On the Edge

A Modern Classic to (re)discover


‘One of the greats. This writer's novels are pinnacles of literature’ – Helmut Böttiger, Frankfurter Rundschau



A psychological drama with a masterful, pulse-quickening plot revolving around two seemingly very different men, who have more in common than they know.

Thomas Clarin is a divorce lawyer whose profession has fostered a deep and abiding distrust of marriage, preferring instead to “play the field.” Thomas Loos is a somber widower intensely mourning his wife’s death. With Clarin’s flirtatious, roving eye and Loos’s complete disenchantment with the world around him, it would seem these men had nothing in common. But after a fateful meeting in a crowded Swiss restaurant, the two strike up a conversation that unearths unnerving coincidences.

With brilliant ease, Werner’s meticulously rendered story begins quietly at first, then grabs its reader, refusing to let go. On the Edge, widely acclaimed by reviewers as a treasure of contemporary German language literature, has been published in 15 different countries and has sold over 400,000 copies in Germany alone.


‘A guarantee for addictive prose.’ – Oliver Pfohlmann, taz

‘Once you've finished the book and understood what it's really about, you immediately start reading it again from the beginning. ... Hats off to Markus Werner.’ -- Elke Heidenreich, ZDF ‘Reading’

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USA (New York Review of Books), UK (HAUS Publishing), Argentina (Manantial), Bulgaria (Aquarius), Serbia (Fabrika), Georgia (IBIS), Finland (Atena), Slovenia (Studentska Zalozba), Egypt (Sphinx), Russland (Text), Israel (Matar), Lithuania (Alma Littera), Turkey (Can), Poland (Polski Instytut Wydawniczy), Italy (Neri Pozza), Netherlands (Arbeiderspers), France (Actes Sud)

  • Publisher: S. FISCHER
  • Release: 30.10.2024
  • ISBN: 978-3-10-397658-8
  • 208 Pages
  • Author: Markus Werner
On the Edge
Markus Werner On the Edge
Selwyn Hoffmann
© Selwyn Hoffmann
Markus Werner

Markus Werner was born 1944 in Switzerland and lives in Schaffhausen. »Am Hang« is his seventh novel. His books have been translated into several languages and were highly awarded. Previous publications are »Zündels Abgang«, »Froschnacht«, »Die kalte Schulter«, »Bis Bald«, »Festland« and »Der ägyptische Heinrich«.