Once a Jailbird: A Novel - Softcover

Fallada, Hans

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1611459443 ISBN 13: 9781611459449

Publisher: Arcade, 2014

Synopsis

For Willi Kufult, prison life means staying out of trouble, keeping his cell clean, snagging a precious piece of tobacco, and dreaming of the day of his release.

Then he gets out.

As Willi tries to make a new life for himself in Hamburg, finding a job and even love, he still cannot escape his past. Gradually he becomes sucked into a world of drink, desperation, deceit, and, with one terrible act, he is ensnared in a noose of his own making . . .

Hans Fallada, whose famous works include Alone in Berlin and The Drinker, brilliantly crafts this dark and moving novel, originally written in 1934, as he describes a seedy criminal underworld of shabby lives and violent deeds, showing how our actions always catch up with us. His work is unparalleled, and Once a Jailbird is a fantastic title to add to Fallada’s recently translated works.

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About this title

About the Author

Hans Fallada was born in Germany in 1893. His life was checkered by a failed adolescent suicide pact in which his friend died, addiction to morphine and alcohol, periods of incarceration in prison and mental hospitals, and brushes with the Nazi regime. His most famous novels include Little Man, What Now?, The Drinker and Alone in Berlin, written in 24 days. Fallada died weeks before its publication, in February 1947 in Berlin.

Review

“Lit by love, the love of truth and love of humanity; it has the courage to look things in the eye, and to sketch them exactly as they were.”—Hermann Hesse

“Absolutely on the money, from the slang of the cons, to the refuge of its hero in the blissful hermitage of prison.”—Albert Ehrenstein
 

Lit by love, the love of truth and love of humanity; it has the courage to look things in the eye, and to sketch them exactly as they were.” Hermann Hesse

Absolutely on the money, from the slang of the cons, to the refuge of its hero in the blissful hermitage of prison.” Albert Ehrenstein

About this edition

• Publisher: Arcade
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 1611459443
• ISBN 13: 9781611459449
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 488