To Die in Spring

Distant, silent, often drunk, Walter Urban is a difficult man to have as a father. But his son--the narrator of this slim, harrowing novel--is curious about Walter's experiences during World War II, and so makes him a present of a blank notebook in which to write down his memories. Walter dies, however, leaving nothing but the barest skeleton of a story on those pages, leading his son to fill in the gaps himself, rightly or wrongly, with what he can piece together of his father's early life. This, then, is the story of Walter and his dangerously outspoken friend Friedrich Caroli, seventeen-year-old trainee milkers on a dairy farm in northern Germany who are tricked into volunteering for the army during the spring of 1945: the last, and in many ways the worst, months of the war. The men are driven to the point of madness by what they experience, and when Friedrich finally deserts his post, Walter is forced to do the unthinkable.

About the Author :
Ralf Rothmann was born in 1953 in Schleswig and grew up in the Ruhr valley. He has received numerous awards for his fiction and poetry, including the Friedrich Holderlin Prize in 2013, the Hans Fallada Prize in 2008, and the Max Frisch Prize in 2006. He lives in Berlin. Shaun Whiteside, originally from Northern Ireland, graduated with a first in modern languages from King's College, Cambridge, and translates from German, French, Italian, and Dutch, having previously worked as a business journalist and television producer. His translation of Magdalena the Sinner by Lilian Faschinger won the 1996 Schlegel-Tieck Prize. He is a former chair of the Translators Association and lives in London with his wife and son. Shaun Whiteside, originally from Northern Ireland, graduated with a first in modern languages from King's College, Cambridge, and translates from German, French, Italian, and Dutch, having previously worked as a business journalist and television producer. His translation of Magdalena the Sinner by Lilian Faschinger won the 1996 Schlegel-Tieck Prize. He is a former chair of the Translators Association and lives in London with his wife and son. British actor and singer Tim Bruce costarred with Phill Jupitus in ITV's popular comedy series Bottom Knocker Street, the West End production of Blood Brothers, the BAFTA-awarded BBC drama Bleak House, and the BBC's long-running Geordie series Byker Grove. He wrote and appeared in the title role of the West End production of William Blake's Divine Humanity (nominated for the Meyer-Whitworth Playwrighting Award, administered by the Royal National Theatre); the feature films Bright Young Things, Remainder, Out of Bounds, the BAFTA-awarded film Supertramp, the RTS award-nominated opera film Boheme; the TV series Hollyoaks, Family Affairs, 55 Degrees North, The Gang the Krays Feared, and Granada's BAFTA award-winning series In Suspicious Circumstances; and numerous operas for Music Theatre London, including the title role of Don Giovanni. A regular voice on BBC and BSkyB, Tim has narrated over seventy audiobooks and was the voice of BSkyB's Channel 996.

Review :
Directly confronting issues of responsibility, accountability, and legacy, this is an undeniably powerful work.-- "Publishers Weekly Starred Review"