The End Of Days

Author: Jenny Erpenbeck

Over the last few years a distinct strand of alternate history writing has appeared in which a woman lives and relives her life multiple times during the twentieth century. Leading examples of this type of story include Life After Life by Kate Atkinson and My Real Children by Jo Walton, but one of the most telling variations is this novel by Jenny Erpenbeck.Moving between the key locations of Eastern European history, from Poland to Vienna, from Moscow to Berlin, it follows one woman who lives and dies several times. Each reincarnation illuminates the way that politics and history have shaped lives during the terrors of the twentieth century.Why it's on the listSometimes writing from within a culture, as in this case writing from within the experience of life in Eastern Europe, tells us more than any outside voice could possibly do. Which is why we need to be able to read this story in translation.