All for Nothing (Paperback)

It is brilliant, vivid, unsentimental, fast moving, cinematic and, for all its apparent ease of telling, scrupulously well-structured. The distinguished translator Anthea Bell has conveyed Kempowski's wry tone... Kempowski's late masterwork is a universal tract which suggests that history can only present the facts; it is crafted stories such as this which enable us to grasp a sense of the vicious reality of war -- Eileen Battersby * Irish Times *
A beautiful, forgiving and compassionate book... It reaches its last devastating line with poetic sensibility and the grace of a classical tragedy, confirming Kempowski as a truly great writer... Completely gripping * Guardian *
Seethes with human drama, contradiction and complexity... An astonishing literary achievement * Daily Telegraph *
With restraint and subtlety, Kempowski explores the ordinariness of complicity with evil... heartbreaking and illuminating -- Antonia Senior * The Times *
One of the best books I've ever read -- Jenny Erpenbeck, author * The End of Days *
I love this book. It is Kempowski's crowning achievement: his last, and lasting work of fiction -- Rachel Seiffert
A novel of profound depth and originality * Sunday Times *
Turns a clear-eyed, compassionate gaze on an aristocratic family in East Prussia * Sunday Times *
This is a brilliant, deceptively simple exploration of everyday complicity with evil * The Times *
An epic of exodus, timely for our days * Jewish Chronicle *
[A] stunning final novel by German author Walter Kempowski... Beneath its apparently serene facade, the book seethes with human drama and complexity. The tone is wryly reductive; a fable that becomes a nightmare. * Sunday Telegraph *
[A] narrative of profound depth and originality... Kempowski tells his story of individuals caught up in history's sweep with a dispassionate simplicity that adds to its power. -- Nick Rennison * Sunday Times *
Gripping and dark... I read [it] with huge admiration and yes, a bit of envy for the author's skill, imagination and daring -- Margaret McMillan, Best Books of 2016 * New Statesman *
Kempowski tells his story of individuals caught up in history's wider sweep with a dispassionate simplicity -- 100 Modern Novels to Love * Sunday Times *