Stasi Child (41 page)
Authors: David Young
Finally, although party leaders did occasionally parade in their Volvos, more often than not they would be watching the parades themselves on a raised podium, Kremlin-style – so Karin’s memory from the twenty-fifth anniversary parade was a little authorial licence for the sake of the plot.
I hope you enjoyed reading the novel as much as I enjoyed writing it, and that it will encourage you to visit the eastern part of Germany, where the ghost of the dystopian world that was the DDR is still very much evident – but disappearing fast.
For more background, please see my website:
www.stasichild.com
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This novel was written for the inaugural Crime Thriller Creative Writing MA at City University, London. Special thanks to my fellow students for their invaluable help and suggestions, particularly Stephanie Broadribb, Rob Hogg, James Holt, Philip Horswood, Kylie Morris, Seun Olatoye, Rod Reynolds, Jody Sabral, Laura Shepherd-Robinson and Emma Tuddenham. As I write, two of us have obtained publishing deals (with, I’m sure, more to follow), one has won the Debut Dagger and several have secured literary agents.
Also many thanks to my tutors – Claire McGowan, Laura Wilson and Philip Sington – for their suggestions. Philip’s novel
The Valley of Unknowing
– set in Dresden in the 1980s – was far and away the best fictional account I read during my research.
For sharing his experiences as a child in Sellin, Rügen, and for reading my first draft, I’m very grateful to Oliver Berlau of the BBC World Service. I spent a fabulous research trip in Sellin in April 2013, staying just off Wilhelmstrasse (Wilhelm-Pieck-Strasse in DDR times) and that – together with Oliver’s recollections – inspired the Rügen parts of the book. Thanks also to Stephanie Smith for her valuable comments on the first draft.
For their help with explanations of DDR policing I’m indebted to former detectives Siegfried Schwarz and Bernd Marmulla, and to Jana Reissmann and Thomas Abrams for very kindly helping with interview translations. Many thanks, too, to Ronald Schulz-Töpken of the Berlin Police Presidency, Remo Kroll and former East Berlin police officer Kerstin Krüger.
Also a big thank you to the organisers of the international Yeovil Literary Prize. My shortlisting and third prize there was the first step towards publication.
Last, but not least, without my agent Adam Gauntlett and his colleagues at Peters Fraser & Dunlop (especially Rachel Mills, Naomi Joseph and Jonathan Sissons) this book might never have seen the light of day. I was thrilled when it was bought for Bonnier UK by Mark Smith, and am very grateful for the improvements suggested by my editor and publisher at Twenty7, Joel Richardson. All remaining errors are – of course – solely down to me.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
David Young
was born near Hull and – after dropping out of a Bristol University science degree – studied Humanities at Bristol Polytechnic. Temporary jobs cleaning ferry toilets and driving a butcher’s van were followed by a career in journalism with provincial newspapers, a London news agency, and international radio and TV newsrooms. He now writes in his garden shed and in his spare time supports Hull City AFC.
First published in Great Britain in 2015 by Twenty7 Books
Twenty7 Books
80-81 Wimpole St, London W1G 9RE
Copyright © David Young, 2015
All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
The right of David Young to be identified as Author of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988
This is a work of fiction. Names, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Paperback ISBN: 978 1 78577 006 7
Ebook ISBN: 978 1 78577 005 0
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Printed and bound by Clays Ltd, St Ives Plc
Twenty7 Books is an imprint of Bonnier Publishing Fiction, a Bonnier Publishing company