Anton and Alma

Anton and Alma meet for the first time as exchange students in France. Years later, they run into each other at a party. They both grew up in Berlin and are studying at the same university – but that’s about all they have in common. Anton comes from a privileged background, while Alma grew up out in the suburbs of the former East with her mum and her unloving stepfather. Anton is Jewish. Alma isn’t. But they fall in love, move in together, they fight, they make up, and then fight and make up again, before Anton moves to New York to do a Master’s about the mass conversion of the Khazars to Judaism. Alma stays in Berlin on her own and finds solace in Anton’s Jewish community. After October 7th, 2023, the war in Gaza, and with escalating tensions on campus and within his own family, Anton returns to Berlin and to Alma, with whom he finds a kind of refuge. But then, a tragic turn of events tears a gash in the fabric of Anton’s life, draining all meaning from it.

Anton and Alma tells the story of a great love in an increasingly divided world. A story about grief and loss, faith and belonging – and about how we all try to imbue our lives with meaning. A heartbreaking, courageous novel about what it means to be human.

»Dana Vowinckel has made German-language contemporary literature a more beautiful place, and I'm so grateful for her book and her immense talent.« Christian Kracht, author of the International Booker–longlisted Eurotrash

»Reading Dana Vowinckel means: to suffer, to laugh, to learn, all at the same time. May she please keep on telling stories. I would like to read a hundred more of her books.« Daniela Dröscher on Misophonia

»… this young author writes well and has … a lot to say.« Sabine Rohlf, Berliner Zeitung on Misophonia