Rachel Seiffert's absorbing, internationally acclaimed debut explores
the modern German psyche through the experiences of three ordinary
people.
At the onset of World War II, a young photographer's assistant is kept
out of the war due to a physical disability, and instead spends his time
capturing on film the changing temper of Berlin, the city he loves. Just
weeks after Germany's surrender, a teenage girl whose parents have been
taken into allied custody leads her siblings on a harrowing journey to
find their grandmother. And two generations after the war, a teacher
searches for the reason why the Russians imprisoned his beloved
grandfather. Evoking the experiences of the individual with astonishing
emotional depth and psychological acuity, The Dark Room develops a
portrait of the twentieth century in all its drama and complexity.