The friendship between two women is at the center of Annette Lory’s new novel. Monika and Helen. Ocean and mountains. Their inner landscapes, the topographies of their souls, are as different as the physical landscapes they each yearn for. Monika is a seeker; Helen is a radical. In their fervent relationship they become more and more alike – “two shades of the same blue”. During a trip to Greece, however, their relationship abruptly breaks down. A seemingly insurmountable cleft cracks open between them for a whole year. They attempt to overcome this barrier on a hike together in the mountains – at least, that was the idea. But Monika falls.

Through a series of flashbacks, their story becomes increasingly clear. Monika, the first-person narrator, travels back to various stages of her past: her childhood in the narrows of a transit valley, her escape to a great city by the sea, scenes of friendship, the search for Helen’s father, separations… Threaded into these memories are dreamlike sequences and blurred impressions from her time in the hospital.

“This grippingly narrated story shines with precise descriptions and vividly palpable characters.” —Kulturelle Auszeichnungen im Bereich Literatur 2016