Kairos by Jenny Erpenbeck, translated from German by Michael Hofmann, was announced last night as the winner of the 2024 International Booker Prize. The joint win encompasses two significant firsts for the prize, with Jenny Erpenbeck becoming the first German writer and Michael Hofmann the first male translator to win the International Booker Prize.

Kairos is the intimate and devastating story of the path of two lovers through the ruins of a relationship, set against the backdrop of a seismic period in European history.

Berlin. 11 July 1986. They meet by chance on a bus. She is a young student, he is older and married. Theirs is an intense and sudden attraction, fuelled by a shared passion for music and art, and heightened by the secrecy they must maintain. But betrayal creates a dangerous crack between them, opening up a space for cruelty, punishment and the exertion of power. And as the GDR begins to crumble, so too do all the old certainties and the old loyalties, ushering in a new era whose great gains also involve profound loss.

You can find Kairos online and in Readings shops now. Read more about the judge's thoughts here.

The International Booker Prize is awarded annually to a work of fiction which has been translated into English and published in the UK or Ireland. Explore the other titles shortlisted for the 2024 prize:

• Not a River by Selva Almada, translated by Annie McDermott
• The Details by Ia Genberg, translated by Kira Josefsson
• Mater 2-10 by Hwang Sok-yong, translated by Sora Kim-Russell and Youngjae Josephine Bae
• What I'd Rather Not Think About by Jente Posthuma, translated by Sarah Timmer Harvey
• Crooked Plow by Itamar Vieira Junior, translated by Johnny Lorenz