‘I absolutely love this book! The plot untangles perfectly, and I could smell and taste every scene. It feels like an old story, one of those that stays with you forever, but every part of it is surprising and wonderful. I want to go straight back and read it all again.’

Siân Hughes, author of Pearl

‘Wow, what a book! Fabular but true, this meticulously crafted and deceptively simple tale stole my heart, broke it, and put it back together again. Vor Schulte is unflinching in her depiction of the worst of humankind, its cruelty and violence, but she also shows how love and kindness can flourish in even the darkest times. A beautiful, heart-rending book.’

Victoria MacKenzie, author of For Thy Great Pain Have Mercy on My Little Pain

‘This novel is a danse macabre, a memento mori, a vision of good and evil pared down to the bones. Boy with a Black Rooster beckons the reader into a nightmare landscape of war, famine, plague and madness, and Stefanie vor Schulte’s storytelling verve is such that we make the journey gladly.’

Sam Thompson, author of Communion Town

‘Boy with a Black Rooster magnificently superimposes the probable with the improbable, all the while connecting life and death with great intelligence and narrative proficiency.’

Pierre Deshusses, Le Monde Des Livres

‘Cruel, poetic, and with a fairytale ending. A wonderful debut.’

Claudia Ingenhoven, NDR Kultur

‘Light as a feather, yet elaborately crafted all the same.’

Rose-Maria Gropp for the Mara Cassens Prize