Worlds Apart
Published on 5. February 2026
Book
Paperback/Softback
318 pages
978-1-917593-02-1 (ISBN)
Description
Born in East Berlin, Julia is eight when her actress mother uproots her family of four girls, by different fathers, 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 gripping novel based on her youthful diaries and early life, Julia Franck shows why, and how, a great writer found her voice.
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 gripping novel based on her youthful diaries and early life, Julia Franck shows why, and how, a great writer found her voice.
Reviews / Votes
'A truly wild and astonishing story ....a really thrilling read' RBB radio
'Worlds Apart is courageous ... turning lived life into literature' Der Spiegel
'With each of her novels, the 2007 German Book Prize winner delves more deeply into her past - and the questions keep coming.' Stern
'A radically honest, radically good book.' EMMA magazine
'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
'Worlds Apart depicts not just life, but memory itself' Sueddeutsche Zeitung
'Radically personal ... a stirring book in prose that captivates and engages' Berliner Zeitung
'a wealth of fascinating tales' NDR Norddeutscher radio
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
United Kingdom
Dimensions
Height: 198 mm
Width: 128 mm
Thickness: 29 mm
Weight
320 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-917593-02-1 (9781917593021)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Born in Communist East Berlin in 1970, Julia Franck is an author and essayist who has published novels and short stories. The daughter of an actress and granddaughter of a sculptor, her powerful novels of family and motherhood draw on her own life across divided Germany as they delve into the nation's tumultuous past. Two of her novels have been filmed.
Her work has received numerous prizes; she has been shortlisted for the Independent Foreign Fiction prize and the Wingate Literary Prize and was twice longlisted for the Dublin Literary Award. In 2007 her novel BLIND SIDE OF THE HEART won the German Book Prize; it was translated into 40 languages, sold over a million copies, and was the first of her books to be filmed. Julia lives in Berlin.
TRANSLATOR from German IMOGEN TAYLOR
Born in London, translator Imogen Taylor studied Modern Languages at Oxford and completed her MA and PhD at Humboldt University in Berlin. She has been living in Berlin since 2001 and working as a literary translator since 2014. Her many translations include work by Alfred Doeblin, Franziska Gaensler, Dana Grigorcea and Judith Schalansky. She was the winner of the Austrian Cultural Forum Translation Prize 2024. She is currently translating Peter Kurzeck.
Her work has received numerous prizes; she has been shortlisted for the Independent Foreign Fiction prize and the Wingate Literary Prize and was twice longlisted for the Dublin Literary Award. In 2007 her novel BLIND SIDE OF THE HEART won the German Book Prize; it was translated into 40 languages, sold over a million copies, and was the first of her books to be filmed. Julia lives in Berlin.
TRANSLATOR from German IMOGEN TAYLOR
Born in London, translator Imogen Taylor studied Modern Languages at Oxford and completed her MA and PhD at Humboldt University in Berlin. She has been living in Berlin since 2001 and working as a literary translator since 2014. Her many translations include work by Alfred Doeblin, Franziska Gaensler, Dana Grigorcea and Judith Schalansky. She was the winner of the Austrian Cultural Forum Translation Prize 2024. She is currently translating Peter Kurzeck.