Lorna

A late story about a first love that never ends

Even as a child growing up in a high-rise housing project, Lorna, with her red hair and green eyes, was special: she was the best at soccer, always helpful, and took an outsider as a friend. For the rather shy narrator, she becomes his first great love. They move in together, go traveling, and make plans for the future: she wants to study psychology or social pedagogy, and he wants to go to art school. But then Lorna changes: restless, aggressive, unpredictable. At some point, she sets fire to the shared flat, in front of her roommate Katharina's door. Lorna is admitted to a psychiatric ward. In and out, again and again. Then the narrator lets himself be seduced by Katharina. It is the most consequential decision of his life.

"Rich in dialogue, with plenty of wit and subtle irony" - WDR, Marija Bakker

"a harrowing story that makes a mark" - dpa, Sybille Peine

"Reading [Maar's stories] is a great literary pleasure, as there is sometimes more soul in them than in all the books about the soul.one of the most advanced writers of his generation" - SR, Peter Henning

"Maar is simply a good, very precise writer for all ages." - Berliner Zeitung, Cornelia Geißler

"Atmospheric condensations of great emotionality" - Nürnberger Nachrichten/Zeitung, Herbert Heinzelmann