In celebration of the 50th anniversary of this classic novel, an acclaimed translator and scholar has drawn from many sources for this new translation, more faithful to Grass's style and rhythm.

Charlie is a promiscuous, unsuccessful English actress in her twenties. Intrigued by a handsome, solitary stranger, she finds herself lured into the “theatre of the real.” For the mysterious man is Kurtz, an embattled Israeli intelligence officer out to stop the bombing of Jews in Europe. Forced to play her most challenging role, Charlie is plunged into a deceptive and delicate trap set to ensnare an elusive Palestinian terrorist … and soon proves herself a double agent of the highest order.

A little mouse who is teased for being the smallest and for playing an acorn drum is singled out to give a gift to the very special child who has been born in a nearby stable.

American national trade bibliography.