Spiel is David Sornig’s debut novel.
–The woman lost you. Stay lost. Believe me. Rosa Stumm is a lie.
Berlin, New Years Eve. A young architect abandons the apocalyptic heat of a Melbourne summer for the streets his grandfather once walked. Barely off the train, a blind woman invites him to play a game. The Spiel has begun.
When the pair narrowly escape a bomb blast, the woman disappears, leaving only the name that has haunted the architect since childhood – Rosa Stumm. But who is Rosa Stumm?
In his vertiginous hunt for her, obsession and past collapse, dream and destiny are blurred, and imaginations collide. The architect must now face the scars left by the terrible legacy of his ancestry and atone for the life he left in Australia.
‘…[a] powerful example of the strength of contemporary Australian literary fiction‘ Canberra Times
‘…taut and gripping…’ Australian Book Review
‘…an audacious first novel that challenges the conventions of social realism dominant in contemporary fiction. Spiel is unabashedly experimental, owing much to Joyce and Kafka, Borges and Pynchon.’ Eastern Daily Press
‘…his talent is such that I’m sure we’ll hear more from him.’ The Age
Read an extract from Spiel here
Published by UWAP.
Available from Readings (Australia), Amazon (UK) and Amazon (US)
