A warm-hearted novel tracking the misadventures of two brothers on one cold Berlin winter night
It is December 1980, just one day before Christmas Eve, and West Berlin is buried in snow. Frankie Lehmann has spent weeks trying to get in with the squatter scene of Kreuzberg, while his older artist brother, Freddie, plans his escape to New York City. To fund his ticket, Freddie checks into a specialized clinic on the Kurfürstendamm to act as a paid guinea pig for experimental antidepressants. The trial leaves him with a severe phobia of crowds and public transit, causing him to lose an invaluable travel bag containing his life savings. Embarking on a frantic twenty-four-hour journey across a divided city, the brothers navigate broken-down cars, bizarre subcultures, and sudden romances in a poetic celebration of survival and fraternal loyalty.
