MY FRIEND LOTTE

An emotionally stirring novel about Berlin painter Lotte Laserstein and her favourite model, Traute Rose.

Berlin, 1921: Lotte Laserstein wants to become a painter. But the Academy of Fine Arts has only recently started admitting women, and Lotte has to fight – against her male teachers and critics’ resentment and for her passion, painting. The young photographer Traute becomes her soul sister. Traute is a “New Woman” in the sense of the new feminist movement; this and her enthusiasm for art make her the perfect model for Lotte. A very special relationship begins to grow – until the political situation in Germany becomes more and more unbearable and Lotte ends up having to flee.

Kalmar, 1961: Lotte Laserstein and Traute Rose spend a warm late summer evening together in southern Sweden. But the atmosphere is one of recrimination and dissonance as old wounds are reopened. The two women suddenly realise there are urgent questions they can no longer avoid. They have to face their past, a time that asked them for all-or-nothing decisions – as artists and friends.