The friendship between two women is at the centre 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 similar to one another, “two shades of the same blue”. During a trip to Greece, however, their relationship breaks down abruptly. A seemingly insurmountable cleft cracks open between them. For a whole year. Then comes the 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 more and more understandable. 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 on the sea, scenes of friendship, the search for Helen’s father, separations…Into these memories are threaded dreamlike sequences and blurred perceptions from her life in hospital.
 
“This grippingly narrated story shines with precise descriptions and vividly palpable characters.” —Kulturelle Auszeichnungen im Bereich Literatur 2016