Where Love Begins

Translated from the German by Margot Bettauer Dembo

2018 Longlist

Stella is married, she has a child and a fulfilling job. She lives with her young family in a house in the suburbs.

Her life is happy and unremarkable, but she is a little lonely-her husband travels a lot for work and so she is often alone in the house with only her daughter for company. One day a stranger appears at her door, a man Stella’s never seen before. He says he just wants to talk to her, nothing more. She refuses. The next day he comes again. And then the day after that. He will not leave her in peace. When Stella works out that he lives up the road, and tries to confront him, it makes no difference. This is the beginning of a nightmare that slowly and remorselessly escalates.

Where Love Begins is a delicately wrought, deeply sinister novel about how easily the comfortable lives we construct for ourselves can be shattered.

About the author

Judith Hermann was born in Berlin in 1970. She is the author of Alice, The Summer House, Later and Nothing but Ghosts, which have received a number of literary awards including the Kleist Prize. She lives and works in Berlin.

(from publisher)

Librarian’s comments

Stella lives a happy life with her family in a suburban house. However, she is often alone with her daughter because her husband travels on business a lot.  One day a stranger is standing in front of her door who wants to talk to her. Nothing else. This is repeated from day to day. He does not leave her alone – the beginning of a nightmare. Masterfully composed psychological drama about stalking and how quickly a life can get out of control.