Did I Ever Tell You...

Sibylle Berg‘s first young adult book tells the story of two lonely children in East Germany. Anna (self-description: “I‘m not really anything yet.“) and Max (“I look like something that‘s still in the oven.“) are neighbours. They live in the same GDR housing block, but only meet when Anna‘s mo- ther falls over drunk in the street again and Max rescues her. As Anna‘s snoring mother sleeps it o , the pair decide to escape together. Just anywhere.

In her book, Sibylle Berg brings together things that belong together - fairy tale and coming-of-age novel, satire and romance. Through the al- ternating perspectives of Anna and Max, Berg depicts the hell of normal puberty, with its feelings of abandonment, first love and rst jealousy. Warm-hearted and surreal, tender and grotesque, the book tells of an escape from the double oppression of parents and the state.

This modern fairy tale for young adults is as moving as a David Copper eld story, as subtle as an Oscar Wilde children‘s story, and as precise, striking, and as suddenly insightful as only Berg can be. Congenially illustrated by Rita Ackermann and Andro Wekua.