Here Be Dragons
Hier sind Drachen

Josten - cover
Piper Verlag
March 2017 / 160pp
Fiction

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review

Heathrow airport, the day after the November 2015 attacks in Paris. Caren, a journalist, is flying out to cover the aftermath. She has covered several terror attacks, most recently the attacks on the Charlie Hebdo offices, but in recent months has questioned the usefulness of her work. Her personal life, too, has suffered from the impact of witnessing so many tragedies. Sitting across from Caren is an older man reading Wittgenstein. The two strangers begin to talk. Their conversation is the centrepiece of Here Be Dragons. The central question: is it possible to tell a story that hasn’t been told before? Things take a dramatic turn when a bomb goes off at the airport, the old man suffers a heart attack, and Caren is taken in for questioning by the police…

Short and trim in structure, Here Be Dragons discusses burningly current topics. Lyrical descriptions, philosophical discussions and thriller elements make for a compelling, unusual novel. Josten combines a captivating plot of withheld identity and secret romance with an inquiry into our approach to reporting on terrorism.

about the author

Husch Josten, born in 1969, studied history and constitutional law in Cologne and Paris. She trained and worked as a journalist in both cities until moving to London in the mid-2000s where she was a newspaper and magazine journalist. She published her fiction debut In Sachen Joseph which was nominated for the Aspekte literary prize and was followed by a number of highly praised novels. Today Husch Josten lives in Cologne.

rights information

Piper Verlag GmbH (Alemania)

Contacto: Sarah Reinbacher

Tel.: +49 89 381801 735

sarah.reinbacher@piper.de

www.piper.de

translation assistance

Applications should be made to the Goethe-Institut.

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