First published in East Germany in 1982 and in West Germany four years later, this collection of short prose firmly established Gabriele Eckart in German literary circles (her poetry had earlier won the critics' praise). Eckart's stories offer a panorama of East German life: sharply drawn vignettes in which "the familiar, the all-too-familiar, takes place alongside the surprising and the bizarre. . . . Authentic sketches with delicate strokes, concise, to the point."—(Aschaffenburg) Main-Echo.

Although East Germany disappeared from the map in 1990, the experiences of the people who endured, evaded, challenged, and thwarted the socialist regime will long affect a reunified Germany. These stories are powerful and moving reminders of what conditions were like not so long ago.