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Anna Funder’s debut novel is a powerful love story based on the true story of the German resistance during Nazi rule. It features Ruth Blatt, a young woman living in Berlin in 1933 when Hitler came to power, and how she and her friends working against the Nazis were hunted and forced to flee. An elderly Ruth, living in Australia in 2001, looks back on her life and is overwhelmed by the memories. Funder’s novel makes us rethink our history and the way we view the elderly. Funder is also author of the Samuel Johnson prize-winning Stasiland: Stories From Behind the Berlin Wall. Funder, whose home is in Sydney, Australia, is being flown in by her publisher especially for the festival. This is a rare opportunity to see her in the UK.