Mariann Bühler "Shift in the Rock"

**Displacement in the Rock**

For a long time, the sign "Closed until further notice" hung outside, until Elisabeth made the decision to continue the bakery. Alone. Every morning, she stirs the dough, pushes the loaves into the oven – and surprises the whole village and herself in the process. In the same area as Alois’ farm. A farm that has been in the family for generations; Alois was not asked if he wanted to take it over. He lives with his dog, ignoring the expectation to start a family – but something is tightening up. Perhaps it has to do with Camenzind. Meanwhile, a young woman returns to the village; the three steps to the bakery seem to come naturally. She picks up the key to the summer house from her grandparents, which is to be sold. She sees everything again: the mountain ridge, the valley, the balcony with the drawbridge. Soon, it seems to her, the house begins to speak to her.

The novel follows three characters who know nothing of each other yet are connected – through the area, the village, and the pressing question of how to move forward. Persistently, extensive traces of the past have settled within them, but then something begins to shift. In her linguistically rich debut, Mariann Bühler observes how change seeks its path and displacements occur that were never intended, sometimes even moving mountains.

**Mariann Bühler**

Mariann Bühler, born in 1982 near Lucerne, studied English literature and linguistics, Islamic studies, and gender studies in Basel and Berlin. She lives as an author, literary mediator, and event organizer in Basel. *Displacement in the Rock* is her debut novel; it was nominated for the Swiss Book Prize 2024.