Catch of the Day Ep. 11: »What Truly Matters« by Nadine Schneider read by Alexandra Roesch

In this episode, translator Alexandra Roesch reads an English sample of Nadine Schneider’s »What Truly Matters«.

»What Truly Matters« is a sweeping mother-daughter story spanning four generations, a book about farewells, new beginnings, and the work of life.

It is late summer, and the grapes are ripe in the garden when Christina inherits her grandmother Anni's house. Here, in a small village near Nuremberg, she grew up with Anni: Anni, who fled Romania for Germany in the mid-1960s. Anni, who raised her child and grandchild all by herself, packing boxes for a mail-order giant to survive in a booming post-war economy. Who fought loneliness, poverty, and alienation with tenacity, strength, and a sense of duty. Was this the life she had dreamed of? Or did she miss out on life while living it?

Christina hesitantly says goodbye to Anni and her house. In the quiet warmth of the last days of summer, she sinks deeper and deeper into her memories, comes across surprising finds, and also drives to the now abandoned site of the Quelle mail order center. She has cancelled her planned vacation, and only occasional emails from work reach her. Gradually, she realizes what she really owes her grandmother: the freedom to let go and find the place where the good life is at home.

“This language achieves something: it tells a story that is breathless and yet full of tranquility.” - Zsuzsa Bánk

Nadine Schneider, born in Nuremberg in 1990, comes from a Romanian-German family. She studied musicology and German language and literature in Regensburg, Cremona, and Berlin. Her first novel, "Drei Kilometer", won several awards, including the Literature Prize of the City of Fulda. In 2021, she read at the Ingeborg Bachmann Prize. Her second novel, "Wohin ich immer gehe", was published in the same year. Nadine Schneider lives with her family near Nuremberg.

Head to our website to find a pdf of today’s sample here.

Send feedback and rights inquiries to ⁠foreignrights@fischerverlage.de⁠, or visit our ⁠website⁠ to find the right contact within our team for your territory.

Follow us on Instagram ⁠@s.fischer.foreignrights⁠.

Browse our latest rights guides and our online rights catalogue ⁠here⁠.

Subscribe to »Catch of the Day« on your preferred podcast app so you never miss an episode!

Credits

Text originally published as “What Truly Matters” by Nadine Schneider

Translated and read by Alexandra Roesch

Copyright © S. Fischer Verlag GmbH, Frankfurt am Main 2025

Photo of the author © Max Gödecke

Concept: Verena von Bassewitz, Martin Butz & Elisa Diallo

Production, Editing & Sound Design: Martin Butz

⁠Impressum

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Catch of the Day Ep. 10: »The House Sitter« by Emily Rudolf, read by Alexandra Roesch

In this episode, translator Alexandra Roesch reads an English sample of Emily Rudolf’s thriller »The House Sitter«.

Cecilia works as a house sitter, moving from job to job. After the death of her mother, she has lost her footing and can no longer even afford a room in a shared apartment. Now she finds herself dropped off at the villa of the influential Waldner family, isolated on a tiny island in the Baltic Sea. The perfect idyll - the perfect trap. Because Cecilia is not here by chance: a powerful attraction connects her to Johannes Waldner, the son of the deceased owner. While Cecilia still thinks she is alone in the house, four people make their way to the island. With dark secrets and their own agendas. But would they kill for it?

Emily Rudolf is a SPIEGEL bestselling author and a leading voice in German psychological thrillers. In her thrillers, she explores how human emotions can escalate to deadly levels. With fascinating settings, sophisticated plots and psychologically balanced characters, she captivates German and international readers alike. Born in 1998, the author grew up near Leipzig, published her first books while studying and working, and then turned her passion into her profession. Emily Rudolf currently lives and writes in Nuremberg.

Emily Rudolf’s thrillers have already been sold into Croatian (Fraktura), French (Lattès/ Le masque), Italian (Newton Compton Editori) and Norwegian (Cappelen Damm).

Links & Contact:

• Head to our website to find a pdf of today’s sample here.
• Send feedback and rights inquiries to ⁠foreignrights@fischerverlage.de⁠, or visit our website⁠ to find the right contact within our team for your territory.
• Follow us on Instagram ⁠@s.fischer.foreignrights⁠.
• Browse our latest rights guides and our online rights catalogue ⁠here⁠.
• Subscribe to »Catch of the Day« on your preferred podcast app so you never miss an episode!

Credits

Text originally published as “Die Housesitterin – Ein Traum von einem Job. Oder?” by Emily Rudolf

Translated and read by Alexandra Roesch

Copyright © S. Fischer Verlag GmbH, Frankfurt am Main 2026

Photo of the author © Gaby Gerster

Concept: Verena von Bassewitz, Martin Butz & Elisa Diallo

Production, Editing & Sound Design: Martin Butz

⁠Impressum

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Catch of the Day Ep. 9: »I'd Like to Go Back in Time« by Judith Hermann read by Katy Derbyshire

In this episode, translator Katy Derbyshire reads her English sample of Judith Hermann’s »I'd Like to Go Back in Time«.

To which places have the memories retreated?

Judith Hermann follows the traces of her grandfather, who was stationed in Radom, Poland, during the war. She thinks about what effect the little knowledge and the speechlessness in the family had - and what influence it also had on her writing. From Poland, she travels to her sister in Naples and pursues remembering and forgetting in subsequent generations. In intermediate and undertones, Judith Hermann tracks down the voids and damages of every life, but brings us a little closer to the beauty hidden therein with her magical and magnetic stories.

Praise for Judith Hermann:

“Judith Hermann's books are unflinching explorations of human conditions." — Neue Zürcher Zeitung on Home

“A master storyteller.” — The Independent, London on Summerhouse, Later

“In the ‘Nobel Prize League’” — Frankfurter Rundschau on We'd Have Told Each Other Everything

Judith Hermann was born in Berlin in 1970. Her debut story collection Summerhouse, Later (1998) was extremely well received. It was then followed in 2003 by the story collection Nothing But Ghosts, and several of the stories contained in the latter were adapted for film in 2007. In 2009, she published Alice, five short stories that received international acclaim. Her first novel, Where Love Beginns, came out in 2014. It was followed in 2016 by the short story collection Lettipark, which was awarded the Danish Blixen Prize for Short Stories. Hermann has received numerous awards for her work, including the Kleist Prize and the Friedrich Hölderlin Prize. Her novel Home was published in spring 2021. It was nominated for the Leipzig Book Fair Prize and received the Bremen Literature Prize in 2022. Most recently, S. Fischer published We'd Have Told Each Other Everything, based on the Frankfurt poetry lectures given by Judith Hermann in spring 2022. The author received the Wilhelm Raabe Literature Prize for this work. Judith Hermann lives and writes in Berlin.

Head to our website to find a pdf of today’s sample here.

Send feedback and rights inquiries to ⁠foreignrights@fischerverlage.de⁠, or visit our ⁠website⁠ to find the right contact within our team for your territory.

Follow us on Instagram ⁠@s.fischer.foreignrights⁠.

Browse our latest rights guides and our online rights catalogue ⁠here⁠.

Subscribe to »Catch of the Day« on your preferred podcast app to not miss the next episode!

Credits

Text originally published as “Ich möchte zurückgehen in der Zeit” by Judith Hermann

Translated and read by Katy Derbyshire

Copyright © S. Fischer Verlag GmbH, Frankfurt am Main 2026

Photo of the author © Andreas Reiberg

Concept: Verena von Bassewitz, Martin Butz & Elisa Diallo

Production, Editing & Sound Design: Martin Butz

⁠Impressum

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.