Sead Husic

Against the Dreams

Flight Migration     Generational novel     Yugoslavia     Guest workers

Mersija fears one thing above all in her life: ending up like her father Ahmed, poor and crazy. In 1969, Mersija therefore gets on a train in her hometown of Brčko and travels to Germany. For the time being, t he new homeland seems to fulfil her promises, until Mersija is also caught up there by the long-forgotten stories, the conflicts and parallels that seem to run through all the generations of her family.
European history passes by in the background: the Second World War leaves deep scars in Ahmed's life, and before Mersija's eyes Tito's Yugoslavia begins to disintegrate, leaving her in nowhere, between worlds, homeless. While she herself remains a stranger in Germany, her son Adem struggles to be recognised as a German. Three generations struggle for happiness, for their lives, for their dreams. A life-smart novel full of poetic reminiscences that weaves the fates of its characters into a dense tapestry of memories, impressions and hopes.

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Cover Against the Dreams

»When she hears for the first time, at the age of barely sixteen, that there is a very simple way to leave the family and this city, namely to go to Germany as a guest worker, she knows that she will go. Because in another place she will not be recognised as the daughter of the man who lived his life wrongly.«

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»A novel of high literary quality that deals with the question of science or faith, among other things. Very inspiring.«
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4,3 out of 5 stars on Amazon