Literature Day – On Staying and Letting Go

Sometimes something remains, even when we let go. Family, for example. In Paola Lopez’s debut novel Die Summe unserer Teile, we follow the women of a family across three generations, from Poland to Germany and on to Lebanon. The title Zucker of Ursula Knoll’s new novel symbolizes what connects the female destinies portrayed, from the nineteenth century to the present day. A move to the countryside leads to the disintegration of a once shared life plan for the young family at the center of Hannah Lühmann’s novel Heimat. Leaving Moscow for Europe is the desire of Karina and Tonya in Maya Rosa’s debut novel Moscow Mule, until their shared dream becomes a severe test. In Christian Mitzenmacher’s debut novel Knallkrebse, Tom’s role as godfather to the young refugee Farid turns into friendship. But being friends also means knowing how to let go. Of the people we lose forever, memories remain—intense, beautiful, and painful—as Katharina Feist-Merhaut recounts in her debut Sterben üben. Six novels and many stories: of staying and letting go. Of what unites us. And of what separates us.