Shadow-Boxing Woman

Parei Inka

In "The Shadow-Boxing Woman", a novel from German writer Inka Parei, a decaying apartment building in post-Wall Berlin is home to Hell, a young woman with a passion for martial arts. When Hell's neighbor disappears she sets out across the city in search of her. In the course of her quest, she falls in love with a bank robber, confronts her own dark memories, and ends up saving more than just her missing neighbor.

What is on the surface a crime novel is actually a haunting dual portrait of a city and a woman caught up in times of change and transition. This debut novel in English combines Parei's tight prose with a compulsive delight in detail that dynamically evokes many lost and overlooked corners of Berlin.

About the Author

Inka Parei lives in Prenzlauer Berg with her son, writing and tutoring emerging literary talents. She is the author of "The Shadow-Boxing Woman" and "What Darkness Was", also published by Seagull Books.

Reviews

"The plot is intriguing; it is even blackly funny" – Economist, on the German edition

"Parei has written a wonderfully cruel metropolitan novel" – Der Spiegel, on the German edition

"A brilliant achievement!" – Suddeutsche Zeitung, on the German edition

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