Yael Inokai - "Die Auster"

"Essentially, she was invisible, could move through the world as if she didn't exist."

For 45 years, Leonora Bloch has cleaned for Dr. Bronnstedt - in his luxury department store and in his private villa. She took this task so seriously that the police could not secure any evidence when Bronnstedt was found brutally murdered: Leonora had cleaned the crime scene too thoroughly. The investigating officers wondered whether this was merely the sense of duty that once led Bronnstedt to stipulate in his will that Leonora should organize his funeral - or whether the old woman has something to hide.

All the evidence points to a straightforward crime thriller, but appearances are deceptive. With the stylistic precision for which Yael Inokai is known, she describes the not-so-subtle differences between a cleaning crew and the people who shop in the delicatessen departments of this world. Leonora Bloch stands at the center: overlooked because of her position in society, yet she sees everything. And while she believes her sense of duty is her greatest strength, we gradually learn about the damage that a misguided discretion has caused in her life.

Moderator: Björn Jager

Yael Inokai, born in 1989 in Basel, lives in Berlin. Her second novel "Mahlstrom" was awarded the Swiss Literary Prize 2018; for "Ein simpler Eingriff" she received the Anna Seghers Prize 2022 and the Clemens Brentano Prize 2023. Her works have been translated into seven languages.