Who would kill for Kafka?

Book blurb

West Berlin, 1968. As a youth uprising sweeps over Europe in the shadow of the Cold War, two men face each other across an interrogation table. One, Ferdy Kaplan, has shot and killed a student. Kommissar Müller, the other, is trying to find out why.

As his interrogation progresses, Kaplan’s background is revealed piece by piece, including the love story between him and his childhood friend Amalya, their shared passion for Kafka, and the radical youth movement they joined. When it transpires that Kaplan’s intended target was not the student but Max Brod, Franz Kafka’s close friend and the executor of his literary estate, the interrogation of a murderer slowly transforms into a dialogue between a passionate admirer of Kafka’s work, who is attempting to protect the author’s final wish to have his manuscripts burned, and a police commissioner who is learning more about literature than he ever thought possible from a prisoner in his custody.

In this gripping, thought-provoking tribute to Kafka, Burhan Sönmez vividly recreates a key period of history in the 1960s, when the Berlin Wall divided Europe. More than a typical mystery, Lovers of Franz K. is an exploration of the value of books, and the issues of anti-Semitism, immigration, and violence that recur in Kafka’s life and writings.

My thoughts

What a wonderful story and one that I enjoyed immensely. There is a mystery and a police investigation but it is the love of Kafka by the characters in this book that brings a certain charm to this unusual story.

It is giving nothing away to say that Ferdy Kaplan is being questioned by Kommissar Müller for shooting and killing a student. Unusually Müller who ‘has his man’ still wants to know why and the story that unfolds is one of a childhood friendship that turns into love, cemented by their love of a particular author, Franz Kafka and their relationship to a radical youth movement. That the dead student is not the intended victim brings pathos to the book. It is through the interrogation that we come to learn what happened and it is a fascinating story of how these two fans, lovers of Franz K were determined to get their favourite authors last wish honoured. Readers will find this very relatable if a little exaggerated, extreme in the way the two characters manifest their determination.

This all takes place in 1960s West Germany. Germany is divided by the Berlin Wall. The Wall had become the symbol for the east, west divide of Europe and it is a fascinating period in history. A period that reflects Kafka’s life and writings on various levels. Sadly some are still relatable in life today.

At 210 pages this slim volume packs a punch and brings a wonderful story to the reader. I loved it and would highly recommend reading Lovers of Franz K which has been made possible by the terrific translation from Kurdish by Sami Hézil and the new imprint Open Borders Press from Orenda Books. It is a wonderful first publication from Open Borders.

Information

Franz Kafka museum | Bio: Max Brod | Franz Kafka

Book: Purchased

20 Books of Summer 2025

I have read Lovers of Franz K. as part of my 20 books of summer challenge.

My list of books being read for this challenge. 

20 books of summer has new hosts Emma of Words and Peace and you can read all about it on Annabel’s blog including all the rules and sign up. It’s a challenge I’ve always enjoyed and am sure I’ll continue to do so. 

The challenge takes place between 1 June and 31 August 2025

Information

Publishers: Open Borders Press (Orenda Books Ltd – Imprint: Orenda Books) | 210 pp

Hardback (10/04/2025) £12.99 9781916788725 | ebook (10/04/2025) £7.99 9781916788732

Buy: Orenda Books | Amazon | Hive | Bookshop.org (affiliate link)| Your local library | Your local bookshop

Translator

Samî Hêzil is a writer and translator from northern Kurdistan. He holds a bachelor’s degree in English language and literature, and has been translating literary and scientific works from English into Kurdish since 2000. His short stories and scholarly articles in Kurdish have been published by a variety of literary publications. He teaches Kurdish literature at Kurdî-Der (The Kurdish Language Association) in Van, Turkey.

Author

Burhan Sönmez, now President of P.E.N. International, was born in Turkey in 1965. His mother tongue is Kurdish, which has been stigmatised in Turkey for the past century. While practising law and campaigning for human rights, he was seriously injured during a murder attempt by the Turkish police in 1996 and left the country, receiving treatment in Britain and remaining in exile there for several years. Sönmez is a Senior Member of Hughes Hall College and of Trinity College, University of Cambridge. He was awarded the Vaclav Havel Library Foundation “Disturbing the Peace” award in 2017, and Istanbul, Istanbul won the E.B.R.D. Literature Prize.

Lovers of Franz K. is his sixth novel and the first written in his mother tongue.

Burhan Sönmez website

Books

North (Kuzey*) 2009 | Sins and Innocents (Masumlar) 2011 (Garnet Publishing, 2014) Buy| Istanbul Istanbul 2015 (Saqi Books, 2016) Buy| Labyrinth 2018 (Other Press LLC, 2019) Buy | Stone and Shadow 2021 (Other Press LLC, 2023) Buy | Lovers of Franz K. 2024 (OBP) Buy

He wrote the first five in Turkish, but the sixth in his mother tongue, Kurdish.

Purchase* from Iletisim Publishers, Turkey.

Other works: Strongmen 2020 (Leftword Books, 2018) Buy