Long Fiction

Former Hopeful

In a sentence: When an East German star student, primed to become an ideal comrade, defies the regime, her future unravels – first through the authorities’ retaliation, and then in the dangerous company she keeps amid the chaos after the Berlin Wall’s fall.

In a few more: It’s the late 1980s in a communist model city in East Germany, and 14-year-old Nina Martell is on track to become the ideal young comrade: top of her school and a rising star in athletics. But the pressure to conform sparks a rebellious impulse.

First, she finds solace in the music of The Cure and dreams of going to England, but when she refuses a mandatory loyalty pledge to the Soviet Union, she is swiftly punished by the authorities. Barred from competitions and ostracized by her peers, Nina finds true friendship and first love among fellow teen outsiders.

Her defiance threatens her future, until the Berlin Wall unexpectedly falls, unleashing new hope and chaos in equal measure. As the economy collapses, Nina’s single mother loses her job. And when her friends drift into skinhead extremism, she is swept into a world of violence and fear.

In this reunified Germany that no longer dictates who she must become, will she find the courage to decide for herself and shape a future of her own?