One of the most important novels of the 20th century

A book of an epochal year, a mother and daughter, and two countries in turmoil [ANNIVERSARIES FROM A YEAR IN THE LIFE OF GESINE CRESSPAHL]( by Uwe Johnson translated from the German by Damion Searls Anniversaries seamlessly braids 1960s New York with annals of Nazi Germany and the tale of a resilient single mother, Gesine, and her intelligent, precocious young daughter, Marie. This epic spans one year, with a chapter for each day from August 20, 1967 to the same date a year later, and is constructed from narrative, diary entries, letters, and excerpts from The New York Times, read by Gesine every morning. It took Uwe Johnson more than fifteen years to finish Anniversaries. Gesine and Marie are among the most memorable characters in literature, and Anniversaries, at once monumental and intimate, sweeping and full of incident, stylistically adventurous and endlessly absorbing, is quite simply one of the great books of our time. "This book is truly a masterpiece. . . . It is a record, and an enduring one for our whole post-Hitler era. You have actually made this past tangible and—perhaps a much harder task—you have made it convincing. Now I know how it was and is over there—know it down to the tips of my toes. . . . This seems to be the only appropriate way to speak and think: about great-grandmother and grandmother and mother and child, in the interplay of generations and across two continents." —Hannah Arendt, February 7, 1972, Letter to Uwe Johnson [READ MORE]( For three days only, [Anniversaries]( will be available at 30% off. Events with Damion Searls Tueday, October 16, 7pm at [Community Bookstore](, Brooklyn with Edwin Frank Thursday, October 18, 7:30pm at [Green Apple Books on the Park](, San Francisco Co-sponsored by the Center for the Art of Translation. Tuesday, October 30, 6pm at [The Rosenbach](, Philadelphia Part of the In Conversation with the Rosenbach series. Thursday, November 1, 7pm at [Goethe-Institut](, New York with Renata Adler and Liesl Schillinger A Special Anniversaries Film Series at [Goethe-Institut New York]( Friday, November 2, at 7pm and Saturday, November 3, at 5pm: A showing, in two parts, of Anniversaries: A Film by Margarethe von Trotta (2000) based on Johnson’s novel. Viewers must attend both screenings to see the entirety of the film. Thursday, November 8, at 7pm: Summer in the City, a 1967 documentary of the Upper West Side with text by Uwe Johnson, introduced by Damion Searls Tuesday, November 13, at 7pm: Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take One, directed by William Greaves Thursday, November 15, at 7pm: Trace of Stones, directed by Frank Beyer You are receiving this message because you signed up for email newsletters from NYRB. You can [choose the types of mailings you wish to receive](: [Update preferences]( New York Review Books 435 Hudson Street, New York, NY 10014 Not a subscriber? Sign up for our newsletter [here](. [Unsubscribe](