Abarbanell, StephanStephan Abarbanell was born in 1957 and grew up in Hamburg. He studied protestant theology and general rhetoric in Hamburg, Tübingen and Berkeley/USA. He also worked as a chaplain at the University Hospital San Francisco. For many years he was chief of programming at rbb Broadcasting, and is now in charge of cultural affairs with the public rbb-Televison and Radio in Berlin. He lives with his wife in Potsdam. Displaced is his first novel.

Jerusalem 1946: Lilya Wasserfall, involved in the resistance against the British mandatory power in Palestine, is entrusted with a very special assignment: the search for the missing Jewish scientist Raphael Lind in the ruins of post-war Germany.

It is 1946, and the full horrors of the previous six years are slowly coming to light.

But in Jerusalem, Elias Lind can't accept that his brother Raphael really did die in a concentration camp. He has evidence that the scientist is still alive but, unable to search for him himself, he persuades a young member of the Jewish resistance to help.

Lilya's search for Raphael takes her from the dusty streets of Jerusalem to the heart of political London, from US-controlled Munich to an overcrowded and underfunded displaced persons camp, before leading her to the devastated shell of Berlin itself. But before long Lilya realises that she isn't the only one searching for the missing scientist; a mysterious pursuer is hot on her heels, and it soon becomes clear that Raphael's life isn't the only one in question . . .

Displaced is a deeply intelligent thriller about how the actions of a few can change the course of history. It is about the making of a new world from the ashes of the old, and decisions taken whose consequences are still with us today.