Das Leben Das Wir Kannten | Helena Faye

Luisa and Tommy meet at a music festival — two young idealists swept up in Germany’s leftist, anti-fascist scene. They attend demonstrations, believe in solidarity, and try to make a difference in a country that’s sliding further toward the political right. But when the 2025 election brings a far-right party into power, their ideals are tested in the most brutal way imaginable.

Suddenly, women are no longer allowed to work. Dress codes are enforced. People with foreign backgrounds lose their rights — even those with German passports. The state grows darker by the day. When Luisa and Tommy’s home is raided for “radical” material, they grab their two young children and flee. What follows is a desperate journey through a broken country, their battered VW camper van carrying the last traces of freedom they have left. Just as they’re about to escape into Denmark and safety, the authorities close in — and Tommy makes the ultimate sacrifice to protect his family.

Helena Faye’s Das Leben, das wir kannten is a horrifyingly plausible dystopia — not one of the distant future, but one that could unfold just down the road from where we stand. Set only a few years ahead, it hits uncomfortably close to home. The far-right has already been the second biggest political force in Germany for over a year, and the novel feels less like fiction and more like a stark warning.

This book made me feel angry, sad, and deeply uneasy — because it’s not that far-fetched. Faye captures the fragility of democracy and the quiet terror of watching freedom disappear piece by piece. It’s a cold, distressing, and necessary read — a mirror held up to the world we’re living in, and a reminder of what’s at stake if we look away.