The Glass House
The Glass House
A thriller set in 1970s Hamburg, where the past is neither forgotten nor forgiven.
Clever, cultivated Victor Genscher is at the height of his powers. Poised to take over the city’s evening newspaper, he is the very embodiment of the German economic miracle. But something odd keeps disturbing his calm. Wherever he goes, he is followed by swarms of little boys. Victor’s dark past is surfacing and with it a twisted adversary he has chosen to forget. Caught in the plot to expose him is 21–year-old orphaned Johanna, in love with him but ignorant of who he really is.
This new Moth Books paperback and e-book edition will be published in 2025
Reviews
‘There are hints of Heinrich Böll in the working-out of the novel’s themes, although the skillful blending of realism and allegory, the deft plotting, the characters that come dangerously close to caricature and yet live, and the sharp intelligence of the writing equally recall Muriel Spark. Ultimately, however, the author’s style is her own and so is her engagement with Germany, which she views as an informed outsider, depicting with dispassionate clarity an at once fragile and suffocating world in which ‘everything that matter[s]’ has been suppressed to make room for a hollow prosperity.’
— Savkar Altinel, TLS
'An impressive debut. Monique Charlesworth combines a sharp wit with a rich sense of time and place in a very distinctive blend.’
— Graham Swift
'Monique Charlesworth is one of the few who, in recent years, have been tempted to pull the city (Hamburg) apart in the cause of pungently flavoured narrative, using her experiences less as a guarantee of authenticity then as components in a sweeping portrayal of contemporary Germany’s urban grind. … Already heightened by its graces of style and the elegant ironies of Victor’s hubris and nemesis, The Glass House introduces a writer of significant accomplishments, among them a gift for describing her characters as if they themselves had taught her how to place them perfectly in context.’’
— Jonathan Keates, The Observer
‘‘Charlesworth’s darkly allegorical thriller has wit, atmosphere and style. Even the minor characters are brilliantly drawn and side step caricature …. Her ironic, informed outsider’s view is extended by Johanna’s relentlessly astute observations. Seldom has a foreign city been more effectively evoked and used as a fictional backdrop by an English writer, then in this intelligent, very assured debut.’
— Eileen Battersby, Time Out
‘‘The novel’s excitement is heightened by the precisely conveyed sense of place and history and deeply textured character portrayal. Authenticity, wit and intricate plotting produce an uncommonly literate thriller.’
— Publisher’s Weekly, USA
‘Paced like a thriller, the book is well constructed, fille with believable characters and .. elegantly written.’
— City Limits