Better well-aged than arrived too early: Jürgen von der Lippe's debut novel. Recently, my wife said to me, "Why don't you finally write something with substance? I would love to read a profound, multi-layered narrative from you, a panorama of characters, a clever mix of action and reflection, social criticism and psychological depth, perhaps even a cleverly integrated crime plot, and if you like, seasoned with a bit of tastefully described sex, go ahead, you can do it!" So I sat down at my notebook and wrote: "I want to tell you a rather incredible story. I know, this is not a happy beginning for a book that should grab its readers in a headlock from the very first sentence and not let them go until the last word.".