Gym - by Verena Kessler (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

A sweat-slicked, painfully funny novel about obsession, ambition and a woman's doomed attempt to run from herself.

A woman walks into a gym and lies to get a job.

The gym is a palace of possibility. Here she can transform and start a new life, away from emails and presentations and stressful promotions.

And she can finally get her probation officer off her back.

When people start asking questions, she finds herself pushed to her limits again. A little lie can tumble into a big one, and we can never really escape who we are.

But you can get through anything when there's no line you wouldn't cross.

It's just a question of willpower.

About the Author

VERENA KESSLER was born in Hamburg in 1988, and studied at the German Institute for Literature in Leipzig. Her debut novel, Die Gespenster von Demmin (The Ghosts of Demmin), was nominated for numerous prizes including the Aspekte Literature Prize, for the best debut novel in German. Her second novel, Eva (2023), was awarded the Der zweiter Roman Prize. Her work has been translated into French, Polish, Czech, Greek and Bulgarian.