Death on the Installment Plan is the story of young Ferdinand's first 18 years. His life is one of hatred, of the grinding struggle of small shopkeepers to survive, of childhood sensations and fantasies - lusty, scatological, violent, but also poetic. There is a running battle with his ineffectual insurance clerk of a father, with his mother, who lives and whines around the junkshop she runs for the boys benefit; there is also the superbly funny Meanwell College in England, where the boy went briefly, a Dickensian, nightmare institution. Always there is humiliation, failure, and boredom, at least until he teams up with the "scientist" des Pereires. This inventor, con-man, incorrigible optimist - whose last project is to grow enormous potatoes by electricity - rescues him, if only temporarily; for the reader he is one of the most lovable charlatans in French literature.
Ralph Manheim Books






A haunting classic from the author of All Quiet on the Western Front, Shadows in Paradise reveals the deepest scars of the men and women who experienced the Holocaust. After years of hiding and surviving near death in a concentration camp, Ross is finally safe. Now living in New York City among old friends, far from Europe’s chilling atrocities, Ross soon meets Natasha, a beautiful model and fellow émigré, a warm heart to help him forget his cold memories. Yet even as the war draws to its violent close, Ross cannot find peace. Demons still pursue him. Whether they are ghosts from the past or the guilt of surviving, he does not know. For he is only beginning to understand that freedom is far from easy—and that paradise, however perfect, has a price. “The world has a great writer in Erich Maria Remarque. He is a craftsman of unquestionably first rank, a man who can bend language to his will. Whether he writes of men or of inanimate nature, his touch is sensitive, firm, and sure.”—The New York Times Book Review
Small, fat Bastian Balthazar Bux is nobody's idea of a hero, least of all his own, until he finds himself stepping through the pages of a mysterious book into the world of Fantastica! Age 9+ 148 pages
The German existentialist delineates his theories concerning the nature, problems, and limitations of man's being
The Life Before Us
- 192 pages
- 7 hours of reading
Signé Ajar, ce roman reçut le prix Goncourt en 1975. Histoire d'amour d'un petit garçon arabe pour une très vieille femme juive : Momo se débat contre les six étages que Madame Rosa ne veut plus monter et contre la vie parce que " ça ne pardonne pas " et parce qu'il n'est " pas nécessaire d'avoir des raisons pour avoir peur ". Le petit garçon l'aidera à se cacher dans son " trou juif ", elle n'ira pas mourir à l'hôpital et pourra ainsi bénéficier du droit sacré " des peuples à disposer d'eux-mêmes " qui n'est pas respecté par l'Ordre des médecins. Il lui tiendra compagnie jusqu'à ce qu'elle meure et même au-delà de la mort..
Milena. The Tragic Story of Kafka's Great Love
- 224 pages
- 8 hours of reading
Margarete Buber, the journalist daughter of Martin Buber, and Milena Jesenska, the beautiful lover of Kafka, met in Ravensbruck concentration camp in 1940. For four terrible years, the two women formed an extraordinary bond and made a pact that if only one survived, the other would bear witness. Only Margarete lived to remember. This is her story of Milena--of fearless love, sacrifice, and nobility.
A Childhood
- 122 pages
- 5 hours of reading
Gevoelens en ervaringen van een Joodse kleuter, die tijdens de Tweede Wereldoorlog met zijn ouders enkele jaren in een concentratiekamp doorbrengt.
Rosshalde is the classic story of a man torn between obligations to his family and his longing for a spiritual fulfillment that can only be found outside the confines of conventional society.Johann Veraguth, a wealthy, successful artist, is estranged from his wife and stifled by the unhappy union. Veraguth’s love for his young son and his fear of drifting rootlessly keep him bound within the walls of his opulent estate, Rosshalde. Yet, when he is shaken by an unexpected tragedy, Veraguth finally finds the courage to leave the desolate safety of Rosshalde and travels to India to discover himself anew.
The Flounder
- 560 pages
- 20 hours of reading
@lt;DIV@gt;It all begins in the Stone Age, when a talking fish is caught by a fisherman at the very spot where millennia later Grass's home town, Danzig, will arise. Like the fish, the fisherman is immortal, and down through the ages they move together. As Grass blends his ingredients into a powerful brew, he shows himself at the peak of his linguistic inventiveness. Translated by Ralph Manheim. A Helen and Kurt Wolff Book@lt;br@gt;@lt;/div@gt;
The Call of the Toad
- 248 pages
- 9 hours of reading
A German art historian and a Polish art restorer find adventure and love in the cemetery business. Their vision is to offer plots in Gdansk to those Germans who had been exiled after World War II. A New York Times Notable Book of the Year. Line drawings by the Author. Translated by Ralph Manheim. A Helen and Kurt Wolff Book



