»Yolkland« is what Kathlen calls her ideal world, where everything has that warm yellow touch. As is so often with wishful thinking: reality looks very different. Kathlen’s world is as brittle and fragile as an eggshell, the carefree time is quickly over. The parents quarrel, do not give the children enough love and attention, divorce follows.
Kathlen is on her own, has to fight her way through and relies on friendships. But by puberty at the latest, the shell breaks completely apart – discovering and acting out sexuality, longing for security, parties, alcohol and drugs instead of school … She zips out aimlessly to feel the world, but life threatens to slip away and overwhelms her: »I don’t know what I’m missing, but something is missing.«
In her debut novel, Karoline Therese Marth tells the story of growing up and coming of age in the noughties in a way that is powerful and raw, yet at the same time gentle and right from the heart of life. Directness meets laconicness, honesty meets ennui, loneliness meets emotional confusion – and the novel goes straight to the heart.
»A remarkable debut novel. As unobtrusive as it is genuine, this coming-of-age story with its laconic tone pretty much captures the emotional turmoil of growing up in the urban and patchwork jungle.« (Trend)
»Karoline Therese Marth plays with collective childhood memories and associations and spins a text structure with linguistic accuracy that leaves plenty of room for subtle humour and nuances. An impressive debut.« (Judith Hoffmann, Ö1)
»An excellent debut novel that addresses the desire for security and love, adolescence and generational differences in an impressive way. I can only warmly recommend this slim book to you. It resonates and developed into a literary highlight after a few pages.« (literaturentochter, Instagram)
»A good debut, atmospheric and authentic with sentences that really thunder in!«
(Melodrama, Instagram)