In this episode, translator Alexandra Roesch reads an English sample of Reinhard Kaiser-Mühlecker’s Austrian Book Prize 2024 winner »Burning Fields«.

At 18 Luisa Fischer learns that her father Bob is not her biological father and realises that the affection she feels for him goes beyond a daughter's love. She leaves her home and her family and after restless years in various cities, settles in Hamburg. Many years and two children later, Luisa's stepfather suddenly appears on her doorstep; he has decided against the family and in favour of a life with her. Luisa returns with him to Austria, where he single-handedly wants to bring about compensatory justice: Bob robs farming families that were involved in National Socialism in order to donate the looted profit to Israel. But he is killed during one of these robberies. Luisa then starts a relationship with Ferdinand, an old childhood acquaintance, who lives alone with his son Anton. Luisa and Ferdinand want to build a new life together, however, doubts about each other's sincerity arise time and time again, they stalk each other and tension becomes unbearable. 

Can the shadows and burdens of the past be shed? And is it possible to reinvent oneself in every new phase of life? Who are we when we renounce our past? Luisa's answer to all these questions leads to her decision to become a writer, and she begins to tell her own story.

Praise for »Burning Fields«:

“The Austrian writer and farmer Reinhard Kaiser-Mühlecker transforms his world into literature that is both quiet and magnificent.” NZZ

"One of the greatest living German-language authors." - Hessischer Rundfunk

"Kaiser-Mühlecker has come up with some original, bizarre, dramatic twists" - Frankfurter Rundschau

"The style and subject matter of his novels make Reinhard Kaiser-Mühlecker one of the most unusual and interesting German-language authors" - taz

"Highly readable. The author's proven great linguistic mastery is able to capture the finest nuances and shifts in people's emotional and moodal lives" - hr2 Kultur

"a book that glows in the dark with bright and clear literary darkness" - Welt am Sonntag

Rights to the title have so far been sold to Egypt (Aser Al-Kotob), France (Gallimard), Italy (Carbonio), Netherlands (van Oorschot). 

Head to our website to find a pdf of today’s sample here.

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Credits

Text originally published as “Brennende Felder” by Reinhard Kaiser-Mühlecker

Translated and read by Alexandra Roesch

Copyright © S. Fischer Verlag GmbH, Frankfurt am Main 2024

Concept: Verena von Bassewitz, Martin Butz & Elisa Diallo

Production, Editing & Sound Design: Martin Butz

⁠Impressum

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