An apartment building, two courtyards, a chestnut tree – and a web of lives that run side by side, intersect, and sometimes miss each other. There’s Maja, who lives in the rear building and, caught between a writer’s block, her best friend’s complicated romantic turmoil, and her fear for her terminally ill friend, tries not to get lost in her own daily routine. Below her, where just a short while ago a neighbor’s screams brought the police to the scene, Jürgen is daring to make a fresh start with his younger partner – while simultaneously having to deal with a daughter who brings with her claims of ownership and old wounds. Meanwhile, in the front building, a married couple takes refuge in fantasies of a more exciting life, while Kay, a single father, spends his nights dwelling on his past. Their struggles for love, recognition, and identity all play out behind closed doors. And yet their stories seep through walls and windows, intertwining in the courtyard, the stairwell, and by the trash cans, where unexpected connections emerge.
Maja Zade tells the story of a building as a microcosm of a city – and of people who coexist side by side yet inevitably influence one another. A polyphonic novel about closeness and distance, about aging, desire, and the fragile hope that something like a sense of connection can grow out of mere neighborliness.
Novel
Maja Zade, who grew up in Germany and Sweden, studied English literature at the University of London and Queen’s University in Canada, as well as theater production at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. In addition to teaching at the Malmö Academy of Theatre and Edinburgh University, she translates plays by authors such as Lars von Trier, Lars Norén, Caryl Churchill, and Marius von Mayenburg. Her plays regularly enjoy international success. She lives in Berlin and is the chief dramaturg at the Schaubühne. Wall to Wall is her first novel.
