Nelio Biedermann "Lazar"

Everything begins, even the end, when Lajos von Lázár, the blond child with water-blue eyes, is born. His father, the baron, is never quite at ease with his son, as if he senses his secret. With Lajos' birth in the forest castle, the 20th century also begins, which will forever change the old life of the Lázár barons in southern Hungary. The downfall of the Habsburg Empire only touches their traditions at first, but everyone feels the tremors of time, the beautiful Mária as well as the ghostly uncle Imre. When Lajos takes on his inheritance in the 1920s, the old splendor seems to bloom once more. Yet the children Eva and Pista – who loves the dark so much – must witness how totalitarian times cast their heavy shadows and learn to stand against them. A novel like a world, the overwhelming saga of a family, driven by love and the longing for it, in the whirlpools of the 20th century. Captivating and touching, yet full of lightness, full of dreams and secrets, in which the entire tragedy and beauty of existence is reflected. And – whether in the face of historical catastrophes or beautiful summer days – the eternal question of how to live.

Nelio Biedermann, born in 2003, grew up by Lake Zurich. His family on his father's side comes from Hungarian nobility, and his grandparents fled to Switzerland in the 1950s. Biedermann studies German philology and film studies at the University of Zurich.