The Scrapbook

Inspired by a real discovery, this is the story of a life-changing seduction in the long shadow of European history

Harvard, 1996. Anna is about to graduate when she meets Christoph, a German student visiting campus. They only spend a week together – discussing art, ideas and history – but it is long enough for Anna to fall desperately in love. Anna begins to visit Christoph in Germany. As she tries to understand the young, elegant man who fascinates her, he reveals his country to her.

Germany is still reckoning with the Holocaust and its pretty new squares and grand facades belie its recent history and the war’s destruction. Anna wants to believe in Christoph and the future he promises her but as their relationship becomes increasingly unsettling, she must face up to everything she has been unwilling to see, and everything Christoph has chosen to ignore.

'A swiftly-moving, molecularly perceptive, singular portrait of intoxicating young love' Aube Rey Lescure, author of River East, River West

'An elegant, unsettling novel about the burden of history and the illusions of love' Sana Krasikov, author of The Patriots

'An exquisitely observed love affair... Stunningly good' Julia Boyd, author of A Village in the Third Reich