"Nostalgia", perhaps André Kubiczek's most personal book, is about his relationship with his mother, who tried to find a home in a foreign country. The result is a somewhat different picture of life in the GDR - from a migrant perspective. A novel that tells of familiarity, foreignness and love across cultures and prejudices with empathy and warmth.
1968: Teo, a young Laotian woman, arrives at Berlin Ostbahnhof. It is love that takes her to the GDR, far away from her family. But her new life in Potsdam, seemingly a socialist idyll, is difficult, and even perfect German is no match for the foreignness she feels every day as an Asian. - Christmas 1982: André, Teo's son, is thirteen and only wants one thing: to escape his teacher's bullying and not stand out, which is not so easy as a half-Lao GDR citizen with a disabled younger brother. Nevertheless, everything is actually fine as long as his mother doesn't fall ill again, as long as his brother doesn't freak out, as long as his mother and grandmother get along. But then several strokes of fate shake the family.
André Kubiczek, born in 1969, lives in Berlin. his highly acclaimed novel "Junge Talente" was published in 2002 and "Die Guten und die Bösen" in 2003. andré Kubiczek was awarded the Candide Prize in 2007. "Sketch of a Summer" (2016) was shortlisted for the German Book Prize. His most recent books are "Komm in den totgesagten Park und schau" (2018), "Straße der Jugend" (2020) and "Der perfekte Kuss" (2022).
"Nostalgia", 384 pages, will be published by Rowohlt Berlin Verlag on 14.05. 2024