Würger was named one of Medium ’s “Top 30 Journalists Under 30” in 2010 and awarded a CNN Journalist Award in 2013. He has reported around the world, including warzones in Afghanistan, Libya, the Ukraine, and the Middle East.

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For fans of Donna Tartt’s The Secret History , Joël Dicker’s The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair , Leila Slimani’s The Perfect Nanny , and Patricia Highsmith’s The Talented Mr. Ripley , The Club is a tantalizing mix of literary writing and a propulsively suspenseful narrative.Like Herman Koch’s breakthrough New York Times -bestseller The Dinner , The Club has been a huge success in Europe and now is poised to capture a big American readership. Like The Dinner it explores the seediness behind the veneer of bourgeois respectability, and is set in the elite world of Cambridge University, among upper class and social climber students—and their families.Würger is one of Germany’s most highly regarded young writers, and the winner of the prestigious lit.Cologne prize for debut fiction. This novel was a huge indie bookstore and word-of-mouth success in Germany, selling over 50,000 hardcover copies there and staying on the bestseller list for months—and the momentum is continuing with the paperback. Würger’s second novel, Stella (which Grove also acquired) has been the subject of major international publishing auctions, and was a strong six-figure deal in Germany. Grove is thrilled to be bringing this brilliantly talented writer to American readers. Würger himself studied at Cambridge, where he boxed for the university team and was a member of the Pitt Club. He knows this world intimately. He also speaks perfect English and will be available for interviews and profiles. The book explores questions of privilege, sexual violence on campus, and takes the reader into the upper echelons of a world of privilege and hedonism. The Pitt Club is a real institution: a private members’ club at Cambridge, similar to the Skull and Bones Club at Yale University in the United States. Its past members allegedly include King George V, economist John Maynard Keynes, and actor Eddie Redmayne. A talented journalist who works as a war reporter for Der Spiegel , Würger was named one of Medium ’s “Top 30 Journalists Under 30” in 2010 and awarded a CNN Journalist Award in 2013. He has reported around the world, including warzones in Afghanistan, Libya, the Ukraine, and the Middle East. The novel is translated by highly regarded translator Charlotte Collins, who is best known for her translation of International Booker shortlisted Robert Seethaler’s A Whole Life . Charlotte studied at Cambridge and once was a waitress for a dinner of the members of the Pitt Club, so it is particularly fitting that she be the one to translate this novel.

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