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Anne Hahn
Dreizehn Sommer (Thirteen Summers)
A novel
336 pages
“I take a deep breath and whisper as though uttering a vow: die or get there”
Thirteen summers between 1986 and 1999 in the life of three friends from Magdeburg, three life-stories that interconnect then drift apart. Love and yearning for afar, anarchy and obedience, courage and helplessness – the classical emotional chaos of the young growing up consumes Nina, Mo and Katrin too. Until reality takes on its own dynamic.
Camping and first love, forbidden books and quarrels with parents, hide and seek by the Elbe, dreams of a future rich with promise: Nina, Kathrin and Mo go to school together but then their paths part. For Nina, pretty and bursting with energy, all the opportunities the world offers are suddenly used up. The drive for freedom, the squandered future…
It is the punks in towns who demonstrate the dash of anarchy her self-respect starts to crave. And as she continues to organise concerts for her new friends and gives them a roof over their heads, the noose slowly tightens… Until one day Nina packs her rucksack and joins a youth group excursion to the Caspian Sea, final destination open… and a dramatic end in a Stasi prison.
Delicate Mo, the dreamer, sits by the river, carried along by her thoughts. Until she too heads off. And Katrin? Why should she gamble with her career as an architect? When the champagne corks are popping furiously at the Wall, Nina sits behind bars and dreams of freedom…
Anne Hahn was born in Magdeburg in 1966. She studied the history of art in Berlin which is where she lives today with her family. Anne Hahn has published reportages and short stories. This is her first novel.