Lukas Hoffmann liest aus »Wassermann«

The Book:

How can one lead a self-determined, independent life while still caring for others? In his debut, Lukas Hoffmann presents a compelling coming-of-age novel about the desire for solidarity.

Luk leaves Germany to gain some distance from his painful past. In Hamburg, his mother is dying, and his best friend, Bosse, is in a psychiatric ward. A semester abroad in Barcelona promises a distraction. Luk is thrown headfirst into the Catalan independence struggles—amidst the noise, dust, and euphoria. He falls in love, joins the fray, and runs away. The promise of a revolution becomes a mirror of his own inner turmoil—a struggle against everything that offers stability. In Portugal, on the streets, in strangers’ beds, he tries to reinvent himself, yet the echo of his dying mother remains.

After her death, his world collapses. The guilt is tangible; the pain is physical. Luk loses himself, cheats, remains silent, returns. And this time, he stays. Amid a resurgent revolt, he begins to care for others—for children, for strangers, for a future that was not his own.

*Wassermann* is a novel about flight and stagnation, about the end of strength and the possibility of healing. Lukas Hoffmann tells the story of a man who learns that care is not the opposite of struggle, but its continuation—and that care may be the most radical form of resistance.

The Author:

Lukas Hoffmann, born in 1995, lived in Barcelona for several years, where he experienced the independence struggles and their tensions firsthand. Today he works in social services in Hamburg. *Wassermann* is his debut novel.