Reading Group
Elly, by Maike Wetzel

New German Fiction Reading Group

Tue, 11/15/2022
6:00 PM Goethe-Institut

Join the Goethe-Institut Chicago this fall for a monthly in-person reading group focused on contemporary German-language novels that are newly available in English translation!  

This reading group is free and open to all, and discussions will be held in English. 

Register here

Elly, by Maike Wetzel, 2018
Translated by Lyn Marven


Eleven-year-old Elly is missing. After an extensive police search fails to find her, she is presumed dead, and her family must learn to live with a gaping hole in their lives. Then, four years later, she reappears on a Danish beach. But Elly seems like a completely different person, and soon her parents and sister are plagued by doubts. Is this stranger really the same little girl who went missing? And if not, who is she?

Elly is a gripping tale of grief, longing, and doubt, and a literary novel with all the page-turning qualities of a thriller.

Maike Wetzel was born in 1974, attended film school in Munich and the UK, and lives in Berlin, where she writes fiction and screenplays. Her debut novel Elly won the Robert Gernhardt Prize and the Martha Saalfeld Prize. Her short stories have been translated into numerous languages and received multiple awards.


We encourage you to order this book through your local bookstore.

The book can also be ordered through Amazon:

Amazon.com: Elly: 9781950354191: Wetzel, Maike, Marven, Lyn: Books