Ralf Isau

»Our Universe has become sterile. Miracles have had their day. If anyone dares to think differently, people say they're crazy, that they're a dreamer. Well I like being a dreamer. Many of my stories are set in times and worlds that are sufficiently removed from reality to allow space for imagination and yet close enough to retain their connection to our existence here on Earth. In some of my other novels the characters move on a stage that's drably referred to as "contemporary history", but golden threads of fantasy run through the tapestry of these stories for anyone who cares to look. If you're ready to take the plunge and get involved in my books, you'll be swept along on new currents of thought, for reality and fiction mingle in my stories. Many an adventurer has followed the route to the end of the journey - the epilogue at the conclusion of the book. My readers may be surprised to encounter odd things on their travels — strange sights of familiar occurrences and familiar phenomena that suddenly seem strange. We're for ever being told how we should think, feel and see, but this is how new perspectives can open up for us. That's why fantasy is so much more than just escapism. Fantasy literature encourages us to find new ways of seeing situations - in my opinion, a truly noble purpose. For that reason, I'm content to be a dreamer.«

Ralf Isau first started writing in 1988 when he decided to give his daughter of a book of stories that he'd penned himself. Four years later he approached Michael Ende during a reading and handed him a small collection of fairytales that he'd written and bound. Ende liked the stories and recommended them to Thienemann Verlag, his publisher in Stuttgart. The tale of Gertrude the Dragon went on to be a great success and was adapted for the stage. Since then Ralf Isau has published eleven novels, numerous articles, and several essays. His works have been appeared in nine different languages, selling over 250 000 copies over a period of fourteen months in Japan alone. He has received numerous prizes for his work, including the 1998 Buxtehuder Bullen, awarded to The Museum of Stolen Memories for the best work of fiction written in German for young readers. Ralf Isau was born in Berlin in 1956 as the son of an electrician and a seamstress. Five years later, the Berlin wall was erected, and Isau grew up on the western side of the city where he enjoyed a "proper childhood". His enthusiasm for fantasy stories started at an early age. On leaving school he trained as a data processor and later worked as a software specialist, but he abandoned his IT career in favour of writing. He has lived in Stuttgart with his wife and daughter since 1982.

• HC: Piper 2011

Broken World

Berith – a world of countless slabs floating through the universe. When the cruel Dagonisian people wish to rule the entire empire, a war breaks out, which threatens to destroy peaceful Berith.

Only Taramis, the ward of the fog, is able to prevent bloodshed. Together with his comrades, who belong to the Circle of Twelve, he tries everything in his power to pre-empt the Dagonisians’ moves and save his world. But not only are Taramis’ efforts accompanied by cruel strokes of fate – they also lead to the most dangerous secrets of the broken world.

• HC: Piper 2011


• Movie & TV: Rights free (AVA international)

• HC: cbj 2010


• Movie & TV: Rights free

• HC: Piper 2009


• HC: Der CLUB 2011


• Movie & TV: Rights free (AVA international)

Der Mann, der nichts vergessen konnte

• HC: Piper 2008


• PB: Piper 2010


• SO: Weltbild 2010


• Movie & TV: Rights free (AVA international)

Dark Powers

• HC: Piper 2007


• PB: Piper 2010


• Sold to: The Netherlands (Wereldbibliotheek B.V.), Poland (Wydawnictwo Telbit)

The Gallery of Lies
Scientific thriller about the struggle between Creationists and Darwinists

Alex is a young English journalist who has written a series of article exposing cases of scientific fraud. Her work is due to be acknowledged at a prize-giving in Oxford, but on arrival the police are waiting for her outside the building: Alex is accused of having carried out a bombing in Paris that killed a watchman at the Louvre. A series of museums are being targeted by art thieves, and a number of valuable artworks have gone missing. Soon it becomes clear that the thefts are designed to convey a message to the public — a message that speaks out in favour of Creationism and denounces evolution. Could the burglaries have been conducted by religiously motivated terrorists? An insurance detective called Darwin Shaw contacts Alex on behalf of his company. Shaw is convinced that Alex is innocent, but he soon realizes that there is more linking her to the burglaries than even she is aware...

• HC: Verlagsgruppe Lübbe (Ehrenwirth) 2005


• Sold to: Korea (Bir Publishing)


• Film & TV: Rights free (AVA international)

Lord of Unrest

Nico di Rossi has a very special gift. He can talk to machines and awaken their hidden talents, coaxing out of their consciousness the memories of long-forgotten tasks. In 1932, Nico’s father was murdered by Massimiliano Manzini, for whom he had just put together a magnificent clock. The dying craftsman places a curse on his murderer – if the clock stands still, Manzini will die. Nico returns to Italy after six years in Vienna and is determined to exact his revenge. He meets the captivating Laura and is shaken to learn that she is a Manzini. Laura’s father takes a liking to the young mechanic and asks him to protect his life’s clock. From that moment on Nico is engaged in his own personal war whilst the Second World War rages around him. Finally the curse of the clock catches up with his enemy...

Ralf Isau tells the story of a talented young man in search of justice and weaves it into the tapestry of history. An epic masterpiece from an award-winning writer!

• HC: Verlagsgruppe Lübbe (Ehrenwirth) 2004


• Sold to: Spain (Roca Editorial)


• Film & TV: Rights free (AVA international)

Sense of Silver

When respected anthropologist Yeremi Bellmann is asked to lead an expedition to the jungles of Guyana, she feels tempted to refuse. Twenty-seven years after her childhood experiences in the South American rainforest, she still has nightmare about what happened. Now her latest expedition aims to track down the Silvery People, a mysterious native tribe who are said to have the ‘Sense of Silver’, a gift that allows them to read other people’s thoughts and feelings and to influence their minds. As they venture into the jungle, the anthropologists save a pale-skinned woodsman from a jaguar, and mysterious events begin to occur. All the researchers are tormented by the same nightmare and soon Yeremi no longer knows what she should believe or whom she can trust. Not all of her colleagues are pursuing noble goals...

