The Director

By: Daniel Kehlmann

Narrated by: Nicholas Boulton

A 2026 Audie Award Finalist for Literary Fiction and Classics

LONGLISTED FOR THE INTERNATIONAL BOOKER PRIZE • A NEW YORK TIMES TOP 10 BOOK OF THE YEAR • AN NYPL BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR • A Washington Post NOTABLE BOOK • A Late Show with Stephen Colbert Book Club Pick

“Nothing short of brilliant.” —The Wall Street Journal

From “a surpassingly gifted storyteller” (The New York Times), a visionary novel inspired by the life of film director G.W. Pabst, who fled to Hollywood to resist the Nazis only to return to his homeland to create propaganda films for the German Reich.

An artist’s life, a pact with the devil, and the dangerous illusions of the silver screen.

G.W. Pabst, one of cinema’s greatest directors of the 20th century, was filming in France when the Nazis seized power. To escape the horrors of the new and unrecognizable Germany, he fled to Hollywood. But now, under the blinding California sun, the world-famous director suddenly looks like a nobody. Not even Greta Garbo, the Hollywood actress whom he made famous, can help him.

When he receives word that his elderly mother is ill, he finds himself back in his homeland of Austria, which is now called Ostmark. Pabst, his wife, and his young son are suddenly confronted with the barbaric nature of the regime. So, when Joseph Goebbels—the minister of propaganda in Berlin—sees the potential for using the European film icon for his directorial genius and makes big promises to Pabst and his family, Pabst must consider Goebbels’s thinly veiled order. While Pabst still believes that he will be able to resist these advances, that he will not submit to any dictatorship other than art, he has already taken the first steps into a hopeless entanglement.

Kehlmann’s latest oeuvre explores the complicated relationships and distinctions between art and power, beauty and barbarism, cog and conspirator.

Critic reviews

"The impact of this powerful novel is heightened by Golden Voice narrator Nicholas Boulton’s keen understanding of its author’s purposes. Kehlmann’s episodic multi-perspective imagining of the wartime career of Austrian director G.W. Pabst is technically a satire, but it registers as more of a horror story. Pabst, a leading European director, discovers Greta Garbo and Louise Brooks. But when he immigrates to Hollywood, he is misused and rejected. Returning to Vienna just as war breaks out, Pabst and his family become trapped, and are menaced by a succession of well-rendered Nazi zealots and toadies. Captured most memorably is Nazi filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl, a monster of dominance and self-regard. This is not a narrative for lengthy or casual listening—or one easily forgotten."

Amazing

The book cuts back and forth throughout the story telling. It’s rich with loose history and impeccable translation. Highly recommend especially if interested in historical fiction.

Intense Artistry

Reading performance is excellent. I didn't want to stop listening and could visualize the story as I listened. Often dark and sad.

Absolutely Superb Novel and Performance

This is a wonderful novel that is superbly performed. The translation is outstanding. A fascinating reimagining of the life and times of
the film director W G Pabst and his family, friends, and colleagues from the 1930s through World War II and beyond. Absolutely unforgettable. After reading this book, I must now go watch his films and I am also fascinated with the life of the actress Louise Brooks.

Incredible

Fantastic novel, totally engrossing. The reader is superb. I highly recommend The Director to anyone.

Brilliant and affecting

This is one of those books that is so good that when I finished it, I felt really sad, as if a friend had died. The writing is astonishingly effective and affecting. The story, based on a real film director who left Germany fleeing the Nazis, and then wound up returning and making films with the support of the regime, provides an intimate view of what it might have been like to be pressured to become a Nazi collaborator. Reading this book is weirdly like watching a movie. It’s just fantastic.