Schwebebahnen

Reading with Hanns-Josef Ortheil

Writing his way into life: Hanns-Josef Ortheil presents his major new novel about a childhood in the post-war years, "Mit Schwebebahnen". At the end of the 1950s, six-year-old Josef moves with his parents from Cologne to Wuppertal into a house full of railroad families. He is an intro-
introverted loner who would prefer to just play the piano. He had to drop out of school in Cologne, but in his new home he makes a second attempt. When he meets Mücke, the daughter of the greengrocer across the street, a friendship develops between the two children that helps him overcome his inhibitions. Gradually, he also opens up to other people, such as the fathers of the Order of the Cross, who teach him to read aloud and sing, or a youth coach who teaches him cross-country skiing. But it was writing stories about suspension railroad rides along the Wupper, expeditions to the zoo or adventurous fights with gangs of youths in a nearby wooded area that gave him the most support. Hanns-
Josef Ortheil's oeuvre now comprises more than seventy published books. He lives in Stuttgart.