High as the Waters Rise

“The beautiful English-language debut from German poet Kampmann tells the story of a middle-aged oil rig worker’s emotional crisis after the death of his friend . . . As Waclaw digs up memories of his drilling throughout the world—in Morocco, Mexico, and Brazil—he ruminates on generations of workers who must eke out a living by exploiting the earth and its resources. Kampmann captures the visceral uneasiness that arises from second guessing one’s past.” —Publishers Weekly

“There are difficult questions asked in this novel, about responsibility, culpability, love, trust, and the weight of time and distance, and there are no easy answers—instead, we are treated to the most vivid particulars, the glory of specifics, the full human reality of a character whose attempt to wander away from deadening grief only reminds him time and time again of all the many ways he has and does and can still feel alive.” —Ilana Masad, author of All My Mother’s Lovers

“So beautifully written, Anja Kampmann’s novel is one of those very rare things: a debut of a literary master . . . High as the Waters Rise is our time's answer to the timeless Gilgamesh myth: a friend is lost, and a journey begins, teaching us with such passion about our world, its terrors, its injustices, its moments of piercing tenderness . . . Of any time, an epic. I am deeply grateful to Anja Kampmann for the gift to us that is this novel, and to her translator, Anne Posten, for the crisp and precise version in English. This is the book to live with.” —Ilya Kaminsky, author of Deaf Republic and Dancing in Odessa

“Prose with the brightness of poetry, in a splendidly lucid translation." —Jennifer Croft, author of Homesick and co-winner with Olga Tokarczuk of The International Booker Prize for Flights