The Decision

 ‘[a] serious book’– New York Times

‘thoroughly researched, carefully written and entirely plausible. It gives you the strongest possible sense that this is what Mann was thinking, and feeling, at this critical moment in his life’ – Independent

‘an intriguing and admirable attempt to map the mental and intellectual journey that brought Mann from thinking he could not write outside of Germany to realizing, as he famously and defiantly put it, “Wo ich bin, ist Deutschland.”’ – LA Review of Books

‘Böhler is at her best when exploring the trials of exile, the mixture of outrage, nostalgia and impotence with which Mann watches his chances of reclaiming his German life shrivel up. In efficient prose Böhler pleasingly combines the mundane and the exalted…The result is a very lifelike portrait’ – Times Literary Supplement

‘a splendid novel […] Britta Bohler has written an important book, a beautiful creation. The Decision stands as a remarkable beginning of a literary career.’ – New York Journal of Books

‘While Mann kept detailed diaries, they give only a sketchy account of this period, and Britta Bohler’s imagination fills the gaps of his inner life.’ – Sydney Morning Herald

‘An artfully crafted and constructed book, from its musical movement-arrangement to the sheer amount of information about Mann Böhler packs into this relatively short novel.’ – Complete Review

‘a masterful portrait of Thomas Mann’ – LitLove

‘Deploying a sonata-like structure (each day akin to a musical movement), this novel presents a snapshot of Thomas Mann at a crucial moment in his life.’ – Compulsive Reader

‘a fascinating story’ – BookMunch

‘a wonderful novel, an immersive and psychologically convincing account of Mann’s agony of decision’
– Jildy Sauce

‘a novel that shows the greater struggle between good and evil’ – Winston’s Dad blog

‘This book dares to give a promising insight into a critical moment in the life of Thomas Mann.’
– Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung