Reading series «Das andere Buch an der Uni»
- Urs Augstburger and Monika Schärer read from «Als der Regen kam»
- Library of the University of St. Gallen, under the cuppola
- Thursday, 16 Mai 2013, 7:30 pm
- Free entry. Reading in German
About the book
There is a state of emergency in the tranquil town: it is the time of the youth festival. Garlands are being woven everywhere, flowers are being arranged, final preparations are being made. Everything is inspired by rituals, dances and songs. The exchange of oak leaf and pomegranate blossom is a promise which in the summer of 1956, when Mauro’s mother, Helen, participated in it, was still tantamount to an engagement. Yet Mauro knows nothing of this and the secret associated with it. He has returned to the town of his youth in order to look after his mother.
Helen is suffering from Alzheimer’s. But on the day of the youth festival, she suddenly breaks out of her isolation. She dances across an abandoned dance floor with an invisible lover. Mauro is beginning to suspect that there was someone in his mother’s life whom he knows nothing about. Only gradually does he begin to understand that there is more behind her incoherent words, and he decides to uncover the secret.
About the authors
Urs Augstburger, born in Brugg in 1965, works for Swiss Television, where he is responsible for co-productions in the field of documentaries. To date, he has published the novels "Für immer ist morgen", "Chrom", "Gatto Dileo" and the mountain trilogy "Schattwand, Graatzug and Wässerwasser". The author lives in Ennetbaden with his wife and two children.
The culture and travel moderator Monika Schärer lives in Zurich and has worked for radio and television since 1989. In April 2011, she took over TOPICFILM, one of Switzerland’s oldest film production firms, in the fourth generation, together with her husband Christian Rösch.