A Sorrow Beyond Dreams

Name: A Sorrow Beyond Dreams
Brand: Allen & Unwin
SKU: 9781782276081
Price: 24.99 NZD
Availability: OutOfStock

By Peter Handke

0.0 (0 reviews)

3.75

( 6,639 ratings, 902 reviews)

Summary

A Sorrow Beyond Dreams by Peter Handke explores the life and tragic death of the author's mother. The narrative delves into the post-World War II struggles of an Austrian woman, revealing her challenges, aspirations, and eventual despair. It offers a poignant reflection on memory, family, and the impact of personal and societal change.
Read More

Format: Paperback / softback

TEMPORARILY OUT OF STOCK Please add to wishlist to be notified when back in stock

Sorry, we're currently out of stock of A Sorrow Beyond Dreams. Please add to your Wishlist and we'll send you an email as soon as it's back in stock.

Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

You might appreciate this book if you're drawn to deeply personal narratives that explore themes of memory, grief, and family. The author delves into a poignant and introspective examination of loss, which may resonate with those interested in understanding the lingering effects of sorrow on one's life.

LIZZY'S CORNER 18 Aug 2026

5 Things Lizzy Learned About Romance Writers

Lizzy went along to the New Zealand Romance Writers Convention and learned lots about why...

THE BOOK BRIEFING 18 Aug 2026

Book Briefing - 18th August

Here's this week's book briefing - a round up of all the news and updates...

ACOTAR 17 Aug 2026

Sarah J. Maas Reveals ACOTAR 6 & 7 Covers and Titles

Sarah J. Maas has revealed the titles and covers of the next two A Court...

BUY TO WIN 17 Aug 2026

Win a Father’s Day Gift Box with Penguin!

Buy any Penguin Father's Day pick and you're in the draw to win a this...

5 Kiwi Children's Authors to Check Out

Lizzy is sharing 5 Kiwi authors who write amazing children's books - everything from picture...

A beautiful, heart-wrenching attempt to come to terms with a mother's suicide by one of Austria's greatest living writers.

Description

My mother has been dead for almost seven weeks: I had better go to work before the need to write about her, which I felt so strongly at her funeral, dies away and I fall back into the dull speechlessness with which I reacted to the nerves of her suicide.

So begins Peter Handke's extraordinary confrontation with his mother's death. In a painful and courageous attempt to deal with the almost intolerable horror of her suicide, he sets out to piece together the facts of her life, as he perceives them.

What emerges is a loving portrait of inconsolable grief, a woman whose lively spirit has been crushed not once but over and over again by the miseries of her place and time. Yet well into middle age, living in the Austrian village of her birth, she still remains haunted by her dreams.

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781782276081

Publisher: Pushkin Press

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 07 November 2019

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Pushkin Press

Contributors:

Translated by Ralph Manheim
Translated by Ralph Manheim
Translated by Ralph Manheim

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Width: 129.0mm

Height: 198.0mm

Weight: 250g

Pages: 80

Collections

Fiction General Fiction Literary Fiction Peter Handke

About the Author

Peter Handke, dramatist, novelist, poet, essayist and writer of screenplays, was born in Griffen, Austria in 1942. Handke has been awarded many literary prizes, including the Schiller Prize in 1972 and the Kafka Prize in 1979, which he turned down. He now lives and works in Paris.

Also by Peter Handke

View all

Till Day You Do Part

Described as an answer to or at least an echo of Samuel Beckett’s Krapp’s Last Tape, Till Day You Do Part Or A Question of Light, by esteemed Austrian playwright and novelist Peter Handke, is a monologue delivered by the “she” in Beckett’s play. This unnamed female similarly recalls other significant women protagonists in Handke’s own work, such as The...

By Peter Handke

Paperback

$35⁹⁹

Available
Ships in 3-4 weeks
The Ballad of the Last Guest

By Peter Handke

Hardback

$64⁰⁰

Available
Ships in 2-3 weeks
The Great Fall

Winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature 2019 On the day of the Great Fall he left nothing, nothing at all behind. The latest work by Peter Handke, one of our greatest living writers, chronicles a day in the life of an ageing actor as he makes his way on foot from the outskirts of a great metropolis into its...

By Peter Handke

Paperback

Sold Out

More from General Fiction

View all

The Wedding People

'BEST READ OF THE YEAR SO FAR' THE TIMES 'BOOKS AS FUN AS THIS ONE ARE FEW AND FAR BETWEEN' GUARDIAN Phoebe Stone arrives at a grand beachside hotel in Rhode Island wearing her best dress and least comfortable shoes. Immediately she is mistaken for one of the wedding people — but she's actually the only guest at the Cornwall...

By Alison Espach

Paperback

$23⁹⁹
Elsewhere:
~~$27⁹⁹~~

(3)

In Stock
Ships today
Buy to Win

Dungeon Crawler Carl

The apocalypse will be televised! Welcome to the first book in the wildly popular and addictive Dungeon Crawler Carl series by Matt Dinniman-now with bonus material exclusive to the print edition! You know what's worse than breaking up with your girlfriend? Being stuck with her prize-winning show cat. And you know what's worse than that? An alien invasion, the destruction...

