The Brass Age

The first English translation of a modern epic, a great Middle European novel spanning two hundred years, which explores a world destroyed by fascism, communism and nationalism.

Both a family saga and a powerful historical novel, The Brass Age is the story of the "Volksdeutscher", a German minority in North-Eastern Croatia (Slavonia) who emigrated there in the 18th century. These Germans, who were integrated into the local population, were in 1940 conscripted into the Waffen S.S. The novel's protagonist, the narrator's father, is forced into this military service and eventually deserts, despite the danger this involves.

At the core of the novel is the tragic love story of the narrator's parents; two characters shackled by their divided history. Former fighters in opposing camps – one a committed Partisan and the other a deserter from the German army – if they had met earlier, each would have killed the other. Captivating and poetic, The Brass Age reflects on immigration, identity and the existential meanings of art and life.