An Honest Man

The new novel from the award-winning writer, Ben Fergusson, author of The Spring of Kasper Meier and The Other Hoffmann Sister. In West Berlin in 1989, eighteen-year-old Ralf has just left school and is living a final golden summer with his three best friends. They spend their days swimming, smoking and daydreaming about the future, oblivious to the storm gathering on the other side of the Berlin Wall. But an unsettling discovery about his family and a meeting with the mysterious Oz shatters everything Ralf thought he knew about love and loyalty. And as old Cold War tensions begin to tear his life apart, he finds himself caught up in a web of deceit, forced to make impossible choices about his country, his family and his heart. “The divided Berlin of the Cold War era is brilliantly resurrected on the cusp of momentous change in Ben Fergusson's An Honest Man...the novel movingly recounts Ralf's painful discoveries about love and loyalty.” SUNDAY TIMES

“During the hot summer of 1989, a group of friends mooch about, fall in love, swim and party. All perfectly normal - except this is West Berlin which is still divided by the Wall and awash with spies and paranoia . . . The author won awards for his debut, The Spring of Kasper Meier. This is equally atmospheric and thought-provoking.” DAILY MAIL

“Love and loyalty in Cold War-era Berlin: an outstanding novel.” SUNDAY TIMES

“A genre-melding mix of coming of age and spy thriller...Fergusson's prose combines a reporter's eye for detail with poetic scene-setting. "The sky was honey coloured," he writes of a party in a squat. "Around a large brick and plaster chimney, men and women drank, danced and lounged on sofas that had improbably found their way up on to the large flat roof?.?.?.?One girl was completely naked." But the Cold War and greater forces are in play. The party will soon be over and a profound betrayal is about to turn Ralf's world upside down. A fine summer read.” FINANCIAL TIMES

“The stunning, powerful and addictive new novel by the prize-winning author of The Spring of Kasper Meier...” ATTITUDE MAGAZINE

“A powerful and moving love story by a writer at the top of his game.” JOHN BOYNE

“Subtle and intense...a morally complex tale...This is a beautifully written and engaging novel that comes from the heart.” NB MAGAZINE

“I quickly found myself hooked. The character of Ralf and his relationships with both his family and friends (particularly Oz) are beautifully drawn. Ralf's journey from innocence to adulthood is fascinating, surprising and poignant as the plot twists and turns and the reader, along with Ralf, has no idea who to trust. It is a compelling story that held me captive until the last page. And thank God it had a proper ending that left me smiling!” RUTH HOGAN

“Profoundly moving - a deftly crafted story of love and loss, I believed every word of it.” JAKE ARNOTT

“Fiercely beautiful, this tender, yet powerfully told story of love and discovery cradles the reader in the most pleasurable way. A lush, unforgettable read.” KATE MAYFIELD, author of The Parentations

© 2019 W. F. Howes Ltd (Audiobook): 9781528891691

Release date

Audiobook: 19 December 2019