The Last Summer

by Ricarda Huch

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  Peirene’s Series

  FEMALE VOICE: INNER REALITIES

  NO 1

  Beside the Sea by Véronique Olmi

  Translated from the French by Adriana Hunter

  ‘It should be read.’ GUARDIAN

  NO 2

  Stone in a Landslide by Maria Barbal

  Translated from the Catalan by Laura McGloughlin and Paul Mitchell

  ‘Understated power.’ FINANCIAL TIMES

  NO 3

  Portrait of the Mother as a Young Woman

  by Friedrich Christian Delius

  Translated from the German by Jamie Bulloch

  ‘A small masterpiece.’ TLS

  ……….

  MALE DILEMMA: QUESTS FOR INTIMACY

  NO 4

  Next World Novella by Matthias Politycki

  Translated from the German by Anthea Bell

  ‘Inventive and deeply affecting.’ INDEPENDENT

  NO 5

  Tomorrow Pamplona by Jan van Mersbergen

  Translated from the Dutch by Laura Watkinson

  ‘An impressive work.’ DAILY MAIL

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  Maybe This Time by Alois Hotschnig

  Translated from the Austrian German by Tess Lewis

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  SMALL EPIC: UNRAVELLING SECRETS

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  The Brothers by Asko Sahlberg

  Translated from the Finnish by Emily Jeremiah and Fleur Jeremiah

  ‘Intensely visual.’ INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY

  NO 8

  The Murder of Halland by Pia Juul

  Translated from the Danish by Martin Aitken

  ‘A brilliantly drawn character.’ TLS

  NO 9

  Sea of Ink by Richard Weihe

  Translated from the Swiss German by Jamie Bulloch

  ‘Delicate and moving.’ INDEPENDENT

  ……….

  TURNING POINT:

  REVOLUTIONARY MOMENTS

  NO 10

  The Mussel Feast by Birgit Vanderbeke

  Translated from the German by Jamie Bulloch

  ‘An extraordinary book.’ STANDPOINT

  NO 11

  Mr Darwin’s Gardener by Kristina Carlson

  Translated from the Finnish by Emily Jeremiah and Fleur Jeremiah

  ‘Something miraculous.’ GUARDIAN

  NO 12

  Chasing the King of Hearts by Hanna Krall

  Translated from the Polish by Philip Boehm

  ‘A remarkable find.’ SUNDAY TIMES

  COMING-OF-AGE: TOWARDS IDENTITY

  NO 13

  The Dead Lake by Hamid Ismailov

  Translated from the Russian by Andrew Bromfield

  ‘Immense poetic power.’ GUARDIAN

  NO 14

  The Blue Room by Hanne Ørstavik

  Translated from the Norwegian by Deborah Dawkin

  ‘Shrewd and psychologically adroit.’ LANCASHIRE EVENING POST

  NO 15

  Under the Tripoli Sky by Kamal Ben Hameda

  Translated from the French by Adriana Hunter

  ‘It is excellent.’ SUNDAY TIMES

  ……….

  CHANCE ENCOUNTER: MEETING THE OTHER

  NO 16

  White Hunger by Aki Ollikainen

  Translated from the Finnish by Emily Jeremiah and Fleur Jeremiah

  ‘A tale of epic substance.’ LOS ANGELES REVIEW OF BOOKS

  NO 17

  Reader for Hire by Raymond Jean

  Translated from the French by Adriana Hunter

  ‘A book that will make you want to read more books.’ COSMOPOLITAN

  NO 18

  The Looking-Glass Sisters by Gøhril Gabrielsen

  Translated from the Norwegian by John Irons

  ‘The real strength of this book lies in the way so much is withheld.’ DAILY MAIL

  FAIRY TALE: END OF INNOCENCE

  NO 19

  The Man I Became by Peter Verhelst

  Translated from the Dutch by David Colmer

  ‘A haunting, apocalyptic novella.’ GUARDIAN

  NO 20

  Her Father’s Daughter by Marie Sizun

  Translated from the French by Adriana Hunter

  ‘Affectingly restrained… Impressive.’ THE SUNDAY TIMES

  NO 21

  The Empress and the Cake by Linda Stift

  Translated from the Austrian German by Jamie Bulloch

  ‘Composed with the logic of a bad dream.’ GUARDIAN

  ……….

  NEW IN 2016

  EAST AND WEST: LOOKING BOTH WAYS

  NO 22

  The Last Summer by Ricarda Huch

  Translated from the German by Jamie Bulloch

  ‘She is the First Lady of Germany. No, she is probably the First Lady of Europe.’ THOMAS MANN

  NO 23

  The Orange Grove by Larry Tremblay

  Translated from the French by Sheila Fischman

  ‘A little jewel, finely chiselled.’ ELLE

  NO 24

  Dance by the Canal by Kerstin Hensel

  Translated from the German by Jen Calleja

  ‘30 years of East German history narrated with laconic irony.’ DIE ZEIT

  Peirene Press is proud to support Counterpoints Arts.

  Counterpoints Arts is a charity that promotes the creative arts by and about refugees and migrants in the UK.

  ‘We are living in a time of human displacement. We need bold and imaginative interventions to help us make sense of migration. And who better to do this than artists who are engaging with this issue.’

  ALMIR KOLDZIC AND ÁINE O’BRIEN, DIRECTORS, COUNTERPOINTS ARTS

  By buying this book you are helping Counterpoints Arts enhance the cultural integration of refugees – a mission which will surely change our society for the better.

  Peirene will donate 50p from the sale of this book to the charity.

  www.counterpointsarts.org.uk

  About the Author and Translator

  AUTHOR

  Ricarda Huch (1864–1947) was a groundbreaking German historian, novelist and philosopher. As one of the first women to study at the University of Zurich, she received her doctorate in Philosophy and History in 1892. She authored numerous works on European history. She also wrote novels, poems and a play. Der letzte Sommer (The Last Summer) was first published in 1910. In 1926 she became the first female writer to be admitted to the Prussian Academy of Arts. She won from Thomas Mann the title ‘The First Lady of Germany’ – and even had an asteroid named in her honour.

  TRANSLATOR

  Jamie Bulloch is a historian, and has worked as a professional translator from German since 2001. His translations include books by Paulus Hochgatterer, Alissa Walser and Timur Vermes. Jamie is the translator of four previous Peirene titles: Portrait of the Mother as a Young Woman by Friedrich Christian Delius, Sea of Ink by Richard Weihe, The Mussel Feast by Birgit Vanderbeke and The Empress and the Cake by Linda Stift. Jamie won the 2014 Schlegel-Tieck Prize for Best German Translation for The Mussel Feast. He is also the author of Karl Renner: Austria.

  Copyright

  First published in Great Britain in 2017 by

  Peirene Press Ltd

  17 Cheverton Road

  London N19 3BB

  www.peirenepress.com

  First pu
blished under the original German-language title Der letzte Sommer Copyright © Insel Verlag 1950

  All rights reserved by and controlled through Insel Verlag Anton Kippenberg Berlin

  This translation © Jamie Bulloch, 2017

  The moral rights of the author and the translator have been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

  This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not be resold, lent, hired out or otherwise circulated without the express prior consent of the publisher.

  ISBN 978–1–908670–34–2

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places and events are either the product of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Designed by Sacha Davison Lunt

  Photographic image by Yury Kosourov / 123RF Stock Photo

  Typeset by Tetragon, London

  Printed and bound by T J International, Padstow, Cornwall