When Eugen Ruge received the German Book Prize for his debut novel in 2011, he had already found success in another genre. Since 1990, his plays have been performed on more than fifty German stages and have received numerous awards. They reveal the prose author’s style, being both formally sophisticated and easily readable, with a comedic touch—despite often revolving around losers and the lost: Two longing individuals become hopelessly lost in a supermarket-like world; an unemployed former leftist tries violently to transform into a successful person; a divorced family becomes ensnared in silence; three enthusiasts of progress set out for the North Pole in 1897 with a tethered balloon. "But Ruge does not pretend: This is how it was. He sketches a scenario in which the question constantly lingers: Could it have been this way?" - and once again opens the Böhme case.