A woman wants to leave her husband. After thirty years of living together, she is determined but also heartbroken. How did it come to this? As she contemplates her next move, she takes a trip down memory lane. She thinks back to the highs: the early, ecstatic days of their love at a university in the GDR, and later their years with their young children. But there were also lows, moments that changed the course of their lives forever. Can it be said that something that lasted so long really failed?
Julia Schoch (b. 1974) grew up in Mecklenburg and is considered one of Germany’s best writers. She lives in Potsdam. The Couple of the Century is her latest novel.