Absent without Leave

In these two novellas, Nobel laureate Heinrich BÖll uses strikingly different narrative techniques to portray World War II's impact on the German people.

"Two brilliant novellas . . . [BÖll is] moving forward with an authority of voice and a swift, freezing deliberateness that makes credible both the losses and the harsh consolidations of his heroes." --New York Times

"Herr BÖll is essentially a guardian of innocence against the contagion of the world; the sensitized plate of his imagination registers--as does the childish mind-nuances of deceit and turpitude beyond the range of normal vision. In addition he is, of course, a fertile storyteller." --Times Literary Supplement