Buchpremiere: Maja Zade liest aus »Wand an Wand«

An apartment building, two courtyards, a chestnut tree—and a web of lives that run side by side, intersect, and sometimes miss each other. There’s Maja, who lives in the rear building and, caught between a writer’s block, her best friend’s complicated love life, and her fear for her terminally ill friend, tries not to get lost in her own daily routine. Below her, where just a short while ago a neighbor’s screams summoned the police, Jürgen is daring to make a fresh start with his younger partner—while simultaneously having to deal with a daughter who brings with her claims of ownership and old wounds. Meanwhile, in the front building, a married couple takes refuge in fantasies of a more exciting life, while Kay, a single father, spends his nights dwelling on his past. Their struggles for love, recognition, and identity all play out behind closed doors. And yet their stories seep through walls and windows, intertwining in the courtyard, in the stairwell, and by the trash cans, where unexpected connections emerge.

Maja Zade tells the story of a building as a microcosm of a city—and of people who exist side by side yet inevitably influence one another. A polyphonic novel about closeness and distance, about aging, desire, and the fragile hope that something like a sense of connection can grow out of mere neighborliness.

*Wand an Wand* by Maja Zade is published by Matthes & Seitz Berlin. Click here to view the book.