Flight Novella

Erfurt, 1965: two students meet at the ‘House of the Red Army’. She is from East Germany, 21 years old, he is Swiss, 23. They fall in love and want to spend the rest of their lives together, but they’re separated by the Iron Curtain. The idea that he might join her in the East is inconceivable, so they desperately look for a way to get her to the West. When they realise that it is not possible to do it legally, they come up with a brilliant plan to subvert the system of control. Since East Germany does everything it can to prevent people from leaving the country, they try it the other way around, trying to sneak in. They plan everything meticulously, but when the decisive moment comes, nothing goes as planned…

Thomas Strässle tells the story of the power of love against the crushing power of political systems. A true story that will take your breath away – the story of two young people who risk everything. A story that Strässle is able to tell with such intimacy and precision because it is the story of his own parents.

»Flight Novella is worth reading because it documents the Zeitgeist of the Cold War between the 1960s and the 1980s. And because the courageous story of Strässle’s parents transforms into a gripping political thriller.« Frank von Niederhäusern, kulturtipp

»Strässle has turned a remarkable event in the life of his parents into a striking story…« Marc Reichwein, WELT AM SONNTAG

»The story of escape that Strässle has put down on paper … is one that you won’t forget.« Holger Heimann, WDR 3

»If only for the true backstory, Flight Novella should leave no reader cold, it is gripping because it is so brilliantly written.« Cornelia Geißler, Berliner Zeitung