Worlds Apart

'A fascinating and well-told story' Irish Times

Born in East Berlin, Julia is eight when her actress mother uproots her family of four girls, by different fathers, heading West in search of a better life. Their eventual landing in the remote countryside of Schleswig-Holstein solves no problems for this fractured household.

Desperate to escape a childhood of rural poverty, neglect and shame, the lonely child becomes addicted to writing. Aged 13, she leaves her family. At school in West Berlin, she finally encounters love.

In this novel based on her youthful diaries and early life, Julia Franck shows why and how a great writer found her voice.

‘Radically personal ... a stirring book in prose that captivates and engages’ Berliner Zeitung

‘This book (in which the characters have the same names as in real life) is truthful by duty and beautiful by choice’Die Zeit

‘Worlds Apart is a fascinating piece of prose and a rousing story of self-empowerment’ Brigitte magazine

‘This family history hinges like a swinging door on key dates in twentieth-century German dictatorship.' TAZ