The Hypnotist

• How do you travel when travel is forbidden? An entertaining novel about a hypnotist who starts a Mental Travel Agency and about the power of escapism
  
• Recommended by New Books in German (Spring 2022)
• English sample translation by Simon Pare available

A village somewhere in the easternmost part of East Germany, sometime during the last days of the Socialist State. Cozy stagnation is the status quo: Everyone knows everyone; it feels like you’re on the margins of the country and also a bit on the margins of socialist society.

Then Micha, who has been kicked out of university, moves in with his grandmother and the village starts noticing that more and more odd birds from Berlin are also showing up – artists and students, primarily young women. Rumors begin to shake up the tranquil village. According to them, a sect is emerging and trips to the West are being organized from the farmhouse.

As it turns out, Micha has a gift: He can hypnotize people and thus make their dreams of Paris or California come true. Micha himself, though, is constantly coming up against the limits of the real world – the Stasi is keeping a wary eye on his Mental Travel Agency and they will use any excuse to stop this subversive behaviour.