Die Wolke by Gudrun Pausewang

Berliner Grotesk Medium, Erik Spiekermann’s revival of Halbfette Block (H. Berthold AG, 1913), in use for the cover of the original edition of Die Wolke (“The Cloud”).

The novel was first published in February 1987, less than a year after the Chernobyl disaster in Ukraine. Gudrun Pausewang tells the shocking story of a similar nuclear disaster happening in Hesse, Germany, with the aim to raise awareness for the dangers of nuclear energy. The book was made required reading in many school classes, and earned the author the German Youth Literature Prize. Pausewang passed away last week at the age of 91.