Sharon Dodua Otoo · Novel · S. Fischer, 2026 · German
A journey to the Baltic coast becomes an unsettling encounter with history in Sharon Dodua Otoo’s So, in etwa, ist es geschehen. Amata Haller travels with her employer to Timmendorfer Strand, where her mother marks the anniversary of the sinking of the Cap Arcona, which Amata’s grandfather survived.
As the journey unfolds, family remembrance and the pressures of the present become entangled. Otoo’s compact novel asks readers to attend to competing accounts of what happened—and to the power that shapes which account is heard.
Why we are reading it
Otoo’s writing invites conversations about memory, authority, and the ways large histories enter intimate lives. This new novel belongs on a BGHRA reading list that brings literary imagination into dialogue with the work of remembering.
Find the book
Book details and purchase options at S. Fischer (opens in a new tab)
German edition, 2026. ISBN: 978-3-10-397705-9.
More by Sharon Dodua Otoo
Ada’s Room (opens in a new tab) moves across centuries through the lives of four women named Ada. The English translation is by Jon Cho-Polizzi; the novel is also published in the United Kingdom as Ada’s Realm.
Visit Otoo’s official website (opens in a new tab) to explore her books, including Herr Gröttrup setzt sich hin and Synchronicity.
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