My Brother’s Shadow
Schattenbruder

breetschen schattenbruder
August 2014 / 324pp

This book is outside of the five-year window for guaranteed assistance with English language translation. We suggest getting in touch with the relevant funding body for an informal conversation about the possibility of support. Please refer to to our  recommendations page for books that are currently covered by our funding guarantee.

review

Mirko Beetschen’s slow-burning psycho-thriller keeps readers guessing throughout. 
Samuel Bach is a thirty-seven-year-old architecture critic for a leading national newspaper in Zurich. Having parted from his friend Miriam after an evening’s drinking, he decides to have one final drink before heading home. This is a mistake that colours the next four months of his life. He orders a beer and finds himself drawn to Raymond, and the night ends with the pair sleeping together at Samuel’s flat. 

While Samuel is not sure about their encounter, Raymond clearly wants more and refuses to take no for an answer. First he begins to appear in all of Samuel’s favourite haunts: the bookshop, the outdoor pool, the café, the local organic grocery store. Next he turns up at Samuel’s office with a gift, and soon he is inundating him with requests to meet. Samuel disconnects the phone and effectively becomes a prisoner in his own home. The reader looks on in horror as Samuel’s mental equilibrium begins to falter. It transpires that Raymond is not at all who he says he is, and that Samuel’s life may be in imminent danger. Beetschen’s flawless characterisation brings this tightly-plotted read to life.

about the author

Mirko Beetschen was born in 1974 and grew up near Lake Thun. He studied English and American Literature as well as media science in Bern. He worked as an editor for Archithema Verlag in Zurich and continued his studies in the field of architecture and design. Mirko Beetschen lives and works in Zurich and in the Bernese Oberland.

rights information

Translation rights available from:

Bilgerverlag GmbH
Contact: Ricco Bilger
Tel: +41 44 271 81 46
Email: bilger@bilgerverlag.ch
www.bilgerverlag.ch

Bilgerverlag was founded in 2001 by Ricco Bilger and specialises in contemporary Swiss literature. Authors include Katharina Faber, Urs Augstburger, Kaspar Schnetzler, Urs Mannhart and Christoph Simon. Ricco Bilger opened his Zurich bookshop in 1983, and ten years later, another bookshop in the mountain spa town of Leukerbad, where he went on to found the successful Leukerbad Literature Festival.

translation assistance

Pro Helvetia covers up to 100% of the effective translation costs for literary works by Swiss authors.

share this recommendation

Share this on twitter, facebook or via mail.

All recommendations from Autumn 2015