A rediscovered German classic novel from 1942, never before published in the UK, The Seventh Cross is both a gripping escape story and a powerful novel of resistance.
INTRODUCED BY RACHEL SEIFFERT
'It was [Seghers] who taught my generation and anyone who had an ear to listen after that not-to-be-forgotten war to distinguish right from wrong. The Seventh Cross shaped me; it sharpened my vision' Gunter Grass
'A fascinating insight into life in pre-war Germany just as the horrors of the Nazi regime were beginning to unfold. An important novel' Simon Mawer
Seven prisoners escape from Westhofen concentration camp. The commandant vows to capture the fugitives within seven days. Six are quickly apprehended and brutally dealt with, but George Heisler slips through his pursuers' fingers. It becomes a matter of pride to track him down, at whatever cost.
Who can George trust? His brother is now an SS officer; his lover turns him away. Hunted, injured and desperate, time is running out, and anyone caught helping him will pay will their life.
First published in 1942, The Seventh Cross is one of the most powerful and influential novels of the twentieth century - a tense thriller that helped to alert the world to the terrifying realities of life in Nazi Germany.
TRANSLATED BY MARGOT BETTAUER BEMBO
[
The Seventh Cross] ranges over an array of characters and narrative strands to present a panoramic, yet fine-grained view of German society at a particular moment of the Nazi era . . . In the book's minor characters and subplots, Seghers shows the different ways Nazism ripples through people's lives. She powerfully conveys an atmosphere of paranoia and resignation, quiet resistance and flickering hope
