Der Turm

Der Turm is set in the German Democratic Republic between December 1982 and the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989, mostly in Dresden. Its focus is the educated middle-class residents of a district of villas above the Elbe. Their story, which runs to almost a thousand pages and involves hundreds of characters, is told through three relatives: Christian Hoffmann, a schoolboy who wants to become a doctor and later serves in the army; his father, Richard, a senior surgeon; and his uncle Meno Rohde, an editor at a publishing house. The novel moves through many East German milieus, from schools and the military to the health service and literary circles.