The final work of Nobel Prize-winning writer Günter Grass – a witty and elegiac series of meditations on writing, growing old, and the world.

Suddenly, in spite of the trials of old age, and with the end in sight, everything seems possible again: love letters, soliloquies, scenes of jealousy, swan songs, social satire, and moments of happiness.

Only an ageing artist who had once more cheated death could get to work with such wisdom, defiance and wit. A wealth of touching stories is condensed into artful miniatures. In a striking interplay of poetry, lyric prose and drawings, Grass creates his final, major work of art.

A moving farewell gift, a sensual, melancholy summation of a life fully lived.

• A beautiful, valedictory book from one of Europe's greatest writers, winner of the Nobel Prize and honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
• 'As a writer, Grass was one of the great ones. As a man, he held himself and his nation - meaning every nation, any nation and each individual - accountable' John Irving
• The final work by the incomparable and hugely influential Gunter Grass, 'a man of titanic energy and zest' (Guardian)
• Translated by Breon Mitchell, acclaimed translator of the new 2009 English translation of The Tin Drum