It all starts with a sketch of the setting of his crime novel Despair, which Nabokov drew in the only remaining copy of the original English edition.
Sparschuh’s main character, a guest lecturer at an American college, stumbles upon a hot trail during the lecture “Nabokov’s Berlin years as reflected in his novels”, which he knows he has to follow as soon as he returns to Berlin: Did Nabokov really mean the Ziestsee near Kolberg, even though it didn’t correspond with his sketch?
This search leads the protagonist through the areas surrounding Berlin and back to his childhood, during which he spent many summers near this lake. And it leads him to two women: his former confidant Lea, who advises him and cooks for him, and to Deborah, an American lecturer whose enthusiasm for Nabokov has been awakened by him – but now he’s hoping for more.
A captivating account of how literature can impact life.
