MAX RICHARD LESSMANN

"Sylter Welle" is the first novel by author, singer and Instagram phenomenon Max Richard Leßmann. An achingly beautiful declaration of love to a generation threatened with extinction: the grandparents.

Max spent every summer of his childhood and youth with his idiosyncratic grandparents on Sylt. Not in posh Westerland, but on the campsite. Now Grandma Lore and Grandpa Ludwig are going to the island one last time and invite him to visit them for three days. And everything is just as it always is. Except not at all. The Nordic low front Grandma Lore, the godfather of the family, is her usual cool self. When she shows her love, it is exclusively in the excessive fattening of her family members. The amiable Grandpa Ludwig takes things in his unique humour. But something is not right with him. Grandma Lore, of course, doesn't want to know about it. But the Sylt breeze will soften her too for a very brief moment.

Would we also love our family members if they were not related to us? Max stays on the trail of this question. And he does so until one day Sylt sinks into the sea.