Alex. A Book. Live at Posthof: Eva Menasse

After the end of her marriage, a woman suddenly finds herself alone with her weekend house. Here, she once sought idyllic moments with her family and now wants to embark on a new beginning. Alex Stelzer presents Eva Menasse and her new novel "Alone in Peaceful Isolation."

The necessary help has seemingly fallen from the sky: Alla and Bolek from Poland, two chain smokers who can do everything. The renovations and setbacks, the burst water pipes, and the malice of the neighboring allotment gardeners evoke many memories and new insights - and the narrator may perceive some of the pitfalls of German-German history more acutely as a Viennese in double exile. She then decides to sell the beloved house in order to break out and start anew from her "stable peaceful isolation."

Eva Menasse has written a multifaceted novel about the interim balance of a life, a witty reflection on foreignness and home - and on saying goodbye.

Eva Menasse, born in Vienna, has lived in Berlin for over 25 years. Following her debut "Vienna" (2005), she published novels and stories ("Lesser Sins of Death," "Quasikristalle," "Animals for Advanced Learners") that have received numerous awards and translations. Her bestseller novel "Dunkelblum" has been translated into ten languages. Most recently, she published the essay "Saying Everything and Nothing. On the State of Debate in Digital Modernity" (2023). In 2025, she was awarded the Honorary Prize of the Austrian Book Trade for Tolerance in Thought and Action.

Eva Menasse, Alone in Peaceful Isolation, Kiepenheuer & Witsch, 2026 (Release Date: August 13, 2026)