A tender and gripping novel about power dynamics and the question of the world's balance.
The story begins in the late nineties in western Germany. Željko, who everyone calls Jimmy, is fifteen when he falls in love with Martha. She is a professor in Heidelberg, and he lives with his parents and siblings (five people in all) in a two-room flat in Ludwigshafen. Martha has what Željko most longs for: books, education, and sovereignty. He visits a theatre for the first time with her, and she speaks with him as no one else does. Željko's world expands through Martha's love. But what world is he entering, and who is he leaving behind in the process? Where are the boundaries between desire and exploitation?
'Years with Martha is a great love, migration and coming-of-age novel. Full of surprises, poetically charged and of unobtrusive complexity. [...] It is one of the great novels of the season.' Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger, Martin Oehlen
'[Years with Martha is] a treasure.' SWR2, Florian Valerius
'Years with Martha is recognisably part of a still young tradition of novels that, at last, take a look at the reality of life for the children of migrants from the former Federal Republic of Germany.' taz , Nina Apin
'Martic Kordić's Years with Martha appears on the surface to be a love story. Actually, it is a brutal reckoning with Germany.' Süddeutsche Zeitung, Christian Mayer
'What a love story. [...] the novel [reads] very easily. This is due to its lively language, comic scenes, but especially the never-ending tension.' MDR Kultur, Claudia Ingenhoven
'A novel that conveys so much about injustice and contemporary Germany with a few observations, short floating sentences [...].' DONNA
'I am completely blown away! This story is amazingly compelling and wonderfully told.' Martina Kraus
'Martin Kordić takes up many topics [...] and yet the novel reads quite easily. This is due to his lively language, funny scenes, but especially the never-ending suspense' MDR Kultur, Claudia Ingenhoven
'How does he manage to write about everything he has to say on "Germany as a country of immigration" in this love story, about all the hierarchies, pain, and marks, wonderfully casually and fearlessly accurately.' Lena Gorelik
'...the most tender book I have read in ages...' Monika Helfer
'I am completely blown away! This story is amazingly compelling and wonderfully told.' Martina Kraus
'What an enchantingly beautiful text!' Petra Hartlieb
'A book you want to read slowly so it lasts longer. Or twice.' Jury of the Tukan Prize
