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Living in New York City midcentury, German author Johnson decided to write a novel taking the form of a diary contemporaneous with the time of the writing. His protagonist was Gesine Cresspahl, a German émigré living on Manhattan's Upper West Side with daughter Marie and working as a translator at a bank. Covering August 1967 to August 1968, this immense novel —finally translated into English— spans a watershed year in American history, presenting events of earthshaking significance with a you-are-there immediacy that combines staggeringly rich detail with a clean, almost laconic delivery. Yet despite the sense of currency and intimate det...Log In or Sign Up to Read More