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Rolf Lappert: Swimming Home (Nach Hause schwimmen)
Novel
Hardcover | 544 pages | ISBN 9783446209923 | Feb 2008 | Hanser Verlag
English excerpt
The book: If you're born unwanted anyway, in Wilbur's view, you need to change that as quickly as possible. Wilbur is 1.50 m tall and would like to be as strong and invincible as Bruce Willis. No, he isn't exactly lucky: his Irish mother dies at his birth, his Swedish father does a runner and his first home is the incubator. He only discovers what home is when his grandparents fetch him to Ireland. But happiness is shortlived. His best friend lands in borstal, his grandmother Orla dies in an accident, and Wilbur decides that he is and always will be a loser. But the charming Aimee wants to teach him something different: Wilbur should at long last seek his happiness where it is, right in front of him.
With great vibrancy and a compelling comic touch, Rolf Lappert succeeds in portraying a boy who despairs of the world. A great novel about growing up and self-discovery.
The author: Rolf Lappert was born in Zürich in 1958 and trained as a graphic designer. He gave up writing for a long time and set up a jazz club with a friend. From 1996 to 2004 he worked as a scriptwriter, including for a Swiss TV series. Today, the author Rolf Lappert lives in Listowel, County Kerry, Ireland.
Photo: © Gerard Clifford
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