At the age of forty, Yuval finds himself living a life in which nothing is how he’d imagined it would be. He is incapable of changing anything, until he realises: it wasn’t fate that brought him here, but the decisions he never made. And so he makes one — and embarks on a fateful journey that changes everything.

For Auggie Schnuck, the future looks brighter than ever before: he has achieved almost everything as a wrestler under the ring name The Aug, and he’s planning his future with Nadine, the love of his life. If only it weren’t for his self-doubt: can he, Auggie Schnuck, really stand his ground in front of the whole world? Wouldn’t being a husband and father be simpler in the role of the unbeatable Aug? An artfully narrated novel about dreams that come true and lead to the edge of sanity and reality; and about artificiality, conflict, and tenderness.

Switzerland in the near future: the cities have merged into a large metropolitan area and is flourishing, while extensive sections of the Alps are declared zones restricted for electricity production. Scientist Alesch returns to his native village of Pradetta, a remote locale in the shadow of a glacier. But strange weather phenomena appear on the mountain more and more often, and soon Alesch is torn back and forth between the primitive mountain landscape and the high-tech future. Because his research, as revolutionary as it is risky, could hold the answer to the energy crisis. And then there is his first love Annetta ...

Los Angeles, 1959. The aging filmmaker Curtis Melnitz is tormented by nightmares. He is in dire need of sleeping pills – but can only get them if he regularly visits the psychoanalyst. On the analyst’s couch, he reluctantly recounts the story of his life, from Hollywood to Berlin, from the black-and-white, silent dream factory to the garish and glaring German reality of the early 20th century. A chapter for every appointment on the couch. A life like a novel.

A young woman called Lina Verde is searching the craggy, steep cliffs of Capri for a rare orchid. Soon afterwards, Zeno the fisherman finds her lifeless body. He claims that he and Lina were a couple, but he doesn’t even know her address. Did he kill her? Zeno is a notorious liar who presents himself as a sociable Capri fisherman, at least to female tourists. The island police officers Enrico Rizzi and Antonia Cirillo believe him to be capable of anything, but a perfumer leads them onto a new trail. Was Lina really just looking for a flower?

Joseph is lonely and struggling with his lot in life, not least because his wife Lis, unable to bear day-to-day life on the farm, has fled to the city with their son. This is far from a daily occurrence in the 1960s in the countryside. Luckily, Ada, Lis’ older sister, is still there — with whom Joseph perhaps always felt more connected. And then 19-year-old Birdie suddenly appears on his doorstep, weak, and fleeing her own predetermined path. Lis, Ada and Birdie — they will turn not only their own lives upside down, but Joseph’s too.

Berlin, 1943: At Plötzensee, 20-year-old Liane Berkovitz is executed by the Nazis. Young love and her contempt for the Nazi dictatorship have made her into a resistance fighter with the Schulze-Boysen group. Decades later, an elderly woman is walking along the streets of Berlin; unkempt, with long, snow-white hair. Everyone who lives there has seen her, but barely anyone knows who she really is: a millionaire, and the first-hand witness of Liane’s momentous life.

When the snow in the Alps melts down into the valley below, the time has come: Mother wakes from her hibernation, her head filled with the dreams of the past months. She is awaited by Grandfather, and cared for by her children, the twins. Soon, the first visitors will arrive, because Mother’s dreams promise advice and give comfort. This is how it is, year after year. But this summer, the twins’ tenth, everything is about to change — and what Mother predicts will come true in an unexpected way.

Kalmann is a lovable eccentric in the village of Raufarhöfn, high up in the rugged north of Iceland. Ever since his father gave him a sheriff’s hat years ago, he has regarded himself as the village’s sheriff. And in this role, once again, he has a lot on his plate: While the town is heatedly debating the salmon farm that the Norwegians are planning, he discovers an old tin box containing a huge amount of money. It awakens desires, and before long Kalmann is embroiled in a murky game.