Snail Mill

Jens has turned 14, and this is the last time he will be able to attend the holiday camp "Snail Mill" in Saxony, where he and his friends can play cards, soccer, and table tennis. Sometimes they have to go hiking or to the zoo, or visit Dresden, but mainly they get to stay up until all hours horsing around and talking about girls. Dancing at the camp disco every is out of question though, because Jens is too shy. When he becomes ill after an excursion and has to go to the camp infarmary, however, he encounters Peggy. She asks him to bring her food, since the other campers have been picking on her and she has decided to´hide. When her absence is noticed and the police are called in, the matter escalates . between Jens and Peggy, too. It is the summer of 1989 in East Germany, and great changes are to come, not only for the young campers. This is entertainment at its best!

"So that's how it is: after reading this book you can't help but love Jochen Schmidt with all his lack of ambition, forgetfulness, envy of women's ability to give birth, and multiple layers of meaning." Christoph Bartmann on "My Most Important Bodily Functions" Süddeutsche Zeitung

Jochen Schmidt was born in Berlin in 1970 where he still lives. He presents his work regularly at the weekly literary salon Chaussee der Enthusiasten in Berlin. C.H. Beck has published his story collections Triumphgemüse (2000) and Meine wichtigsten Körperfunktionen (2007), his novels Müller haut uns raus (2002) and Die Wächter von Pankow (2015), as well as Schmythologie (co-authored with Liz Verhoeven, 2013).