The Scrapbook: An intoxicating novel of first love and the shadows of history

Heather Clark

Jun 2025 · Random House

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256

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Eligible

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About this ebook

An exhilarating debut novel about a life-changing romance in the long shadow of European history, inspired by the author's real discovery

‘Stunningly good’ Julia Boyd
‘You won’t be able to put it down’ Samantha Rose Hill
‘Worthy of reading and rereading’ Bookpage

Harvard, 1996. Anna is about to graduate when she falls in love with Christoph, a German student visiting campus. As she visits Christoph in Germany and tries to understand the young, elegant man who fascinates her, he reveals his country to her.

Germany is still reckoning with the Holocaust and its pretty new squares belie the war’s destruction. Anna wants to believe in Christoph and the future he promises her but as their relationship becomes increasingly unsettling, she must face up to everything she has been unwilling to see, and everything Christoph has chosen to ignore.

'As if a Sally Rooney novel merged with Richard Linklater's film, Before Sunrise' Booklist

'A swiftly-moving, molecularly perceptive, singular portrait of intoxicating young love' Aube Rey Lescure

'An elegant, unsettling novel about the burden of history and the illusions of love' Sana Krasikov

'A masterpiece' Rebecca Donner

An exhilarating debut novel about a life-changing romance in the long shadow of European history, inspired by the author's real discovery ‘Stunningly good’ Julia Boyd ‘You won’t be able to put it down’ Samantha Rose Hill ‘Worthy of reading and rereading’ Bookpage Harvard, 1996. Anna is about to g...

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About the author

Heather Clark is the author of four works of non-fiction, including Red Comet: The Short Life and Blazing Art of Sylvia Plath (published by Jonathan Cape), which was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Critics Circle Award, the LA Times Book Prize in Biography, and was the winner of the Slightly Foxed Prize and the Truman Capote Prize (awarded by the Iowa Writers’ Workshop). It was a Book of the Year in the Guardian, Daily Telegraph, Times and New York Times. Her work has appeared in publications including the New York Times, Time, Lit Hub, and TLS. She has recently received fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the New York Public Library’s Cullman Centre. The Scrapbook is her debut novel.

Heather Clark is the author of four works of non-fiction, including Red Comet: The Short Life and Blazing Art of Sylvia Plath (published by Jonathan Cape), which was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Critics Circle Award, the LA Times Book Prize in Biography, and was the winner...

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