Pause

The day the ambulance came was the day I moved back in with my parents – at the age of thirty-six

When a serious incident turns her life upside down, Hanna is unexpectedly forced to move back into her old home with her eccentric parents, into her old room with its old posters on the walls and its narrow 80 cm single bed. But how is family life supposed to work with three adult people, thrown together with no warning, when they’d all prefer to sweep conflicts under the carpet rather than confront them head-on? Between old wounds and new challenges, Hanna must gradually learn to heal herself and see her family with different eyes. And she discovers that love can find you even in the worst moments … A warm, tender, funny and honest book about moments at rock bottom and the long road to self-love.

  • A tender, funny and vulnerable look at a universal topic: the imperfection of families
  • »This book is like a tight hug after you’ve been really torn apart by it« – Caroline Wahl
  • For readers of ‘End in Sight’ (Ronja von Rönne), ‘The Other Life’ (Anne Sauer) and ‘Sorrow and Bliss’ (Meg Mason)
Genre: Fiction, Contemporary Fiction
Lena Kupke

Lena Kupke, born in 1986, studied English Language and Literature and History in Bonn. She is a writer and stand-up comedian and has made frequent appearances on major German television channels.

320 pages, ISBN: 978-3-423-28542-1
First published 2026