lost_treichel
2001 Nominated

Lost

artwork-image

ABOUT
THE BOOK

A first novel hailed as Germany’s most exciting fiction debut of last year, ‘Lost’ walks us into what we think is familiar territory and then suddenly turns all our expectations upside down. An ordinary German family flees from the advancing Russian army in 1945, makes it to safety, and starts over, painstakingly building a new life in the postwar economic miracle. But in the refugee trek west there was a victim, and that victim was the firstborn son, Arnold. “Arnold isn’t dead. He didn’t starve, either,” is what the little brother, the narrator of this story, is finally told by his parents when he is about eight years old. “I was only just beginning to understand that Arnold, my un-dead brother, had the leading role in the family, and had assigned me a supporting part.”

ABOUT
THE TRANSLATOR Carol
Brown Janeway

Carol Brown Janeway, a prize-winning editor, translator and foreign rights director at Knopf Doubleday, died on August 3, 2015. She was 71 years old. She was renowned in the publishing world for her dedication to literature in translation.

The first book she translated for Knopf after joining the publisher in 1970 was Das Boot by Lothar-Günther Buchheim. She also translated The Reader by Bernhard Schlink, My Prizes by Thomas Bernhard, Crime by Ferdinand von Schirach, The Storm by Margriet de Moor, and Measuring the World by Daniel Kehlmann, among others.

Carol Brown Janeway, a prize-winning editor, translator and foreign rights director at Knopf Doubleday, died on August 3, 2015. She was 71 years old. She was renowned in the publishing world for her dedication to literature in translation.

The first book she translated for Knopf after joining the publisher in 1970 was Das Boot by Lothar-Günther Buchheim. She also translated The Reader by Bernhard Schlink, My Prizes by Thomas Bernhard, Crime by Ferdinand von Schirach, The Storm by Margriet de Moor, and Measuring the World by Daniel Kehlmann, among others.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Country
Germany
Original Language
German
Publisher
Pantheon Books USA, Picador
Translator
Carol Brown Janeway

RELATED FEATURES

Video April 7 2026

The 2026 Shortlist

Discover this year's Dublin Literary Award Shortlist
News April 7 2026

2026 Dublin Literary Award Shortlist is Announced

Delve into the 6 novels shortlisted this year.
News April 2 2026

Past Winner Spotlight: Michael Crummey

Reflecting on his 2025 Dublin Literary Award win with his novel 'The Adversary', libraries, literature and more.
News March 11 2026

Translator Spotlight: Jo Heinrich

Reflecting on translating the 2023 winning novel 'Marzahn, Mon Amour' and life as a literary translator.

STAY CONNECTED

Stay in touch and sign up to our newsletter to receive all the latest news and updates on the Dublin Literary Award.