Fiction set in Germany or Austria
 

Can anyone recommend good fiction set in Germany or Austria to read before and on my trip there next month? I am going to Bavaria and Salzburg. I read Stones from the River recently. I will be sure to rent The Sound of Music before the trip. Also, anyone going to Berlin should think about seeing the movie Goodbye, Lenin!, which is in limited release in theatres now. (http://www.metacritic.com/film/titles/goodbyelenin/)

There are 2 great books by German author Bernhard Schlink. One called "The Reader" was actually an Oprah book, like Stones. This books deals with a boy/man living in Post-War Germany who takes up a relationship with an older women, only to find himself years later trying her in court for war crimes. Its a powerful book and helps you understand the post-war mind in Germany. Another book by him, "Flights of Love", are short stories set in Germany. Both are good books.

There are several good books out by Turkish-German author Emine Sevgi Ozdamar, which would give fascinating insight on minorities in German culture.

Another really cool book is called "Heroes Like Us" by Thomas Brussig.

I will recommend a few from Herman Hesse. Take a look at Narcissus and Goldmund, Magister Ludi, Knulp, or Under the Wheel. For the most part they are set in Southern Germany.

Philip Kerr's Berlin Noir trilogy; or a guy I'm just getting to know.. blast can't remember his name- writes like the 39 Steps but in Mitteleuropa

My favorite - Winter _ by Len Deighton. After you read it, you'll want to read all the others that follow!

I get the impression Doriana would like something a bit lighter than novels that seek to get to grips with the worst of the recent past. You could try one of George MacDonald Fraser's funny pastiches of 19th century romance/thrillers 'Royal Flash', set around the Bavarian kings with a walk-on part for Bismarck. Flashman finds himself up against the same dastardly opponent in 'Flashman and the Tiger'.

Guy I was trying to remember the name of was Alan Furst

<i>Above Suspicion</i> and <i>The Salzburg Connection</i> by Helen MacInnes.

I'd certainly second EmilyC's suggestion of Len Deighton if you want to whet the appetite for Berlin. Not just &quot;Winter&quot; but the 3 trilogies as well: &quot;Game, Set &amp; Match&quot;, &quot;Hook, Line &amp; Sinker&quot; and &quot;Faith, Hope &amp; Charity&quot;. Rollicking good yarns too, if you like spy stories.

While on the subject of fiction set in Germany, maybe someone can help me with the author and title of a book I read years ago and have been wracking my brains to remember? It is set in war-time Germany, beginning with the Nazi invasion of Czechslovakia, and centres around 2 people - 1 male, 1 female - who escape and leg it back over the Fichtel Mountains in Eastern Germany, to eventually get separated but to meet up (years?) later in or around Wetzlar some distance north of Frankfurt. Ideas anyone? Thanks...

Along with the two Helen MacInnes books Carolyn suggested, Prelude to Terror is very good, although it focuses more on Vienna. Part of it does take place in Grunau, which is not far from Salzburg.
Carolyn, I enjoyed Prelude to Terror so much that on our last vacation in the Steiermark, we stopped in Grunau on the way back to Brussels. A very pretty village with a beautiful lake and mountain setting--but with none of the Hallstadt crowds!

John LeCarre's new spy thriller, Absolute Friends, made me *not* want to visit Mad King Ludwig's castle, Neuschwantstein. Set largely in Germany its lead character is a tour guide there.

Good decision Windsorite. Neuschwanstein is in a beautiful setting and even the walk up the hill to the castle itself is worth the hard slog, but the tour inside the castle is slightly non-eventful - apart from the views from the windows. One of Ludwig's other extravagances, Linderhof is much better.

Mann's The Magic Mountain.