A moving novel about old age, friendship and how to overcome loneliness
Johannes Wenger, a single, 80-year-old architect, led a rich and fulfilled life that evolved around the things he loved – architecture, music, literature, politics and nature. It all came to a standstill when he suffered a fall and became dependent on a wheelchair and care. This new dependence conflicts with his self-image, complicates daily life and leaves a lot of room for loneliness and melancholy.
Fortunately, Wenger is being looked after by Doctor Mailänder, who becomes aware of his patient’s poor state and invites him to join his family for their Easter vacation at the Baltic Sea. After some resistance, the eccentric wheelchair user, who is mentally constantly communing with historical figures like the architects Karl Friedrich Schinkel and Mies van der Rohe, accepts the invitation. It is the doctor’s six-year-old daughter that will pierce the old grouch’s solitude, despite his attempts to retreat. But Wenger’s journey doesn’t end there; his health continues to deteriorate and sulphurous dreams lead him into his past and to the edge.
With a great deal of feeling, a sharp eye and plenty of self-irony, Härtling takes his readers along with him into the hardship of old age – only to show them the tremendous potential for happiness that this stage of life also holds.
