About love and friendship in a world that doesn't know trust

A novel about the struggle for closeness, love, loyalty and friendship in the shadow of state control. A captivating portrait of the strength and fragility of human bonds, the enthusiasm of new beginnings and the loss of illusions. "Self-Regulation of the Heart" unfolds a multifaceted panorama of life in the GDR and the newly reunited Germany. At the center are Georg, who initially still hopes to advance his state with the help of the first computers and cybernetics, and the artist Mona.
A rich ensemble of characters develops around them: the illusionless intellectual Roland, who flees to the West; Marlies, who tries to reform the system from within, and Mona's artist friends. They all meet in a village near Wandlitz, where strange secret building activities soon begin.
Peggy Mädler writes with quiet force about the flickering between stability and dissolution - about closeness and alienation, adaptation and resilience.

Peggy Mädler, born in Dresden in 1976, studied theater, cultural studies and education and holds a doctorate in cultural studies. As a freelance author and dramaturge, she works with various theaters, directors and performance groups throughout Germany. Her first novel Legende vom Glück des Menschen was published in 2011, for Wohin wir gehen (2019) she received the Fontane Literature Prize of the Fontane City of Neuruppin and the State of Brandenburg. In 2024, the book Drei ostdeutsche Frauen betrinken sich und gründen den idealen Staat by Annett Gröschner, Peggy Mädler and Wenke Seemann was published.