NORBERT SCHEUER »HOLUNDERHOLZ«

Norbert Scheuer's new novel is a captivating journey through the winding paths of an untold family story from the post-war period, interweaving past and present.

After the death of his mother, Johann tries to repair an old tape recorder belonging to his grandfather. What begins as a technical challenge turns into a quest that draws him deeper and deeper into the mysterious recordings. As a programmer, Johann is used to finding errors in systems - now he follows the traces of a story that only reveals itself in fragments. The tapes tell of a former Wehrmacht colonel and a mute girl, Rose. Between hints and disturbing discoveries, Johann recognizes connections to the devastating explosion in Prüm in the summer of 1949. While he is caught between professional estrangement and a secret affair, the clues grow stronger: What is the connection between his mother and the mysterious girl? Who was Rose really? And what happened that summer?

Norbert Scheuer, born in 1951, lives as a freelance writer in the Eifel region. He most recently published the novels "Die Sprache der Vögel" (2015), which was nominated for the Leipzig Book Fair Prize, "Am Grund des Universums " (2017) and "Winterbienen" (2019), for which he won several literary prizes and which was shortlisted for the German Book Prize. It became a bestseller and was also translated into many languages. In 2023, he received the Rainer Malkowski Prize from the Bavarian Academy of Fine Arts.

Moderation: Holger Schwaab
Musical accompaniment: Rainer Berger
In cooperation with the Bonn City Library and buchLaden46