AUF DER STRASSE HEISSEN WIR ANDERS [WE HAVE A DIFFERENT NAME ON THE STREET]
2022
Klett-Cotta
About the book
240 pages
Hardcover
February 2022
ISBN: 978-3-608-98198-8
ENGLISH SAMPLE AVAILABLE
Rights sold to: Georgia (Academic Press of Georgia)
NDR Book of the Month at publication (click for NDR book trailer)
Recommended by NEW BOOKS IN GERMAN
For readers of Nino Haratischwili (The Eighth Life), Ronya Othman and Olga Grjasnowa
Multi-layered, moving family and father-daughter novel, haunting and atmospheric
Novel debut, tracing the Armenian roots of a German immigrant family all the way to the genocide, which deals with the relevant topics of our time such as origin, identity and migration
"The most moving and beautiful debut of the new year is Laura Cwiertnia's [...] novel 'We Have a Different Name on the Street,' which tells of serious issues with great sensitivity, yet is full of hope and humour."--Buchkultur
"What is so compelling about this accomplished novel is its fine, clairvoyant tone, its precise observation of situations, its effortless transitions between time levels. You understand the characters, see them before you, with their eloquent body language and in their profound silences."--NDR Kultur
“While her depiction of historical events is dramatic and moving, Cwiertnia’s use of tone and subtle humour ensures the novel remains ultimately positive. Engaging and evocative, Outside we have another name promises to appeal to fans of Elif Shafak’s The Bastard of Istanbul and Jonathan Safran Foer’s Everything is Illuminated.”--New Books in German
Synopsis
In Karla's family, everyone knows what it feels like not to belong. Karla experiences it as a child in Bremen Nord. Her father Avi in a monastery school in Jerusalem. Her grandmother Maryam as a guest worker in Germany. Her great-grandmother Armine on the streets of Istanbul. With sensitivity and a fine sense of humour, Laura Cwiertnia traces the branching paths of an Armenian family whose experiences are so profound that they still resonate generations later.
The children from the high-rise housing estate in Bremen Nord know exactly where their families came from: Turkey, Russia, Albania. But not Karla. All she knows is that her grandmother came to Germany from Istanbul as a guest worker in the 1960s, and that the family has Armenian roots, but they don't talk about it. When Karla's grandmother dies, the name of a woman, Lilit, appears, along with an address in Armenia. Karla succeeds in persuading her father to go on a journey with her - to a homeland that neither of them has ever set foot in. Impressive and moving, Laura Cwiertnia tells of how it feels to be on the fringes of society. And about what it is like not to have a story to share with others.
About the author
Laura Cwiertnia, born in Bremen in 1987 to an Armenian father and a German mother, is deputy head of department at DIE ZEIT. WE HAVE A DIFFERENT NAME ON THE STREET is her literary debut.
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