„For Polina“ by Takis Würger: Sound of the Heart

„For Polina“ is an ode to love and the power of music, proving that Takis Würger can also be a hopeless romantic.

Hannes Prager’s life is unconventional from the get-go: raised by his single mother, Fritzi, in a mansion in a German swamp, he is a quiet and reclusive boy, with the only people able to reach him his landlord Hildebrand, his mother’s best friend Güneş and her daughter Polina. Hannes is also a musical prodigy, gifted with the ability to translate anybody’s personality into universally understandable music. As a teenager, he falls in love with Polina, but the untimely death of his mother puts and end not only to his musical endeavors, but their relationship as well. Subsequently, Polina disappears to Istanbul to search for her father. After years of working as a piano mover in Hamburg, Hannes eventually wants to find her again—but to do so, he must return to the keyboard and play the piece he once wrote for her…

The world of Takis Würger’s new novel is never explicitly described as magical, yet fate may play the most important role in it—acting as an influential force in the background, with good intentions hidden behind a veil of irony. After four novels about murder and the Holocaust, some of which sparked considerable controversy („Stella: A Novel“, about real-life SS collaborater Stella Goldschlag, was both celebrated and criticized for its subject matter), Würger presents us with a tragic yet hopelessly romantic love story. With its lovable characters and satisfying twists, „Für Polina“ seems tailor-made for a high-profile Hollywood adaptation in the footsteps of John Irving. A gentle genius becoming a global star thanks to YouTube, a piano concerto turning its audience into better people: these may seem like unrealistic dreams to cynical readers—but who among us can’t relate to the appeal of such dreams in times like these?