A novel about departure and decline, the success and failure of rebellion, friendship and family in times of upheaval, about the desire for belonging and the longing for freedom.
"This is the great GDR novel we have been waiting for for decades. This is probably the best book in the German language of this year. (…) I am deeply impressed and hope that it wins major awards." — Eva Menasse, ZDF, The Literary Quartet.
30.000 copies sold in 1 month
Currently #5 of the Spiegel-Bestseller-List
Sanditz, a small town on the edge of the republic: home to ageing officers, civil rights activists, local journalists, early retirees, mousy archivists and the Wenzel family.
In this warm-hearted novel told from multiple perspectives, Lukas Rietzschel intertwines the lives of a family with those of the inhabitants of Sanditz to create a panoramic view of German life stories – from the occupation of a Stasi headquarters to the grinding drudgery of working on West German construction sites.
The SPIEGEL bestselling author gifts us a novel about new beginnings and decline, success and failure, friendship and family in times of monumental change.
Lukas Rietzschel’s novels and plays have been awarded numerous prizes, including the Gellert Prize, the Saxonian Prize for Literature and the Text & Language Literature Prize.
For readers of Eugen Ruge, Uwe Tellkamp and Jonathan Franzen