THE MOST BEAUTIFUL VERSION

  • Longlisted for the German Book Prize 2024!
  • 120,000 copies sold!
  • The movie rights have been optioned.
  • An exceptional and impactful debut on love, friendships, toxic relationship, and power, set in the late 2000s.
  • Stylistically brilliant, light, and free.
  • English sample translation available.
  • Recommended by New Books in German.

"Our autumn was a century summer well into November".

Jella loves Yannick very much. Yannick also loves Jella very much. They recognize each other. They do it differently. They do it right. Until it shifts. Now Jella lies in her old childhood bedroom "with a pounding neck and a distant feeling", wondering how things got this far, taking another close look at her upbringing in Lusatia. Small town and gravel pits, glitter and gloss. At friends who carried her through so much. And at that moment when Yannick's hands closed around her neck.

Die schönste Version is an introspection: Ruth-Maria Thomas writes about becoming a woman, being a woman, about bodies, desires, and deep abysses. 

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Czech Republic - Albatros | the Netherlands - Standaard Uitgeverij | Turkey - Koridor | Slovakia - Vydavatelstvo E.J.

  • Publisher: Rowohlt Hundert Augen
  • Release: 16.07.2024
  • ISBN: 978-3-498-00695-2
  • 272 Pages
  • Author: Ruth-Maria Thomas

Awards

  • 2025: Shortlist - Kurt-Tucholsky-Preis
  • 2025: gewonnen - Ulla-Hahn-Autorenpreis
  • 2025: Shortlist - Lieblingsbuch des Deutschschweizer Buchhandels
  • 2025: Longlist - Literaturpreis der deutschen Wirtschaft
  • 2025: nominiert - Debütpreis des Buddenbrookhauses
  • 2024: Shortlist - ZDF-"aspekte"-Literaturpreis
  • 2024: Longlist - Deutscher Buchpreis

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Buchcover von THE MOST BEAUTIFUL VERSION
Ruth-Maria Thomas THE MOST BEAUTIFUL VERSION
Portrait von Ruth-Maria Thomas
© Urban Zintel
Ruth-Maria Thomas

Ruth-Maria Thomas , born in 1993 and raised in Cottbus, worked as a social worker in youth services. She studied at the German Literature Institute in Leipzig and is a co-founder of the erotic literature magazine Hot Topic! . In 2022, she was a finalist in the Open Mike competition. Her writings, which have been featured in radio broadcasts and literary magazines, often explore the pitfalls of female socialization.