About the Translator

Hi, I'm Edith Parzefall. I studied literature and linguistics in Germany and the United States, because I wanted to become a writer. A rather silly idea on both accounts.

I ended up working as a technical writer and editor, moved on to people and project management while secretly writing novels. I had my coming out in 2008 when I gave up my job to become a full-time writer and freelance editor. Now I strive to combine my two passions: writing and traveling (not to mention having enough food and a roof over my head, things I do feel rather passionate about as well).

For years, I only wrote in English. I found the language more elegant and thought the English-speaking world offered even more readers. True enough, but there's also far more competition...

In 2012, with two of my novels contracted by a Canadian publisher, plus four books I co-wrote with Francene Stanley, I thought I should take a look at the long neglected German book market again.

My thriller Strays of Rio is set in Brazil and with the country being guest of honor at the Frankfurt book fair in 2013 and the soccer world cup still coming up back then, I took a deep breath and slogged through the translation of Strays of Rio. Phew, it was amazing to find out how a language can deteriorate when it's neglected for a long time. Fortunately I found an excellent and affordable editor: Kathrin Brückmann.

Since then she's been my go-to girl when it came to polishing my translations from English to German or a draft written in German.

Naturally, I felt obliged to read her stories. Since I'm not really a history buff, I started with her shorties. While reading a psychological thriller of hers, I noticed how I started translating the beautiful prose into English in my head as I read. That's how 2:17 AM—Eyes in the Dark saw the light of the English-speaking world. I simply had to do it for real.

When Kathrin told me about her idea for the series In Maat's Service, I was intrigued. Dr. Quincy in ancient Egypt? Cool... She allowed me to read along while she wrote it. Every morning a new batch awaited me. And I was glad to see she made typos too while in a writing frenzy. ;-)

Again, I kept thinking about translating the novel, but didn't seriously consider it. Too time-consuming a project, and I thought I might seriously botch it with pharaohs wearing turbans and what not. Still, I knew from my work on 2:17 that Kathrin's passive English is excellent and she could check up on what I was doing... The idea kept lingering in the back of my mind, and when I saw how well the German edition sold and how well it was received by readers and reviewers, I couldn't resist any longer.

Remember that I turned to translating my own novels into German, because the English market is even tougher? Why then did I spend two months trying to recreate the story in English? For the challenge and to make a great book available to more readers, not to mention half the royalties going my way.

If you enjoyed the read, it would be great if you left a review and recommended the book to people who might like it as well, because I could use a little extra motivation to tackle translating the next one in the series.


Find out more about me and my books at www.edith-parzefall.de or on facebook.