ON THE RAILS

• An impressive new voice in German-language literature.
• This powerful debut merges fairy tale and neorealism.
• Nominated for the Leipzig Book Prize 2024.

Ten years have passed since Mario, in his mid-twenties at the time, lost his father. Only a single winter boot remained on the tracks of an ICE railway line, that was all that was left of him. For five years, Mario has been fighting for his own emotional survival when, in a chance encounter in the heart of Berlin, he believes he recognizes his father. He calls the man P. and from then on becomes his silent, daily companion. P., a heroin addict on the fringes of society, fighting his own battle, becomes a surrogate for Mario to process the trauma of his failed relationship with his father, the memories of his childhood in the provincial Brandenburg, and the absence of unconditional love and security. Sentence by sentence, the image of an inner life emerges, where space and time, past and future, clarity and rationality lose their significance.

Inga Machel's narrative, in dramatically delicate imagery, tells of a grief that is almost impossible to put into words and takes us to the places where it becomes real and meaningful.