»Ralf Isau’s fictional inventions blend so convincingly with the events of the past century that some readers won’t be able to remember what they learned in class and what they read in Isau’s books.« (Frankfurter Rundschau) »A contender for the German Youth Literature Prize.« (Schweizer Bibliotheksdienst) »A sensational book that makes learning history a joy. Congratulations!« (Amazon-reader's review) »A fantastic series, but don’t start reading until you’ve got the final volume or the suspense might finish you off.« (Frankfurter Rundschau, 8.11.2000, von Simone Leinkauf)

• HC: Verlagsgruppe Lübbe 2003


• SO: Weltbild 2010


• Sold to: Czech Republic (Bastei Moba), Japan (Nagasaki Shuppan Co. Ltd.)


• Film & TV: Rights free (AVA international)

The Secret Library of Thaddaeus Tillmann Trutz
The Legends of Fantastica

Carl Conrad Coreander appears at the beginning of Michael Ende's The Neverending Story as the grumpy old owner of an antiquarian bookshop. On his first meeting with the book’s protagonist Bastian Balthazar Bux, Coreander treats the boy harshly, but after Bastian saves Fantastica, the old man becomes his friend. In fact, Coreander knows all about Fantastica and describes himself as ‘a seasoned traveller of the realm’. So how and why did Coreander get to Fantastica and what happened to him there? At what point did the leather-bound book of The Neverending Story find its way into his bookstore? Ralf Isau answers these and other questions in The Secret Library of Thaddäus Tillmann Trutz. The story takes us back thirty-five years, long before Bastian’s birth. Back then, Carl Conrad Coreander was a loveable boy who suffered from a lack of self-confidence, although in Thaddäus Tillmann Trutz’s bookshop he always felt at ease. When the old bookseller suddenly vanishes without a trace, Coreander looks for him in the labyrinthine storerooms and is astonished to discover the Kingdom of Fantastica. But in Fantastica's library a gigantic tower and a stream of books have begun to disappear, leaving behind a mysterious Nothingness that sucks up everything within its reach. The creatures of this new world suffer from terrible illnesses, and our young hero must embark on a dangerous journey to save Fantastica from destruction. But how can a shy young boy like Carl Conrad Coreander possibly succeed?

• HC: Verlagsgruppe Droemer Knaur 2003


• HC: Der Club Bertelsmann 2004


• PB: Arena Verlag 2005


• Sold to: Japan (Softbank Pub.), Spain (Ediciones B, S.A.), Korea (Bir Publishing Co. Ltd.)


• Film & TV: Rights free (AVA international)

The Museum of Stolen Memories

»A master of virtual worlds ...« (Stuttgarter Zeitung)

• HC: Thienemann 1997


• Translations: Denmark, Japan, Korea, Norway, Spain, Catalonia, Thailand

Pala and the Mysterious Vanishing Words

The little town of Silencia is home to writers and chatterboxes. Little Pala can think of nothing she likes better than listening to stories, especially when they're told to her by her elderly friend Gaspare. One day when Pala visits Gaspare she's horrified to find that he can't say a word. The epidemic of disappearing words soon spreads through the town, and its inhabitants are affected too. While the grown-ups can do nothing but work all day, Pala looks for the root of the problem. She hopes to find her answer in the nearby mountains, home to the town's mysterious benefactor. But before she can enter Zitto's enchanted castle she must solve a riddle contained in a poem.

• HC: Thienemann 2002

The Echo of the Whisperers

• HC: Thienemann 1998


• PB: Bertelsmann 2002


• Translations: China, Korea, Norway

The Web of the Shadow Plays

• HC: Thienemann 1999


• Translations: Thailand

The Circle of Twilight
Part 1

• HC: Thienemann 1999


• Translations: Japan, China, Hungary

The Circle of Twilight
Part 2

• HC: Thienemann 2000


• Translations: Japan, China, Hungary

The Circle of Twilight
Part 3

• HC: Thienemann 2001


• Translations: Japan, China, Hungary

The Circle of Twilight
Part 4

• HC: Thienemann 2001


• Translations: Japan, China, Hungary

The dreams of Jonathan Jabbok
A Fantasy Novel (Neschan-Trilogie, Volume 1)

• HC: Thienemann 1995


• TB: Bertelsmann 1999


• Translations: Japan, China, Korea, Thailand


• Audio Book: Karusell


• Musik & Videodaptation for Stage: Vertriebsstelle und Verlag Deutscher Bühnenschriftsteller und Bühnenkomponisten

The Secret of the Seventh Judge
A Fantasy Novel (Neschan-Trilogie, Volume 2)

• HC: Thienemann 1996


• PB: Bertelsmann 1999


• Translations: Japan, China, Korea, Thailand

The Song of the Liberation of Neschan
Volume III of the Neschan Trilogy

»Julius says that he only read the Potter books two or three times each, in contrast to Isau's novels like The Dreams of Jonathan Jabbok or The Song of the Liberation of Neschan, which he read two dozen times at least. But then, as Julius mentioned, Potter hasn't been around for long. Incidentally, he also recommends The Web of Shadow Plays ...« (Die Zeit)

• HC: Thienemann 1996


• PB: Goldmann 1999


• Translations: Japan, China, Korea, Thailand

Gertrud the Dragon

»A delightful fairytale of a story, told in an engagingly cheerful way. You can read it by yourself or have it read aloud — it's sure to make you smile.« (Das neue Jugendbuch)

• HC: Thienemann 1994


• PB: Omnibus and Goldmann 2000


• Translations: Denmark