Summer on the Road

Viebke is fed up - with her mother, with the community service she's forced to do in an old people's home after stealing a car, and with her boyfriend, who's made off to the South of France with another girl. Hurt, angry and tired, Viebke takes refuge in a camper van in the retirement home's car park. She doesn't think about what she's doing, but then thinking has never been her strong point; when she wakes up, she finds herself on the way to France in the company of a miserable old duffer who's expiating issues of his own by chasing down his past. 

The fellow travellers don't exactly take to each other, but during the journey Viebke begins to understand that the process of growing up involves getting over yourself and taking on a bit of responsibility for yourself as well as other people.

 - a fictional road book of a very special kind 

Excerpt from of the German Prize for Young People's Literature jury statement on "Together alone":

Karin Bruder's characters are unique, headstrong and authentic. Portraying them convincingly in all their strengths and weaknesses, the author highlights the role society plays in forming the individual. This novel merits nomination for its consistently original style, embedding pithy metaphor in rhythmic prose - and also for its defiance of a conventional happy ending.

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