Reading & Discussion | Moderation: Emily Grunert (Literaturhaus Rostock)
Ida has nothing with her except her mother's old, scuffed hard-shell suitcase, a few favorite clothes and her MacBook when she leaves home. It is probably a farewell forever to the small town where she has spent her whole life. Ida is really bad at saying goodbye; she didn't even make it to her mother's funeral two months ago. At the station, she picks the train that goes the furthest away and ends up on the island of Rügen. With no plan, just a big lump of anger, grief and guilt in her stomach, she wanders around the Baltic island. She finally meets Knut, the local pub owner, and his wife Marianne, who take Ida in without further ado. The three of them have breakfast together every morning, Ida then spends the day with Marianne, they walk through the forest together or play SkipBo, in the evenings Ida works with Knut in the Robbe. And she gets to know Leif, who is just as injured as she is, but maybe they are good for each other. Suddenly everything is a little easier, warmer, more bearable in Ida's life. But then she learns that Marianne is seriously ill, and the pain rears its ugly head again.
Caroline Wahl was born in Mainz in 1995 and grew up near Heidelberg. She studied German language and literature in Tübingen and German literature in Berlin. She then worked for several publishing houses. Her debut novel '22 Bahnen' was published by DuMont in 2023, for which she was awarded the Ulla Hahn Author Prize, the Grimmelshausen Promotion Prize and the Ravensburger Verlag Foundation's Family Novel Book Prize. In addition, '22 Bahnen' was the favorite book of the Independent 2023. Caroline Wahl lives in Rostock.
Admission: Vvk. (at the press center/at mvticket.de): €10 plus fee, AK: €13 / reduced €10; students free with a cultural ticket from the AStA of the University of Rostock (registration: reservierung@literaturhaus-rostock.de).
Venue: Literaturhaus Rostock (in the Peter-Weiss-Haus), Doberaner Str. 21, 18057 Rostock
