»While reading the book the women become confidants and reveal themselves thereby remaining genuine, but most of all believable. Maybe that is the artistry, the literary concept of Daniela Krien, the familiar truthfulness of her characters, their touching intimacy.«

»This is the one book that I would like to hand to everyone who wants to know something about contemporary German literature, the country and its people.«

»This is a touching and moving read, without ideological furore, but with an incredibly exact stance on everyday experiences.«

»Nothing in this life is for free. And this is why this book entertains and is food for thought, with remarkable women in their thirties and forties.«

»… how she balanced the existential seriousness of the text with lightness impressed me. I could have listened to her one more hour effortlessly.«

»Krien hits a nerve with a witty sociological portrait of today […].«

»Whoever wants to know something about the life of today’s women in a hundred years, will learn it from Daniela Krien’s novel.«

»This is a book which engages with twenty-first century debates around notions of femininity and feminism, empathising with an array of perspectives on the subject.«

»Bit by bit she dissects her female protagonists thoughts and feelings and makes them accessible to us in her deliciously precise and extremely simple language.«

»Few intelligently entertaining German novels don’t ooze relevance yet are not afraid of existential seriousness. Fortunately, Krien has written one.«

»This doesn’t happen often in German literature: A book that has no apparent claim to explaining the world – and yet delivers just that.«

»In spite of its serious subject Love in Five Acts is a novel that will make your heart jump for joy. And a serious candidate for the shortlist of the ›German Book Prize‹. A real highlight among the 2019 spring titles.«

»My favourite book of the year? Love in Five Acts by Daniela Krien.«

»It’s the book of the summer. [. . .] With her clear gaze and imaginative skill, Daniela Krien ensures that the scenes from her protagonists’ private lives cannot simply be pigeonholed as ‘chick lit’.«

»Their experiences of men, children and abortions (and work, horses and forests) are subtly interlinked«

»Make yourself a hot chocolate or pour a glass of Grauburgunder; you’ll be in Germany any minute«

»Sparse and precise«

»Written in unsentimental, affecting prose, this is an intelligent study of female desire, ambition and frailty«

»Love in Case of Emergency leaves an impression by giving an account of women who are looking for new ways to be happy after classic relationship models have failed.«

»Punchy and entirely of the moment, Love in Five Acts engages head-on with what it is to be a woman in the twenty-first century.«

»Utterly captivating ... A beautifully written masterclass in human frailty.«

»The writing is spare but meticulous, cutting to the heart of the matter in each of the five intimate novellas.«

»Unfailingly impressive«

»Written in pleasingly exact and unfussy prose — crisply translated by Jamie Bulloch — this German bestseller interweaves the stories of five straight women, all around 40 years of age, living in Leipzig.«

»These are universal problems (though almost always women’s problems), distilled down to the particular, the domestic, the small-print of human bondage and the yearning for it, that underpins our daily lives.«

»This portrait of five women is utterly captivating.«

»Krien's flat calm voice is both soothing and shocking as she guides her characters through love, marriage and affairs that often end abruptly.«

»Love in five Acts explores what is left to five women when they have fulfilled their roles as wives, mothers, friends, lovers, sisters and daughters.«

»A sympathetic and clear-eyed view of modern womanhood.«

»Here is an author who knows how to tell a story. She draws precise portraits of women and creates exceptionally good milieu portrayals.«

»A sober and controlled style. Daniela Krien delivers the novel of a modern group full of contrast.«

»Highly Recommended«

»A beautiful novel«

»Beautifully direct and lucid prose«