In Schlucken-zwei-Spechte

Harry Rowohlt tells of his life in the midst of a remarkable family full of respect and honeyed, sometimes mocking and sarcastic, but always enchanting. He recounts stories of his grandfather, Fränzken Pierenkämper, who in 1917 was one of the leading figures in the Workers' and Soldiers' Council of Vilnius; of his "little brother" Heinrich Maria, who died too soon; of his mother, the actress who had once been Goebbels' dinner partner; of his father, who went bankrupt five times with the Rohwolt publishing house, a tradition that Harry Rowohlt would have revived first if he had joined the publishing house; of his aunt Renate, whom he was so in love with that he licked a door post; and of Eddie, the Spanish fighter in Paris.