Translated from the German by Lyn Marven
ISBN-13: 978 1905583027
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‘Recently something funny happened. There was no summer, no autumn either.’

With this opener Maike Wetzel begins exploring that moment in life when the breakneck experience of growing up suddenly changes gear and slows down. A young woman sees a dead body for the first time; a sister watches her anorexic sibling transform into different person; a girl pieces together the facts of a custody battle she’s not been let in on. Wetzel’s stories catch people when some part of their lives has been put on pause, leaving them so adrift only acts of obsession or self-destruction provide direction.

Wetzel’s stories have great depth of focus. In the background, an over-eager teacher might be explaining the facts of life in unnecessary, lurid detail, but in the foreground students will be taking drastic measures, in secret; a gymnastics class may be limbering up for an impressive display, but in close-up, dietcrazed girls faint in alarming numbers. With pared down but insistent language, Wetzel achieves a poise and clarity and presents lives that are as arresting as they are arrested.

‘There is the special art in Maike Wetzel’s writing to demonstrate vividly how events and stories can affect people – in particular if those only passively involved.’
- Der Spiegel

‘Adds magic to the brutal banality of everyday-life.’
- Schlaglicht

About the Author

Maike Wetzel was born in 1974, attended film school in Munich and in the UK, and currently lives in Berlin and the Rhein-Main area. She is the author of two award-winning collections of short stories: Lange Tage [Long Days] (2003) and Hochzeiten [Weddings] (2000), both published by S. Fischer Verlag. She has directed several short films and documentaries and also writes screenplays. She is currently working on a novel.

About the Translator

Lyn Marven is Lecturer in German at the University of Liverpool. She did her doctorate at Oxford, and researches and translates contemporary literature. The collection of 20th century short stories, which she has edited and translated, Berlin Tales, is forthcoming with OUP (June 2009).

Cover photograph by Tricia McKellar.

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