LiteraturSchweiz

Reading tip

Julia Weber, Immer ist alles schön: A beautiful debut about a struggling single mother, „All Is Well Here“ considers how lonely and frightening life can be both as a cild and as an adult. The novel tells the story of Anais, her brother Bruno and their mother Maria, who is different from other mothers. It starts with a holiday on a campsite where Maria abandons her children to go dancing. After the family returns home, the reader learns about their life through a series of episodes recounted by Anais. It soon becomes apparent that the mother is troubled in a lot of ways and that she is battling with alcoholism. Eventually Maria walks out, leaving the children on their own. Anais and Bruno retreat further into an imaginative game in which they recreate natural landscapes from within their apartment. Fantasy and reality flow into each other until they become one. The novel ends with the authorities breaking into the flat to get to the children. Weber writes in a distinctive, ethereal prose using carefully-chosen language to convey the puzzling complexity of a child's view of the world. (Recommended by New Books in German, Issue 42/2017)