A small circus : a novel

It is the summer of 1929, and in a small German town, a storm is brewing. Tredup, a shabby reporter working for the Pomeranian Chronicle , leads a precarious existence . . . until he takes some photographs that offer him a chance to make a fortune. While Tredup contemplates his next move, the town is buzzing. Farmers are plotting their revenge against greedy officials, a mysterious traveling salesman is stirring up trouble, and all the while, the Nazi party grows stronger as the Communists fight them in the street. As the town slowly slips into chaos, Mayor “Fatty" Gareis does everything in his power to seek the easy life. As tensions mount between workers and bosses, town and country, and Left and Right, alliances are broken, bribes are taken, and plots are hatched, until the tension spills over into violence. From the brilliant mind of one of Germany's most celebrated writers, A Small Circus is a genuine and frightening tale of small-town Germany during a time of unrest. It belongs in the collection of every reader who has enjoyed his break-out classics. Skyhorse Publishing, as well as our Arcade, Yucca, and Good Books imprints, are proud to publish a broad range of books for readers interested in fiction—novels, novellas, political and medical thrillers, comedy, satire, historical fiction, romance, erotic and love stories, mystery, classic literature, folklore and mythology, literary classics including Shakespeare, Dumas, Wilde, Cather, and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home. A small German town edges into fascism in a novel by the bestselling author of Alone in Berlin: “So terribly genuine, it is frightening.”—Kurt Tucholsky It is the summer of 1929, and in Altholm, Germany, a storm is brewing—a local political resistance that could be valuable to Max Tredup. Max, a shabby, unprincipled reporter working for the Chronicle, Altholm’s failing newspaper, is leading a precarious and hungry existence when he takes some potentially damning photographs. Sold to the right bidder, he could make a fortune. While he contemplates his next move, the town is buzzing. Farmers are plotting their revenge against greedy officials, a mysterious traveling salesman is stirring up trouble, and the Nazi party grows stronger as the Communists fight them in the street. And all the while, Altholm’s oppressive mayor, who’s doing everything in his power to seek the easy life, is involved in a conspiracy of schemes of his own. With the town rapidly slipping into chaos, tensions mount between workers and bosses, town and country, and left and right. As alliances are broken, bribes are taken, and plots are hatched, a shocking act of violence is all it takes to push Altholm over the edge. From the brilliant mind of one of Germany’s most celebrated writers, A Small Circus “gives us front-row seats to Germany's decade-long quest for a sacrificial scapegoat that culminated in the Nazi takeover” (The Independent).