"Mord im Gurkenbeet" - Flavia in German!

[Alan Bradley]

For those of you who speak or read German - or even if you don't! - Flavia's German publishers, Blanvalet (Random House, Germany) , have created a Flavia website, where you can not only view the Flavia book-trailer, but also hear the first two chapters read by Urban Hofstetter, the publisher.

http://flaviadeluce.de/

or:

http://www.randomhouse.de/dynamicspecials/flaviadeluce/index.html

"Mord im Gurkenbeet" ("Death in the Cucumber Patch") will be published on the 14th of September under the 'Penhaligon' imprint.

Flavia is now set to be published in 24 countries, and to appear in 21 languages besides English.

"Mord im Gurkenbeet" is the first.

[Michael Lehner]

Selling of the Book here in Austria starts at September. I read the Bookseller-Preprint-Edition. A very big pat on the back for you, I liked it very much and I think, my customers will like it too. The only thing I would change ist the translation of the Title .
I hope, that there will be more of Flavia in German laguage soon.

Greetings from Austria, Michael

[Heidi G]

This is really great! Thanks for sharing this site with us. I actually do read some German but will share this site with a friend who is a HS German teacher. She should have her students read about Flavia. They would love her.

A quick question: Do you get any say about how the book is titled (or retitled) as it goes to print in other countries? I'm wondering why they went with the emphasis on the cucumber patch for German speakers (and readers) and how you feel about that?

[Urban Hofstetter]

As Alan Bradley's German editor I would first like to thank everybody in this thread for the nice words you have said about our edition. You have wondered why we changed the title and I think I owe you an explanation:
We had all felt that "The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie" is a brilliant title for Flavia's first outing. But after some consideration we were certain that its beauty didn't travel at all into the German translation "Die Süße im Kuchenboden". Furthermore this title would have been rather ambigous since "Die Süße" can either mean "Sweetness" but also "Sweetheart". So we chose "Mord im Gurkenbeet" ("Murder in the cucumber patch") instead which of course alludes to the wonderful cozy crime novels by Agatha Christie, such as "Mord im Pfarrhaus" ("Murder in the vicarage") or "Mord im Orientexpress" ("Murder on the Orient Express"). I sent Alan Bradley the cover and the title and he was so kind to reply that he liked our ideas.

[Heinz-Günter Joußen]

First I have to say "Sorry" for my bad english. I'm a german people. I was reading a weekly paper when I must look to the advertising from "The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie". It was the title that intuitive me suck in. Normally, I don't read thriller since about 40 years. I prefer philosophy, high literature and biography. The fact that my girlfriend going to have birthday in a couple of days and she like thriller, I bought the book. How the live so is, she wouldn't have the book so it would my one. Only few days I had read the book. I'm very happy that I could read it. A wonderful book. The speech, the technical explains, the politeness and the central figure flow together to a sympathetic action. That is what I want, what I surch, what I want to live. I hope Alan Bradley makes still very many books. I'm glad to be in your Flavia Fan Club. Thank you very much, indeed!
Can you say me, how can I use the web page best of all? I have some problems to find the way or to communicate.