You Lucky Eyes

“Sometimes I stop in front of the mirror and search my features for all the places I’ve been. What would I look like without them?”

A prodigious, touching exploration and self-portrait by a writer who, whenever she writes about herself, writes about her readers too.
Elke Heidenreich is well travelled. She’s been to Florence and China, Berlin and America – and wherever she goes, she takes a close look. The beaten track, tourist sights, and what’s written in travel guides are not for her. No, Elke Heidenreich has blazed her own trail and made discoveries unique to her. Most of all, she only ever falls in love with places that offer her something new: a special street, a special dish or even once a dog who messed up her stay in Florence. Everywhere she’s been, she’s felt insatiably curious about the people living in foreign cities and countries.


“A fine, warm-hearted storyteller.”
Felicitas von Loveberg, F.A.Z.

“Direct, warts-and-all, not mincing her words – that’s the Elke Heidenreich we know and love, and that’s the way she writes, too.”
Annemarie Stoltenberg, NDR Kultur

“Punchy, ingenious and very witty.”
3SAT KULTURZEIT

“It’s fun to read her, even several times over.”
Daniella Baumeister, HR

“All the things she notices! You never stop being amazed.”
Alfons Kaiser, F.A.Z.