Description

Rico, Mark, Paul and Daniel were 13 when the Berlin Wall fell in autumn 1989. Growing up in Leipzig at the time of reunification, they dream of a better life somewhere beyond the brewery quarter. Every night they roam the streets, partying, rioting, running away from their fears, their parents and the future, fighting to exist, killing time. They drink, steal cars, feel wrecked, play it cool, longing for real love and true freedom. Startlingly raw and deeply moving, While We Were Dreaming is the extraordinary debut novel by one of Germany’s most ambitious writers, full of passion, hope and despair.

Publisher Review

'A book like a fist... German literature has not seen such a debut for a long time, a book full of rage, sadness, pathos and superstition.' - Felicitas von Lovenberg, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung ''[Meyer's] stripped-back prose is suffused with meaning.' - The Arts Desk '[Meyer] is one of the strongest German writers.' - Heinrich Oemsen, Hamburger Abendblatt 'Clemens Meyer's great art of describing people takes the form of the Russian doll principle: a story within a story within a story. ... So much is so artfully interwoven that his work breaks the mould of the closed narrative.' - Katharina Teutsch, Die Zeit