A Novel
by Bea Setton
Critics' Opinion:
Readers' rating:
Published May 2023
256 pages
Genre: Literary Fiction
Paperback Original.
Publication Information
A wickedly insightful, darkly funny novel in which a young woman in the grip of an existential malaise moves to a new city for a fresh start but her attempt at reinvention doesn't quite go to plan.
When Daphne arrives in Berlin, the last thing she expects is to run into more drama than she left behind. Of course, she knew she'd need to do the usual: make friends, acquire lovers, grapple with German and a whole new way of life. She even expected the long nights gorging alone on family-sized jars of Nutella, and the pitfalls of online dating in another language. The paranoia, the second-guessing of her every choice, the covert behaviors? Probably come with the territory.
But one night, when Daphne is alone in her apartment, something strange, unnerving and entirely unexpected intervenes, and life in bohemian Kreuzberg suddenly doesn't seem so cool. Just how much trouble is Daphne in, and who—or what—is out to get her?
Channeling the modern female experience with razor-sharp observation and a trenchant wit, Berlin announces Bea Setton as an electrifying new voice for her generation.
"Setton debuts with a moving and rollicking tale of self-delusion...Well-plotted...with deliciously handled foreshadowing, Setton's sharp novel of stunted plans is compulsively readable and ultimately devastating. This isn't one to miss." —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"In this dark and twisty debut, Setton crafts a clever thriller-cum–expat narrative for fans of Ottessa Moshfegh's My Year of Rest and Relaxation, Antoine Wilson's Mouth to Mouth, and Ben Lerner's Leaving the Atocha Station...[Setton] peppers Daphne's speech with sharp observations about modern life, youth, and the burdens of contemporary womanhood...Daphne's unreliability...creates a sense of disorientation that only enhances the slippery plot...Raw thriller meets darkly funny coming-of-age for an enjoyable, unsettling debut." —Kirkus Reviews
"The unreliable narrator in this...debut is fascinating company...[Setton] writes perceptively about the destabilizing effects of vulnerability and loneliness in an unfamiliar environment. There's also plenty of humor in Daphne's overthinking and her cynical approach to dating...Setton builds her growing paranoia and sense of dread to terrific effect in this unsettling, compelling read." —The Guardian (UK)
"What a wonderful, keen, bright, hilarious, twisted narrator Bea Setton has created! I loved this novel from its first page to the last." —Tom Franklin, New York Times bestselling author of Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter
"In Berlin, Bea Setton shines an unsparing light on the murky grey space of a woman's mid-twenties with a narrative voice that's sharp, wry, and unexpectedly tender. Setton skewers glamorous illusions of expat life and digs deeply into the parts that are as fun to read about as they are difficult to live through." —Isabel Kaplan, bestselling author of NSFW
"Uncommonly funny, cinematically vivid, and refreshingly honest about how we deceive others and ourselves." —Lisa Halliday, bestselling author of Asymmetry
This information about Berlin was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Bea Setton was born in France and spent her early years in the Parisian suburbs before moving to the US to study philosophy. Upon graduating, she relocated to Berlin, and the city became the inspiration for this novel. She currently divides her time between London and Cambridge, where she is studying for a PhD and working on her second book.
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