Micha Kuppisch lives in an apartment on the nubbin of an East German street, the Sonnenallee. What Micha most wants is a love letter that might have been written for him by the most beautiful girl in the neighborhood. Stolen by a gust of wind, the letter now lies on the fortified "death strip" at the base of the Berlin Wall, as tantalizingly close and unattainable as the freedoms of the West. Wry and colorful, Thomas Brussig's 1999 novel is introduced and co-translated by National Book Award winner Jonathan Franzen.