The End of Loneliness
Vom Ende der Einsamkeit

benedict wells vom ende der einsamkeit
Diogenes Verlag
February 2016 / 288pp
Fiction
  • English-language rights sold

The Goethe-Institut supported the English translation of this book.

Get information on the English version here .

review

Click here to read our interview with the author to mark the publication of this book in English.

The End of Loneliness is a life-affirming, enriching work of literature with an international feel which asks important questions about what makes our lives our own and whether we are owed a certain kind of life.

The novel opens as Jules – the narrator-protagonist – awakens from a coma after a motorcycle accident. There follows the story of Jules’ life, told in a straightforward, conversational and accessible style which immediately engages the reader. Jules’ happy early childhood with his two siblings, Marty and Liz, is shattered by the death of their parents when Jules is aged around ten. The children react to their loss in very different ways, with Jules becoming a shy, reclusive dreamer who continually wonders about the alternative life he might have been living if things had happened differently. Jules falls in love with Alva, a fellow pupil at his boarding school whom he eventually marries, but it is the lovingly-drawn relationships between Jules and his siblings that prove the most enduring, as well as the most effective counters to loneliness.

This is a carefully constructed novel with themes, songs and other threads interwoven through the narrative. Its many literary and musical references – from Carson McCullers to Nick Drake – will enhance its appeal to contemporary readers.

about the author

Benedict Wells was born in Munich in 1984 and moved to Berlin after completing school in 2003. He decided against university in order to concentrate on his writing, earning a living with various jobs. His widely praised debut Becks letzer Sommer was published in 2008 and adapted into a film in 2015, directed by Frieder Wittich and starring Christian Ulmen. The novel Fast genial followed in 2011 and spent weeks on the Spiegel Bestseller List. Benedict Wells’ books have been published in seven languages.

Previous works include:

Fast genial (2011); Spinner (2009); Becks letzer Sommer (2008)

rights information

Translation rights available from:

Diogenes Verlag
Sprecherstrasse 8
8032 Zürich
Switzerland
Contact: Susanne Bauknecht
Tel: +41 44 254 85 11
Email: bau@diogenes.ch
www.diogenes.ch

Diogenes Verlag was founded in Zurich in 1952 by Daniel Keel and Rudolf C. Bettschart. One of the leading international publishing houses, it numbers among its authors Alfred Andersch, Friedrich Dürrenmatt, Patricia Highsmith, Donna Leon, Bernhard Schlink and Patrick Süskind. Children’s authors include Tatjana Hauptmann, Ute Krause, Karl Friedrich Waechter and Tomi Ungerer.

translation assistance

The Goethe-Institut supported the English translation of this book.

Get information on the English version here .

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All recommendations from Spring 2016