Description

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"The greatest book ever written about the German resistance to the Nazis." — Primo Levi

This unflinching masterpiece based on a true story of resistance is more timely than ever, as fascist forces in the 20th century find their home in the rhetoric of the modern right wing political agenda.

Entering its 15th year of English translation, the brilliant Hans Fallada's account of what The New Yorker called “a visceral, chilling portrait of … everyday German life during the war" follows a working-class couple in Berlin and grieving the loss of their son, launch a campaign to oppose the Nazi regime.

Based on a true story from the files of the Gestapo, this sweeping saga of resistance is more relevant than ever in modern times, with the rise of right wing rhetoric echoed in global politics, and seen in increased book bannings and the reversal of womens' and LGBTQ+ rights in the US.

In the end, it’s more than an edge-of-your-seat thriller, more than a moving romance, even more than literature of the highest order—it’s a deeply stirring story of two people standing up for what’s right — even against impossible odds.

About the Author

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Before WWII , German writer Hans Fallada’s novels were international bestsellers, on a par with those of his countrymen Thomas Mann and Herman Hesse. In America, Hollywood even turned his first big novel, Little Man, What Now? into a major motion picture.

Learning the movie was made by a Jewish producer, however, Hitler decreed Fallada’s work could no longer be sold outside Germany, and the rising Nazis began to pay him closer attention. When he refused to join the Nazi party he was arrested by the Gestapo—who eventually released him, but thereafter regularly summoned him for “discussions” of his work.

However, unlike Mann, Hesse, and others, Fallada refused to flee to safety, even when his British publisher, George Putnam, sent a private boat to rescue him. The pressure took its toll on Fallada, and he resorted increasingly to drugs and alcohol for relief. After Goebbels ordered him to write an anti-Semitic novel, he snapped and found himself imprisoned in an asylum for the “criminally insane”—considered a death sentence under Nazi rule. To forestall the inevitable, he pretended to write the assignment for Goebbels, while actually composing
three encrypted books—including his tour de force novel The Drinker—in such dense code that they were not deciphered until long after his death.

Fallada outlasted the Reich and was freed at war’s end. But he was a shattered man. To help him recover by putting him to work, Fallada’s publisher gave him the Gestapo file of a simple, working-class couple who had resisted the Nazis. Inspired, Fallada completed Every Man Dies Alone in just twenty-four days.

He died in February 1947, just weeks before the book’s publication.

Praise For…

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A New York Times Book Review “Notable Book of The Year” 2009
The New Yorker’s Favorite Fiction Books of 2009
A Globe & Mail Best Books of the Year selection 2009
Barnes & Noble Review’s Top Ten Fiction Books of 2009
Amazon Top Ten Novels of the Year So Far
NPR’s On Point Radio Top Ten Summer Reads
The San Francisco Chronicle Best Books of the Year
Minneapolis Star Tribune Top Books of the Year
The New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice
The New Republic’s Top 5 Fiction Books of 2009
Washington City Paper’s Top 10 Books of 2009
The Scotsman Best Fiction Books of 2009
The Sunday Telegraph Best Books of 2009
Best Books of the Year, Shelf Awareness

"The greatest book ever written about German resistance to the Nazis."- Primo Levi
 
“A wonderful novel…Compelling.” – Ian McEwan

"Hans Fallada's Every Man Dies Alone is one of the most extraordinary and compelling novels ever written about World War II. Ever. Fallada lived through the Nazi hell, so every word rings true–this is who they really were: the Gestapo monsters, the petty informers, the few who dared to resist. Please, do not miss this."- Alan Furst
 
“An unrivaled and vivid portrait of life in wartime Berlin.” - Philip Kerr

"A signal literary event of 2009 has occurred. Rescued from the grave, from decades of forgetting, [Every Man Dies Alone] testifies to the lasting value of an intact, if battered, conscience. In a publishing hat trick, Melville House allows English-language readers to sample Fallada's vetiginous variety [and] the keen vision of a troubled man in troubled times, with more breadth, detail, and understanding than most other chroniclers of the era have delivered. To read Every Man Dies Alone, Fallada's testament to the darkest years of the 20th century, is to be accompanied by a wise, somber ghost who grips your arm and whispers in your ear: 'This is how it was. This is what happened.'"- New York Times Book Review

“One of the most extraordinarily ambitious literary resurrections in recent memory.” – The Los Angeles Time

“A riveting page turner.” – NPR’s Fresh Air

“An unforgettable portrait of a middle-aged couple’s campaign of civil disobedience against the Nazis.” – Vogue
 
“A publication of enormous importance.” – Washington Times
 
“Fallada’s prose is rough and ready … it grabs you by the throat.” – Boston Phoenix

“It is no wonder that the work’s reception in the English-speaking world has been the journalistic equivalent of a collective dropped jaw.” - The Montreal Gazette

"Every Man Dies Alone...deserves a place among the 20th century's best novels of political witness."-Sam Munson, The National

"Every Man Dies Alone [is] a suspense-driven novel...one-of-a-kind."--Alan Furst, Toronto Globe and Mail

"Every Man Dies Alone [is] one of the most immediate and authentic fictional accounts of life during the long nightmare of Nazi rule."--The New York Observer

"Primo Levi…called this "the greatest book ever written about the German resistance to the Nazis." It is, in retrospect, an understatement. This is a novel that is so powerful, so intense, that it almost hums with electricity."--Minneapolis Star-Tribune

"[Every Man Dies Alone] has the suspense of a John le Carré novel, and offers a visceral, chilling portrait of the distrust that permeated everyday German life during the war."--The New Yorker

"[At] once a riveting page turner and a memorable portrait of wartime Berlin...With its vivid cast of characters and pervasive sense of menace, Every Man Dies Alone is an exciting book."—John Powers for Fresh Air / NPR Books We Like

"...a belated revelation."—San Francisco Chronicle

"...necessary and gripping."—The Oregonian

“A classic … as morally powerful as anything I’ve ever read.” – The Daily Telegraph (London)
 
“Essential, thrilling.” – The St. Petersburg Times

“His masterpiece.” - Nextbook

“This novel is far more than literary thriller.” – The Financial Times

“Every Man Dies Alone [is] one of the most immediate and authentic fictional accounts of life during the long nightmare of Nazi rule.” – The New York Observer

“An amazing book … it’s not a novel just of ideas, it’s a novel that is a page turner … you just can’t let go… just amazing.” - WKAR/NPR
 
“…paved with terrific suspense, lively vignettes of Berlin life, and some very funny episodes…infusing it with a brilliant bleak irony and terrible power.” – The Barnes & Nobel Review

“[An] unblinking, brilliant report from a living Hell…Fans of the novels of Alan Furst and Irene Nemirovsky will love the gritty “you are there” feel of this harrowing saga of a German couple fighting for their dignity in the face of unrelenting Nazi oppression and sadism.” – Shelf Awareness

"It is a harrowing book. I recommend it." - America Magazine