Dark Mermaids

Abstract

Set in 1990, a year after the fall of the Berlin wall, Dark Mermaids by Anne Lauppe-Dunbar is a shocking story of political, physical and emotional abuse.Unhappy west-Berlin police officer Sophie is called on to investigate the murder of her childhood friend Kathe, after her beaten body is discovered in Sophie’s local park. At the same time she is forced to return to the hometown she fled as a teenager with her enigmatic father Petrus, to care for the dying mother she believes abandoned her years before.As she reluctantly delves into the sordid Stasi secrets of those she grew up with, Sophie uncovers a web of horrors centering on her own abusive past as a child swimming star in the GDR. But her hunt for the truth has not gone unnoticed all those close to her, who still have too much to hide.Shortlisted for the Impress Prize this East German noir thriller turns on the horrors of a system that doped its youngsters to sporting superhero status, and then apparently left them for dead