Tannöd

The novel narrates the story of a multiple murder at an isolated Bavarian farm called Tannöd in the 1950s.

The points of view of the victims, the witnesses, and the perpetrator are intertwined in 39 short passages.

Through these largely separate testimonies, the reader gradually builds a complete picture of the events that lead a rural family, headed by a tyrannical, abusive father to all be brutally murdered.

The novel is based on the unsolved murder of an entire family in 1922 on the farmstead Hinterkaifeck, Bavaria.

A film adaptation of the novel with the same title Tannöd was released in cinemas in Germany on 19 November 2009, directed by Bettina Oberli (Wüste-Film West) and starring Julia Jentsch, Monica Bleibtreu, and Volker Bruch.