Trends and transitions in contemporary German-language writing by women / Valerie Heffernan & Gillian Pye -- The re-construction and deconstruction of a family narrative: Eva Menasse’s Vienna / Daphne Seemann -- No place like home? Eleonora Hummel and the Russian German past / Linda Shortt -- Perspectives on the borderline: Julia Franck’s Lagerfeuer / Valerie Heffernan -- Sewing an account of oneself: materiality, femininity, and Germaness in Larissa Boehning’s Lichte Stoffe / Emily Jeremiah -- Jenny Erpenbeck and the life of things / Gillian Pye -- New-economy zombies: Kathrin Roggla’s wir schlafen nicht / Elaine Martin -- Illness, creativity and self-discovery in Lea Gottheil’s Sommervogel / Siobhan Donovan -- Writing on the threshold: memory, language and identity in Kathrin Schmidt’s Du stirbst nicht / Deirdre Byrnes -- Politicising desire in Juli Zeh’s Spieltrieb / Carrie Smith-Prei & Lars Richter -- Cartographies of self: Ilma Rakusa’s autobiographical narrative Mehr Meer. Erinnerungspassagen / Carmel Finnan.