First UK edition. 8vo. Pp. [vi], 234. Navy blue paper-covered boards, stamped in gilt to spine; butter-yellow endpapers.
Translated from the German by Krishna Winston. Originally published as Im Krebsgang: Eine Novelle, by Steidl Verlag, Göttingen, Deutschland, 2002.
A fictional account of the sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff, a former cruiseship turned refugee carrier, by a Soviet submarine in January 1945. It resulted in the loss of some 9,000 lives, mostly women and children fleeing the advancing Red Army, and to-date constitutes the deadliest maritime disaster in history. Author's bracing examination of a long-held taboo – the sufferings of ordinary Germans during WWII. Winner of the 1999 Nobel Prize in Literature. "In his best book in a long while, Günter Grass once again dazzlingly analyzes Germany's past and present, while hinting soberly at its future." –The New York Times Book Review