Sold to Denmark: AT SEA by Theresia Enzensberger

The fabulous Danish press Forlaget etcetera has just acquired rights to Theresia Enzensberger’s second novel AT SEA which was nominated for the German Book Award 2022 and on the SPIEGEL bestseller list! Based on the true attempt to build such an artifical island off the French Polynesian coast, AT SEA tells the story of Yada who is growing up on a floating island off the German coast, built as a refuge from society’s collapse. In this smart, gripping and visionary novel, Theresia Enzensberger examines the utopian promise of new communities and happiness when loss and destruction loom.

Yada lives on a man-made island in the Baltic Sea. It is the brainchild of her father, a libertarian tech entrepreneur who had created a haven from the spiralling chaos in the outside world. Since it was first set up years ago, the island’s lustre has worn off. Algae and moss flourish on its once gleaming surfaces. Yada’s father fears that his daughter might share the fate of her mother, who suffered from a mysterious illness before her death. And one day, Yada makes a discovery that rocks the foundations of her world. In a slick, radically contemporary style, At Sea questions whether we want to live in a world defined by fear of the future.

• Nominated for the German Book Award 2022
• a SPIEGEL bestseller
• a NDR Book of the Month
• rights sold to Denmark (etcetera)

“The best journey forward in time I have ever been on.”
– Margarete Stokowski

“Theresia Enzensberger’s new novel is a brilliant vision of the future, as entertaining as it is cleverly constructed.”
– Corinne Orlowski, WDR3 Lesestoff

“A complex novel that poses many questions, the greatest of which is: How can we imagine the future? Do we have one in the first place? It moves nimbly and is a quick read besides, largely because Enzensberger strikes a direct, simple, at times matter-of-fact tone, standing by her characters unequivocally. A work of art.”
– Katja Weise, NDR Kulturjournal / NDR Book of the Month

“Perfect for people who want to be entertained while fighting their fear of the future.”
– Cora Wucher, Fluter

“Full of surprising twists and with a critical eye towards the promise of salvation, this novel offers up plenty of material for conversation.”
– Sylvia Treudl, Buchkultur

”An entertaining and informatively documentary novel that explores the notion of ways of living freely and in solidarity, as well how Neoliberalism can pervert them on a number of levels. But first and foremost, ‘At See’ is the novel of a clever writer who sees history and fiction equally as opportunities not to resign ourselves to our circumstances.”
– Christoph Schröder, SWR2 Lesenswert Magazin

“Enzensberger’s world is highly original in its interweaving of elements.”
– Marlen Hobrack, taz am Wochenende

Rights to the photo image are with (c) Carl Hanser Verlag München.