IT HAD TO BE THIS WAY

  • Wild, witty, and audacious - a young woman in the depths of the night, searching for herself.
  • Svenja Liesau’s sparkling, fast-paced debut novel. A linguistic firework.

She didn't know her father well; the family broke up early. Nevertheless, his unexpected death is a blow to Martina, mid-thirties, who is drifting unemployed through an unsteady Berlin life. So, she approaches the situation in her preferred way: making the seriousness of life a little nicer during long, boozy nights - or is she confronting it precisely this way?

In the corner pub, she encounters heroes of the night and philosophers, finding a supportive family, a home. How did everything actually go so wrong? With her father, her messed-up family? With herself? Others aren't faring any better, neither Eckhard, the young widower from the pub, nor the other "world sages" who have lost everything in the game of life, yet gained more because they still keep going.

A radical, funny, and consistently surprising novel about a young woman who does what she wants, gets to know life, and thereby masters the incomprehensible. Brilliant wit, sharp irony, sparklingly original observations, and everyday philosophy at its best. A linguistic firework.


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  • Publisher: Rowohlt Berlin
  • Release: 13.03.2026
  • ISBN: 978-3-7371-0253-7
  • 240 Pages
  • Author: Svenja Liesau

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Buchcover von IT HAD TO BE THIS WAY
Svenja Liesau IT HAD TO BE THIS WAY
Portrait von Svenja Liesau
© Clemens Porikys
Svenja Liesau

Svenja Liesau , born in Magdeburg in 1989, performed at her hometown theater before studying acting at the Ernst Busch Academy of Dramatic Arts in Berlin. In her graduating year, 2013, she joined the ensemble of the Staatstheater Stuttgart. From 2017, she was engaged at the Gorki Theater, and since the 2023 season, she has worked at the Deutsches Theater Berlin. Her film and television credits include the adaptation of Altes Land . Svenja Liesau lives in Berlin. This novel marks her debut.