Volker Widmann, THE NEWTS
Dumont - Novel - Hardcover - April 2022 - 256 pages
A boy’s liberation from cowering and repression.
A Bavarian village in post-war Germany: as a newcomer, 11-year-old Max has a hard time making friends. Therefore, he and his dreamy brother are the ideal victims for a gang of rude village boys. And so everyone watches as Max's brother is cornered one day, then one rock after another flies. The boy dies.
Max, too, has watched and, out of fear, has not helped. The adults quickly dismiss the act as an accident. Max, who can't talk to anyone about his loneliness and torment, is alone with his feelings. Like the other children, Max does not understand the adults: the hardworking mothers, the unapproachable fathers, their unpredictable harshness towards the children, their silence when it comes to the past, their looking away when conflicts arise.
Plagued by his guilt and the pain of losing his brother, he takes refuge in his wanderings in the surroundings of the village, in his observations of nature, whose beauty gives him comfort. As well as the newts. His discoveries distract Max until he finally finds two friends - and Marga. Together they decide to take action against the gang.
a novel about turning a blind eye and remaining silent in post-war Germany, told from the view of children
a debut that shines through its language and accuracy of observation
sample translation available
World Rights available