Ashley Carrington
With a total number of almost 6 million sold copies in Germany alone Rainer M. Schröder, alias Ashley Carrington, is one of the most successful writers of books for young readers as well as historical sociological novels for adults writing in German. The latter have been published since 1984 by Knaur publishing house, using his second officially registered name of Ashley Carrington. His novel Unter dem Jacarandabaum (Beneath the Jacaranda Tree) that was published under the same pseudonym, received a rare award when the German Federal Agency for Civic Education (Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung) published its brochure no 20 „Das 20. Jahrhundert in 100 Romanen“ (The Twentieth Century in Hundred Novels) (Stiftung Lesen /Leseempfehlungen Nr. 112. Reading Foundation/recommended readings no 112) and named Carrington’s book among the 100 novels worth reading of the world’s literature of the Twentieth Century.