What if the child you mourned had never died?
A harrowing family story about forced adoption, a sinister chapter in East German history, and father-son relationships expressed through a shared love of nature and fishing.
1978, near Leipzig, East Germany. For Katrin and Hans, every parent’s worst nightmare comes true when they are told that their newborn baby Daniel has died. Amidst the shock and horror of the news, Katrin doubts what the doctors have told her, feeling that they are lying and that Daniel is still alive: doubts which Hans refuses to acknowledge, and which lead to the end of their marriage.
After the collapse of the GDR, happy in a new relationship, Hans receives an unexpected phone call which prompts him to investigate the past. His research, which takes him deep into recent history, is met with resistance and silence at every turn, until at last a fishing expedition enables the family to start healing from their trauma.
Mayfly Season is an extraordinary portrait of totalitarian state cruelty, the promise of a new beginning and the infinite healing capacity shared by humanity and nature.
Praise
‘I lived in the GDR and reported on its demise; I’ve come across heart-rending family histories. I’ve known relatives snitch on each other and neighbours do terrible things. But this story of deception and parallel truths is remarkable, in turns tragic and uplifting, always absorbing.‘
— John Kampfner, author of Why Germans Do It Better and In Search of Berlin
‘An eerily haunting novel about a blatant injustice.‘
— ARD
‘A dark chapter of the GDR – tense and moving at the same time. My number one on the book list of the season.‘
— NDR kultur
