The Eighth Life (Das achte Leben (Für Brilka))

Originally published in 2014 

Tumbling down the years, great characters & greater relationships come & go, in Nino Haratischvili’s compelling epic family drama. 

At the start of the 20th century, a Russian family prospers. It owes its success to a delicious chocolate recipe, passed down the generations with great solemnity & caution. A caution that is justified: this is a recipe for ecstasy that carries a very bitter aftertaste. Stasia learns it from her Georgian father & takes it north, following her new husband. But Stasia’s will be only the first of a symphony of romances that swirl from sweet to sour in this epic tale of the red century. Tumbling down the years, & across vast expanses of longing & loss, generation after generation of this compelling family hears echoes & sees reflections. Six romances, one revolution, the story of the century. 

"The Eighth Life is a 944-page opus that grabs you by the head & heart from the first page & refuses to let go. Readers will enjoy this delicious blend of family & 20th-century history-in-the-making as seen through the eyes of several generations. After the last page, you will wish there were more… just like that last piece of chocolate. Highly recommended." — Peggy Kurkowski, Historical Novel Society

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Nino Haratischvili was born in Georgia in 1983 & is an award-winning novelist, playwright, & theatre director. At home in two different worlds, each with their own language, she has been writing in both German & Georgian since the age of twelve. In 2010, her debut novel Juja was nominated for the German Book Prize, as was her most recent Die Katze und der General in 2018.

Charlotte Collins studied English Literature at Cambridge University, & worked as an actor & radio journalist before becoming a literary translator.

Ruth Martin’s recent translations include Volker Weidermann’s Dreamers & Michael Köhlmeier’s Y