Ulrich Becher: The Heart of the Shark

Ulrich Becher
The Heart of the Shark

fiction, new

184 pp (31.853 words)

>> a love story and a novel about artistic growth rolled into one

>> inspired by a Life article on Ernest Hemingway

Beautiful painter Lulubé – lover of Carnival, bullfighting and volcanic islands – is fighting with her gentle, all-too sensible husband Kerubin. It’s a tragi-comic tale of love and marriage, the kind of book sadly rare in German-language literature.
Lulubé, on holiday on a southern island, meets a “wild man” and human shark, with whose help she overcomes a childhood trauma. Ultimately, she finds her own path and leaves, writing to her husband, “If the bowstring of my passion ever slackens, I’m already dead. I’m going to look for the wild man, who has your kindness of heart in his head and also the heart of a shark.”
The Heart of the Shark is a great love story. Peter Härtling’s vote still holds true: “A story like this about the heart of the shark is a gift.”
An essay by Eva Menasse, written specifically for this edition, offers a modern take on a classic of German-language literature.

Rights sold

paperback – Diogenes

Audio – Buchfunk

» Contact:

More titles by Ulrich Becher

Ulrich Becher: The Woodchuck HuntUlrich Becher: New York Stories