Review: the Girl who wasn't there by Ferdinand Von Schirach

The Girl Who Wasn't There by Ferdinand Von Schirach
Publisher: Little Brown UK
Release date: 8 January 2015
Rating: ****

Back cover blurb:

Sebastian von Eschburg, scion of a wealthy, self-destructive family, survived his disastrous childhood to become a celebrated if controversial artist. He casts a provocative shadow over the Berlin scene; his disturbing photographs and installations show that truth and reality are two distinct things. When Sebastian is accused of murdering a young woman and the police investigation takes a sinister turn, seasoned lawyer Konrad Biegler agrees to represent him - and hopes to help himself in the process. But Biegler soon learns that nothing about the case, or the suspect, is what it appears

 

 

 

The Girl Who Wasn't There was kindly sent to me by after I was made aware of the novel via a Twitter proof giveaway frenzy (regular book bloggers know exactly what I mean here...)

Sebastian Von Eschburg is a gifted photographer. Some may say his photographs are works of art. But others may find some of his subject matter a little offensive, pornographic even. Others would see only beauty in his work.

Sebastian has grown up in a dysfunctional family, and we see glimpses of his early life in the first part of the novel. This helps us to understand how he behaves further on in to the novel when confronted with certain dilemmas and situations.

Sebastian lives a lonely adult existence until he meets Sofia, a woman who truly understands him. As he lets himself open up to her, slowly, Sebastian begins to change. 

 

But then something terrible happens that puts Sebastian's freedom in jeapordy and from this point we are taken through the rest of the novel by Biegler; a seasoned lawyer.

A fairly short novel with a quick pace, The Girl Who Wasn't There is an intriuging read and comes highly recommended

 

The Girl Who Wasn't There is available to buy now from Amazon online and all good book shops.

 

  

 

Thank you to Poppy Stimpson at Little Brown for the advance copy of this novel.