“I like what I see. The floor-to-ceiling wooden shelves that line the walls. The two brick columns that support the vaulted ceiling.” This is how first-person narrator Erik describes the bookstore that he has just taken over on page 15. Author Petra Johann looked for the right inspiration for the setting of her thriller “The Book Dealer” in the district of Ebersberg, namely in Hedwig Wobken’s bookshop in Kirchseeon.
When the phone rang in 2019, there was goose bumps specialist Johann on the other end of the line, who was still living in Grafing at the time and wanted to collect background information for her new book. As a mathematician with a doctorate, authenticity is extremely important to her, she said in an interview with the Süddeutsche Zeitung at the time, which is why she is always looking for dialogue partners from the respective profession.
“She did a pretty good job with the ambience,” laughs Wobken. The atmosphere of a bookshop in a small Bavarian town is also well captured in the novel, because “for many of my large and especially small customers, this is the most beautiful place in all of Kirchseeon,” she adds. But that’s where the similarities between reality and fiction end, especially, of course, as far as the details of the plot are concerned.
The place in the novel seems idyllic – at least at first glance
At the center of the story is a man in his mid-thirties who, after a personal drama and a failed relationship, turns his life upside down, also changing his place of residence and work. His bookshop is doing well and soon he’s a member of the local volleyball club, along with most of the residents of a suburban settlement. They become friends, but it quickly becomes apparent that even in this apparent idyll, family relationships are not completely free of tension.
There is the pedagogue, the aging surf instructor type, who has separated from his perfectly styled wife, who never misses an opportunity for small or large spitefulness and who also likes to accuse her ex of neglecting their daughter. The tax officer who lives next door and her IT husband, on the other hand, have problems with their 16-year-old teenage daughter. The only one – apart from the taciturn brother who has suffered a stroke of fate – who seems to have everything right is a carpenter and CSU city councilor, who is well liked by everyone, with a pubescent son and a “fairy-like” wife and daughter.
But when one of the children is no longer there one morning, many a façade collapses and ugly truths come to light. This also applies to the bookseller, who is now not only being targeted by the investigating commissioners …
At the beginning of the research, the fate of the character was still completely unclear
The figure, for which Wobken from Kirchseeon provided the basic framework, is by no means undisputed. But for the bookseller that’s perfectly fine: “I still remember exactly how Ms. Johann said during our conversation that she was still at the very beginning and therefore could not say at this point how she would immortalize the bookseller – whether as a murderer or murdered.” Nevertheless, one feels very flattered to have been there during the development process, especially since Johann’s story is very coherent overall and has “some caliber”. And there is another point that Hedwig Wobken emphasizes: “It’s also crazy how she describes the many people, so that you have a good idea of the types.”
Author Petra Johann found inspiration for this thriller in a shop in Kirchseeon.
(Photo: Verlag Rütten und Loening/oh)
You can only agree with her, because the extremely extensive cast of this thriller, which is fascinating from the first page, not only includes the residents of the fictional town of Neukirchen with 10,000 souls, but also those who are supposed to clear up the case. Three women in particular stand out: a chief inspector who only wanted to do desk duty at her own request and was even taken away from a funeral service for the investigation. Her colleague who, due to her own bullying experiences in her youth, knows exactly what people can do to other people. And a dog handler who may seem shrill and over the top at first glance, but has a lot on the box.
Conclusion: a page turner that is absolutely worth reading
How these three women do everything they can to find the child and clear up the case, while not remaining personally uninvolved, is great cinema and well worth reading until the surprising finale. Hedwig Wobken fully agrees with this.
But what about that one question in one of the very first scenes of the novel? A curious ten-year-old wants to know from the bookseller shortly after taking over the business: “How many books are in this shop?” Could the owner of the Kirchseeon bookstore answer that right away? “Meanwhile yes,” smiles Wobken, who will soon be celebrating her five-year anniversary in her shop. Next to “What’s the book with the most pages?” this is one of the typical children’s questions. Of course, one only knows the exact number of books after an inventory. And how many are there? “About 3200,” replies the bookseller. Most of the sites would have a dictionary and the Bible, by the way.
Petra Johann: “The bookseller.” Rütten & Loening, Berlin 2022. 431 pages, 16.99 euros.