Annika Scheffel Alle Farben von Licht
[All Colors of Light]

'Watch out!' he shouts, 'Stop! Please!’ But Mavis keeps walking, she doesn’t hear him. Then comes a crash. She falls. He can see her falling, but he can’t catch her. He never manages to get hold of her. His twin sister is made of glass and shatters into countless tiny shards.” On their birthday, Mavis had crashed through the dilapidated roof of an abandoned factory and died. Her brother Rio misses her, her parents miss her and yet everybody is stuck alone in their grief. Rio makes up his mind not to be a burden to anybody, “After all, life goes on”. His friends want to help him, distract him, but no matter how much Rio tries to repress his grief: nothing helps. He continues to be plagued by fears and guilt, and is unable to eat. He also can’t sleep for fear of his recurring nightmares and for fear of wetting his bed again which is painfully embarrassing.

Rio discovers a camera in Mavis’ room that contains a roll of undeveloped film. He decides to visit the places and people that he sees in the pictures. The search for clues leads Rio to unusual people and places – to a ghost train in the basement of a shopping center, a tattoo studio, a houseboat. Rio discovers sides of Mavis that he had never known before. The journey into the past is exhausting, but also beautiful.

Beautiful because he is accompanied on his search by “Dracula” – the skinny boy from the apartment in the back courtyard, who Rio files away in his mind as “Freak.” But after reluctantly taking “Dracula” aka Franz with him, Rio realizes what a wonderful person he is. He is empathetic, can listen and can also be silent at the right times. First they become friends, then they fall in love. At last Rio’s life brightens again. Rio discovers that Franz not only knew Mavis, he also had shown her the dilapidated factory. This torments him. What else has Franz kept silent about? Is Franz to blame for Mavis‘ death? What does he actually want from him? Rio feels lied to, betrayed and used. Shortly thereafter, Rio collapses from exhaustion and falls into a coma. After a few days, he fights his way back to life: cared for by his parents, friends, a psychologist, and his neighbors. At last, Rio is getting the care he needs.

And Franz? Rio’s kindergarden friend Flip knows how much Rio misses his friend, despite everything that has occurred and arranges a conversation so that Franz can explain what really had happened: he had not shown Mavis the factory; she already knew about it because she was following a cat from the back courtyard, who used to roam there. Most likely Mavis had fallen through the roof trying to take a photo of it.

“All Colors of Light” is a dense novel about grief and loss, loneliness, support, affection and solace. It is a coming-of-age novel, a love story, a novel about grief and memory and it is deeply moving and credible. Because the story is set in Berlin, the book also describes en passant life in the big city, its residents and the very special atmosphere of the city in the summer. It is not least this “summer-in-the-city feeling” that lends the novel a great deal of lightness, despite the heavy subject matter. The story takes its time, which mirrors Rio’s grieving process and the slow process of how he works his way out of the dark, deep hole of mourning. The interweaving of grief and first love does not overburden the text, but rather testifies to a well-composed dramaturgy and adds emotional density.

The book is reminiscent of novels by the American author John Green, who can sometimes be rather pathetic and kitschy, while Annika Scheffel remains truthful and authentic: the language she uses for emotions such as sadness, fear, guilt, shame, falling in love, intimacy and friendship is modern, intense, empathetic and nimble. She also treats her characters with great care; sticking close to them, especially Rio with his constantly circular thoughts; imagined conversations with Mavis, his grief, anxiety, desires, conflictedness, his doubts and guilt. She also makes us want to give him a hug, comfort him. Franz and Rio’s other friends are layered and appealing. Annika Scheffel masters a variety of voices, drawing each of her characters as individuals. The dialog, including the chats, are also genuine and true to life, never stilted or pandering.

“All Colors of Light” is Annika Scheffel’s first novel written for young people. Her earlier works include novels and plays for children and adults (published by Suhrkamp among others). In her “Solupp” children’s book series (Thienemann-Esslinger), she combines Astrid Lindgren’s Bullerby with adventure and a touch of surreal mystery. “All Colors of Light” was funded by the German Literature Fund and received very positive reviews in Germany’s arts and entertainment section of the newspaper.