Annika Büsing - "Magisch"

"Marie", he said, "an extremely aggressive attack cat lives in my house. It eats Nazis for breakfast."

Fifteen years have passed since Marie and Magisch last saw each other. Back then they were inseparable - best friends since childhood, and eventually a couple - until life pulled them apart. Now they're back, in the shimmering heat of late summer, on the rural outskirts of the Ruhr region, drinking Fanta-Korn on a dirt track as if nothing had happened. But Paul Magisch is different from other people, and it shows - sometimes all it takes is wearing sandals and having an academic for a mother. Above all, Magisch is not someone who keeps his head down, which makes him an enemy of Marie's brother Andi. Andi is far more than a dull provincial Nazi: he's now in the party, leads a respectable life, and most people underestimate the danger he poses.

With "Magisch", Annika Büsing has written a village novel that sidesteps every rural cliché. In her distinctive voice she tells a story of deep love - and of resistance to fascism.

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Annika Büsing, born 1981, lives with her family in Bochum and teaches at a secondary school. In 2022 her debut "Nordstadt" won the German Youth Literature Prize, the Literaturpreis Ruhr, and the Mara-Cassens-Preis; she was also nominated for the Bayerischer Buchpreis, the Bloggerpreis Das Debüt, and the debut prize of the Harbour Front Literaturfestival. With "Koller" she made the shortlists for the Evangelischer Buchpreis and the "Das zweite Buch" prize. Both novels have been adapted for the stage. Her third novel "Wir kommen zurecht" was published in spring 2025 by Steidl.