Praise for Juli Zeh “Zeh challenges readers to consider how complicit we are in our current political dilemmas.” —Los Angeles Times
Praise for About People
A World Literature Today Notable Translations of 2023
"At the peak of the pandemic, a woman splits with her boyfriend over his increasingly rigid commitment to environmentalism and heads to the German countryside. The new home needs unexpected work, she and her dog promptly clash with their menacing neighbor, and unexplained things are happening all around her. An intense exploration of fear and isolation." —CrimeReads
“A revealing novel about the state of our nation.” —SWR
“Juli Zeh’s new work shoots straight to the heart of Germany’s excessive demands: with a lot of wit and compassion and also with a large portion of hope for a more conciliatory society.” —ZDF
“The first real corona novel, which takes place in the middle of lockdown in spring 2020 and subtly describes the social and very private consequences of the pandemic.” —Süddeutsche Zeitung
“A cool-headed and politically astute portrait of a village where life is precarious, beset by a dying infrastructure and right-wing attitudes.” —Bayern2
“Juli Zeh has caused a stir with About People. The novel is gripping and doesn’t make it easy for itself or its audience.” —rbb Inforadio
“About People goes beneath the surface of ideologies and attitudes.” —Stuttgarter Zeitung
“A deft, imaginative and absorbing novel about a post-heroic protagonist who is sweating from hard work rather than fear, caught between stoicism and struggle.” —Kölner Stadtanzeiger
“A conciliatory novel that does not conceal evil, but demonstrates that the world, viewed less ideologically, could be a little more humane.”—Deutschlandfunk Kultur
“A novel for our times, especially our Covid-times, in which much is clarified and intensified, including failure, loneliness, and sanguine fits of hatred.” —WDR3
“I would love to recommend this to everyone to read, to break down all these walls that somehow exist between the different groups in society.” —Rbb Kultur
Praise for New Year
PEN AWARD 2022 FINALIST
“In this wrenching psychological portrait from Zeh, a character’s buried traumatic past distorts his memory and loosens his grip on reality...Zeh’s novel skillfully asks how a person can come to terms with a painful past that has been intentionally misremembered for the purpose of sustaining one’s mental health. Readers, though, will have no trouble remembering this.” —Publishers Weekly, *starred review*
“This spine-tingler captures the peak of what appears to be a spectacularly hallucinatory middle-aged crisis.” —Kirkus Reviews, *starred review*
“Zeh’s suspense writing is masterful. … In New Year, she spins a tale of the uncanny, as Henning encounters items from his childhood in this far-flung vacation destination, items that unlock a repressed childhood trauma. … Her straightforward style leaves few obstacles for the reader, and Price’s translation is crisp. This no-nonsense style lends itself well to fast-paced reading, keeping us in the tension that makes this book a page-turner.”—World Literature Today
"The prolific and award-winning German thriller novelist Julie Zeh places readers in Lanzarote, The Canary Islands, on a New Year’s Day when a man named Henning is out for an athletic bike ride. On reaching the Femés pass, a combination of untreated anxiety, middle-aged life stressors, and a strange coincidence lead Henning to a triggered memory about childhood. The eeriness of the landscapes’ familiarity and the trauma of what nearly killed Henning and his sister highlight how difficult it can be to integrate past pain into adult existence. It’s a tale of psychological dread that nonetheless retains visceral unease, and a terrific read for a winter’s day when you feel completely safe and warm at home."—Lithub Best Books of 2021
“Read New Year to have your heart moved, but also to see a virtuoso writer at work.” —European Literature Network
“A character piece and social critique wrapped in a psychological thriller, the intelligent and absorbing New Year is as much of a journey for the reader as for Henning, and the tension doesn’t slacken until the last page.” —The Herald
Praise for Empty Hearts
“Empty Hearts has the veneer of a thriller but it’s more accurate to call it a chiller: chilling in the accuracy of its satire and chilling in its diagnosis of our modern malaise.” —New York Times
“Darkly entertaining … A thoughtful political thriller with a provocative sense of humor.” —Kirkus Reviews, *starred review*
“Will keep readers turning the pages … Zeh makes it easy to suspend disbelief in this cold-blooded and macabre future.” —Publishers Weekly
“Empty Hearts explores interesting ideas about the price of failure to act against tyranny and the moral complicity of people who capitalize on a bad situation, or do nothing in the hopes that it will all go away.” —Los Angeles Times
