Kintsugi

Kintsugi [金継ぎ] is the art of putting something broken back together with gold.

Max and Reik have been a couple of twenty years, and for twenty years they’ve been envied. For their harmony, their special bond, how perfectly they complement one another. No one quite understands why they want to celebrate this anniversary hidden away at their weekend home. They’ve only invited their oldest friend Tonio and his daughter Pega, who is as old as Max and Reik’s relationship. The lake is tranquil, still half under ice, the ground is hard with frost and sometimes a crane flies over the water. But it soon becomes clear that this weekend will be different. That the truth is a vague thing and difficult to grasp. Because while archaeologist Max is counting his grey hairs and beginning to wonder what else he can expect from life, Reik, a celebrated artist, increasingly has the feeling that with all his pictures and sculptures he has brought nothing into the world but images. He longs for a child. Tonio, on the other hand, is settling for a new beginning the other three do not yet know about, and Pega – yes, what’s going on with Pega? Kintsugi is a flickering and sensitive novel about the sons of mothers and the daughters of fathers.