Published in 2012 and depicting events that led to fascism and world war seventy years ago, the resonance of All That I Am for today's political climate is disturbing. But with Funder's trademark flair for writing and insight into the human condition, it's also a compelling portrayal of relationships, bravery and frailty. Ultimately theirs is a tale of struggle, hope, betrayal and failure. And Toller is in New York, in the months before the outbreak of war in Europe, reworking his memoir, I was a German. Ruth is now in her nineties, living in Sydney, looking back on her long life. With inventive timeshifts, Funder switches the storytelling between the voices of Ruth and Toller. The group includes Dora Fabian, her lover, the playwright Ernst Toller, Dora's younger cousin Ruth Becker, and Ruth's husband, Hans Wesemann. Set in the 1930s, a close-knit group of friends and lovers works to stop the rise of Nazis in Germany and, when exiled, to warn of the threat Hitler poses to the world. She described it as 'reconstructed from fossil fragments, much as you might draw skin and feathers over an assembly of dinosaur bones, to fully see the beast'. The perfect opportunity to finally get into All That I Am.įunder wrote her 2012 Miles Franklin Literary Award winner based on real events and people. Twelve days, 1500 kilometres, lots of sightseeing, and nothing to do in the evenings but read a book by the campfire. Six months later, I set off on a self-drive campervan holiday in Australia's Top End. But I had many other books to read at the time, so I added it to my bedside pile. When Hitler came to power I was in the bath. And I post a series with the hashtags #bookcovers / #firstsentences on Instagram (as All That I Am from the shelf and reading the opening line reminded me why I love a good first sentence: It wasn't on the shelf at my local bookshop, but I did find All That I Am.Īs I confessed in The Man Behind The Woman in the Window blog post, I'm a sucker for book covers and first sentences.

Having visited Berlin in 19, her book on the East German secret police piqued my interest. 12+ Award-winning Australian author Anna Funder discussed her 2003 bestseller Stasilandon the Better Reading podcast in February 2019.

All that i am by anna funder