Aus dem Leben von Gesine Cresspahl) is a tetralogy of novels by Uwe Johnson begun in 1970, with further volumes published in 1971, 1973, and finally in 1983.

[1] The main character, Gesine Cresspahl, is a German single mother in Manhattan, and we follow her life from childhood in 1930s rural Eastern Germany at the time of the rise of Nazism, through World War II, the Soviet occupation zone,[2] the establishment of the GDR, and beginning of the Cold War, followed by her exile to New York.

Most sections incorporate news reports, as Gesine reads them in the New York Times each day on the subway.

[5] A full translation by Damion Searls was published by New York Review Books in 2018 as a two-volume single novel.

[6] The 2018 translation by Damion Searls was met with much critical acclaim though most reviews noted the sheer length of the work made it a challenging read.