'A superlative storyteller' The Times Literary Supplement

'Exceptional' Stuttgarter Zeitung

‘When are you coming?’

Four words on a postcard summon Lev from the remote village in Romania where he grew up under a brutal Communist regime. He travels to Switzerland to meet his lifelong friend, Kato, the outcast girl who fled her homeland as soon as she could and now works as a street artist in the cities of Europe. Now it's his turn to discover where he belongs - and to whom.

But there’s no going forward without looking back.

In this emotionally engrossing story of friendship, love and belonging, celebrated European novelist Iris Wolff turns back time through the individual moments that illuminate a life.

A bestseller in Germany, shortlisted for the 2024 German Book Prize, winner of the Uwe-Johnson Prize 2025 and of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation Literary prize 2025.