New young adult novels  Challenges of youth

Several recent young adult novels feature protagonists facing difficult circumstances: dealing with a father suffering from dementia, the divorce of their parents, the familial consequences of East German espionage, or struggling with their gambling addiction.

Author Tobias Wagner, who lives in Halle an der Saale, won the 2025 Peter Härtling Prize with his debut novel Death in Brachstedt. According to the jury, Wagner succeeds in crafting “an emotionally gripping story full of absurd details that builds to a furious climax, only to return to a new kind of normality in which everything has changed, yet the reliable friendship between two teenagers remains a constant.”

The story follows 15-year-old Leo, an introverted boy living alone with his father, who is increasingly affected by dementia. One morning, Leo finds his father missing and grows worried. Soon, Aunt Lisa calls to say the father is with her and will be staying for a while. Leo now has the house to himself - and it’s the Easter holidays. His friend Henri, a “confident repeater, motivator and wannabe filmmaker,” quickly comes up with a plan: he announces a party and film premiere to friends and classmates. The only problem? The film hasn’t been made yet. What follows are thrilling days of filming in the run-down hotel owned by Henri’s Bosnian uncle, with the entire small town becoming the backdrop for their planned horror movie.  

My father, the spy

The 2025 Buxtehude Bull youth literature prize was awarded to Maja Nielsen for her book Der Tunnelbauer (The tunnel builder, 2024), which tells the story of a man who helped people escape from East Germany. Nielsen is known for tackling historical subjects, and her latest young adult novel Das falsche Leben (The wrong life) is again based on a true historical case.

Set in 1979, the story centres on 16-year-old Thomas, who lives in Hanover with his parents and slightly older brother Micha. His mother runs the household while his father works for Preussag. Everything seems like a typical, orderly life in West Germany. But one day, the father comes home early and the family must immediately travel to visit their dying grandfather in East Germany. The boys don’t yet realise this is a one-way trip. Once in the East, their father reveals he was a spy for the GDR and has been exposed. A new life begins—one that feels especially wrong to the sons. Micha cannot forgive his father’s lies and betrayal and refuses to cooperate with the East German authorities. Thomas, on the other hand, tries to adapt to his new reality. Even the father soon becomes disillusioned with the surveillance and restrictions of life in the GDR. When he applies for the family’s exit visa, they come under scrutiny from the Stasi. “This dramatic contrast … creates a vivid picture of the historical East-West German relations,” writes Eva-Christina Meier in taz.  

Escape from psychiatry

Journalist and author Martin Schäuble explores the topic of gaming addiction in his latest book Heldentage (Heroes' days). The 15-year-old protagonist Nilo is a gamer who spends all day glued to his mobile phone. After a heated argument with his single mother, during which he threatens her with a knife, Nilo ends up in a psychiatric clinic. There, he meets fellow gaming addict Faris and the fascinating, mysterious Mayla.

When the three escape from the clinic, they must navigate the analogue world - without their mobile phones. What follows is a gripping road trip, told in short sentences and at a fast pace. Schäuble avoids moralizing, and Heldentage is not a blanket critique of the younger generation. “As Nilo rightly observes: everyone has their own coping strategies. After the fight with his mother, he frantically searches for his old Nintendo, while she pours herself a large glass of white wine and switches on Netflix,” writes Anna Nowaczyk in the FAZ.  

Above the rooftops of Berlin

Salah Naoura is one of Germany’s most prolific authors of children’s and young adult literature. In his latest book Der Junge, der auf ein Haus stieg (The boy who climbed onto a house), 13-year-old Viktor has locked himself out and sits on the roof of a high-rise building, gazing over Berlin. He has plenty of time to think and looks back on his young life.

Viktor is a rather anxious boy. His father, by contrast, loves danger and is always chasing the next thrill, be it bungee jumping, climbing, or wingsuit flying. The family moved from Berlin to Switzerland when Viktor was still in primary school. After a near-disaster during a holiday, Viktor’s mother files for divorce and moves back to Berlin with her nine-year-old son. In the years that follow, Viktor has little contact with his father - until he suddenly reappears in Berlin. Naoura lets Viktor narrate from a reflective first-person perspective, revealing his story layer by layer. Over the course of one night, Viktor develops a critical understanding of both parents and ultimately becomes ready to find his own way. Der Junge, der auf ein Haus stieg is “a charming book with a likeable main character - and above all, written with great sensitivity,” says Ulf Cronenberg on Jugendbuchtipps.de.  

November 2025