Love in Five Acts

Krien excels in the detail on which a life turns and she uses understated humour to great effect...Krien is unfailingly impressive in her depiction of the lives of these five very different women. -- Michael Cronin * Irish Times *
Love in Five Acts is written - and translated - sparsely, five disparate voices cramming a world of nuance into a rare and elegant conciseness. -- Charlie Connelly * New European *
This exquisite portrait of five middle-class women's lives is utterly captivating . . . A beautifully written masterclass in human frailty. * Woman and Home *
Krien has produced a sensitive, intricate study of the connected stories of her characters. * Library Journal (USA) *
Nothing in this life is for free. And this is why this book entertains and is food for thought, with remarkable women in their thirties and forties * Berliner Zeitung *
The polyphony and the way in which every single voice is being led midway between the protagonist and the narrator constitute the special quality of this book * Süddeutsche Zeitung *
Maybe that is the artistry, the literary concept of Daniela Krien, the familiar truthfulness of her characters, their touching intimacy * Stern *
With psychological refinement Daniela Krien recounts the chaos of feelings and the short half-life of modern ways of living * Vogue (Germany) *
She is a good listener, [...] Maybe this is why her novel Love in Five Acts is so entertaining * Sueddeutsche Zeitung *
Krien expertly connects fortunes that only seem simple at first glance to create an altogether excellent book * Brigitte *
Daniela Krien is an impressive storyteller for emergency case called love, which silences many of us. Daniela Krien gives them a strong voice * Hamburger Morgenpost *
Few intelligently entertaining German novels don't ooze relevance yet are not afraid of existential seriousness. Fortunately, Krien has written one * Neue Zürcher Zeitung *
It's the book of the summer * Stuttgarter Zeitung *
Written in unsentimental, affecting prose, this is an intelligent study of female desire, ambition and frailty. -- Hannah Beckerman * Observer *
Krien's writing (translated, excellently, by Jamie Bulloch) is sparse and precise. It hops about in time, but chronological confusion fades in teh face of the self-contained intensity of the chapters. -- Francesca Carrington * Telegraph *
The writing is spare but meticulous, cutting to the heart of the matter in each of the five intimate novellas. Occasionally mordantly funny, it is all gloriously Germanic . . . All these women are children of Unification and the GDR casts a long shadow. Highly recommended. -- Patricia Nicol * Sunday Times *
A multifaceted examination of female longing and loss . . . A sympathetic and clear-eyed view of modern womanhood. -- Angel Gurria-Quintana * Financial Times Summer Books of 2021 *
Characterised by the way its beautifully direct and lucid prose conveys complexities, and by a fierce intelligence that shows how closely connected someone's thoughts and emotions can be to daily experience of the physical world -- Kerryn Goldsworthy * Melbourne Age & Sydney Morning Herald *
A chronicle of ordinary women enduring extraordinary crises . . . These are universal problems distilled down to the particular, the domestic, the small-print of human bondage and the yearning for it, that underpins our daily lives. -- Anne Cunningham * Irish Independent *
Written in pleasingly exact and unfussy prose - crisply translated by Jamie Bulloch - this German bestseller interweaves the stories of five straight women, all around 40 years of age, living in Leipzig. -- Lucy Scholes * Financial Times *
Fans of Sarah Dunn, Elisabeth Egan, and Isabel Gillies will relate to the multifaceted lives of Krien's characters, brilliantly rendered in her vivid voice. * Booklist *