The Director

SHORTLISTED FOR THE INTERNATIONAL BOOKER PRIZE 2026A Times Literary Supplement Book of the Year 2025A New York Times Notable Book of 2025A Telegraph Book of the Year 2025A Guardian Book of the Year 2025An Observer Book of the year 2025'Supple, horrifying and mordantly droll' New York Times'Nothing short of brilliant' Wall Street Journal'A subtle, often darkly funny novel about the relationship between art and power' Sunday Times'A dazzling performance and a real page turner' Salman RushdieFrom 'one of the brightest, most pleasure-giving writers at work today' (Jeffrey Eugenides), a visionary tale inspired by the life of the 20th century film director G.W. Pabst, who left Europe for Hollywood to resist the Nazis and then returned to his homeland with his wife and young son and began making films for the German Reich.An artist's life, a pact with the devil, a novel about the dangerous illusions of the silver screen.G.W. Pabst, one of cinema's greatest, perhaps the greatest director of hi