By Matt Dinniman

Paperback

$31⁹⁹
Elsewhere:
~~$38⁰⁰~~

(1)

In Stock
Ships today
Throne of Glass Box Set (Paperback)

Enter the realm. Unleash the darkness. Live the legend. Discover the worldwide phenomenon of the #1 New York Times-bestselling Throne of Glass series in this gorgeous 8-book box set! In a land without magic, an assassin is summoned to the castle. She has no love for the vicious king who rules from his throne of glass, but she has not...

By Sarah J. Maas

Set

$124⁰⁰
Elsewhere:
~~$155⁰⁰~~

(6)

In Stock
Ships today
Pre-order

Big Little Truths

Parenting teens is not for the faint of heart but Madeline, Jane and Celeste have been through worse. It's been a decade since the school trivia night that changed their lives forever and now they're living blissfully ordinary suburban lives. But when an anonymous grisly package arrives at the local high school, and a man in a green Volvo is...

By Liane Moriarty

Paperback

$31⁹⁹
Elsewhere:
~~$37⁹⁹~~

Pre-order
Out 25 Aug 2026
New Release

The Ballad of Falling Dragons [Special Deluxe edition]

The No.1 Sunday Times bestselling sensation When the Moon Hatched continues with the second book in The Moonfall Series, The Ballad of Falling Dragons… Raeve’s thirst for vengeance continues to burn, as does her love for Kaan Vaegor – a staunch beacon from a past she’s yet to face. With Rekk’s blood still fresh on her hands, she learns the...

By Sarah A. Parker

Hardback

$59⁹⁹

In Stock
Ships today
The Goal

Welcome to Briar U!Get ready for your newest obsession . . . Discover the addictive world of the Off-Campus series from The Queen of Hockey Romance, Elle Kennedy!Read The Goal now for the perfect forced proximity romance! She's good at achieving her goals . . . College senior Sabrina James has her whole future planned out: graduate from college, kick...

By Elle Kennedy

Paperback

$24⁹⁹
Elsewhere:
~~$27⁹⁹~~

In Stock
Ships today
Buy to Win

Carl's Doomsday Scenario

Join Carl and his ex-girlfriend's cat Princess Donut as they fight fantastical creatures and deadly mobs in the second book in the smash-hit Dungeon Crawler Carl series -now with bonus material exclusive to the print edition Now on the third floor, Carl and Donut have to fight harder than ever. They've already proven that a Coast Guard vet and once-and-forever...

By Matt Dinniman

Hardback

$46⁹⁹
Elsewhere:
~~$60⁰⁰~~

(1)

In Stock
Ships today
Crescent City Paperback Box Set

A beautiful box set containing all three paperback instalments of the Crescent City series from #1 bestselling global phenomenon Sarah J. Maas. BOUND BY BLOOD. TEMPTED BY DESIRE. UNLEASHED BY DESTINY. Maas has established herself as a fantasy fiction titan - Time Think Game of Thrones meets Buffy the Vampire Slayer with a drizzle of E.L. James – Telegraph Spiced...

By Sarah J. Maas

Set

$54⁹⁹
Elsewhere:
~~$70⁰⁰~~

In Stock
Ships today
Buy to Win
On Sale
17% off

Project Hail Mary

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir, the SUNDAY TIMES and NEW YORK TIMES bestselling author of The Martian, offers a gripping new adventure in hard science fiction. With endorsement from notable figures such as Barack Obama and a slew of five-star reviews, this novel promises a thrilling and intellectually stimulating journey. Ryland Grace, a lone astronaut, finds himself on a...

By Andy Weir

Paperback

$20⁰⁰
Elsewhere:
~~$24⁰⁰~~

(5)

In Stock
Ships today
On Sale
14% off

Red Rising

The first book in the incredible New York Times bestselling series Darrow is a Helldiver, toiling beneath the surface of Mars. As a member of the Red caste, he performs grueling labor in the belief that his sacrifice will enable future generations to one day inhabit the surface of the Red Planet. The Reds are humankind's lowest caste, living in...

By Pierce Brown

Paperback

$19⁰⁰
Elsewhere:
~~$27⁹⁹~~

(1)

In Stock
Ships today
The Score

Welcome to Briar U! Get ready for your newest obsession... Discover the addictive world of the Off-Campus series from The Queen of Hockey Romance, Elle Kennedy! Read The Score now for the perfect friends with benefits romance! He knows how to score, on and off the ice... Allie Hayes is in crisis mode. With graduation looming, she still doesn't have...

By Elle Kennedy

Paperback

$24⁹⁹
Elsewhere:
~~$27⁹⁹~~

In Stock
Ships today
A Court of Thorns and Roses Paperback Box Set (5 books)

All five of the Court of Thorns and Roses paperbacks packaged together in a gorgeous box set. "Passionate, violent, sexy and daring." —USA TODAY on A Court of Thorns and Roses Feyre is a huntress. The skin of a wolf would bring enough gold to feed her sisters for a month. But the life of a magical creature comes at...

By Sarah J. Maas

Set

$99⁹⁹
Elsewhere:
~~$124⁹⁵~~

(4)

In Stock
Ships today

Why buy from us?

Book Hero is not a chain store or big box retailer. We're an independent 100% NZ-owned business on a mission to help more Kiwis rediscover a love of books and reading!

Service & Delivery

Our warehouse in Auckland holds over 100,000 books, toys, board games and puzzles in-stock so you're not waiting for your order to arrive from overseas.

Auckland Bookstore

We're primarily an online store, but for your convenience you can pick up your order for free from our bookstore, which is right next door to our warehouse in Hobsonville.