A boy dreaming of Huckleberry Finn, a mortally ill Pastor, a disillusioned Communist, a young Jewish girl running for her life - meet in a half-derelict Baltic fishing village and are drawn into a daring plan of escape from Nazi Germany. At the center of their plan is a small statue in the Pastor's church, a statue which is to be confiscated because it is politically dangerous, a statue so beautiful and powerful that it welds together the strangely assorted band of refugees.
This unusual novel - unusual in both form and content - is a masterpiece of condensed dramatic writing. Andersch investigates the many needs for flight and the strange loyalties which
sometimes make escape impossible.
Translated from the German by Michael Bullock, originally entitled Sansibar.
About the Author
ALFRED ANDERSCH (1914-1980), was one of the foremost novelists of post-War Germany. Like Heinrich Boll and Gunter Grass, Andersch was one of the most persuasive and constructive critics of the Federal Republic's fledgling democracy. In the post-War years, Andersch helped establish a new German literature for democracy, and one of his numerous novels, Sansibar, (translated as Flight to Afar and now re-issued by the Toby Press) was translated into every major language and became and international bestseller. A master stylist, Andersch was one of the finest writers Germany has seen since the Second World War.
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