Berlin

BERLIN is a fresh, wry, piercingly contemporary novel written by Bea Setton.

A young woman moves to Berlin to turn over a new leaf. Things begin auspiciously: Daphne has means and brains. She rents a flat in fashionable Kreuzberg and starts attending German lessons. She makes friends among the other young people who flock to the city in pursuit of the promised liberal lifestyle, joins a running group, and tries online dating. However, the demons she thought she had left behind have followed her on her German odyssey, and a series of mysterious and violent incidents transform what should have been a chapter in a joyfully misspent youth into a fight for survival. Who is Daphne, and who or what is she running from? Why does she leave people and places suddenly and without warning? Even if she knows the answers, will she face up to them?

In the vein of Otessa Moshfegh’s My Year of Rest and Relaxation, this is a razor-sharp and darkly funny story of a young woman coming of age, coming apart and eventually putting herself back together again.

Bea Setton was born in France and spent her early years in the Parisian suburbs before moving to the USA to study philosophy. Upon graduating, she relocated to Berlin, and the city became the inspiration for her first novel. She is now working on plans for her second novel.