Time Out

How do you find your way out of a life you never wanted?

“I’m not old, I still have time. All I need is air, air and distance to sort things out, and I can do that now. The further I walk, the more clearly I can see.”

Henriette and Paula have retreated to a holiday cottage deep in the forest. Henriette is mourning her unborn child. As the shadows outside grow longer and the days shorter, a friend brings unexpected disaster. Seductively and with painful precision, Hannah Lühmann dissects the dreams and fears of a thirty-something generation that seems to have everything, yet whose happiness constantly eludes them.


“Hannah Lühmann has written a quiet novel with an echo that resonates for a long time.”
- Mona Ameziane, WDR 1LIVE Stories

“In her novel debut Time Out, Hannah Lühmann tells a story of female friendship and treading water. (...) With precise observation, she lends her characters an inner life full of the depths of human emotion. As a result, the characters don’t always seem likeable but are very authentic. A no-frills, intensely atmospheric novel.”
- Ulrike Borowczyk, Berliner Morgenpost

“The special appeal of Hannah Lühmann’s debut novel is the almost mesmerising voice with which she tells the story of an injury that carries huge consequences. (...) Time Out by Hannah Lühmann, published by Hanserblau, is an intensely atmospheric, finely woven three-act text about the essence of friendship and the inevitability of injury and getting hurt.”
- Sabine Zaplin, BR24 „Neues vom Buchmarkt”

“Above all, the lack of answers to the great questions of life illustrates an inner emptiness in this story: What is the meaning of life and do I really have to find and shape it myself? What longing can or may I give in to, and why is it so difficult to take responsibility for one’s own life?”
- Birgit Hoch, Die Rheinpfalz