The former German chancellor’s book Freedom gives insights on Brexit and her East German upbringing

Angela Merkel was notoriously discreet and privacy-conscious as Germany’s chancellor, rarely veering off message during her 16 years in office.

In her eagerly anticipated political autobiography Freedom: Memoirs 1954-2021, she has hardly turned into a gossipmonger overnight. But across 721 pages – published on Tuesday in German and English thanks to nine different translators working on chunks of the book simultaneously – there are glimpses of a Merkel previously unseen.