LONGING

A man whose lifelong dream is to sail around the world.
A vibrant, wild adventure across the history of the 20th century.

Erwin Piontek, a retired miner, pursues his lifelong dream of sailing around the world - modestly, in a boat on a reservoir. But as he sails, he is transformed, and a highly adventurous journey begins, leading him through times and continents: He suddenly finds himself fighting colonialism as a soldier in German South West Africa. Soon after, in Berlin, he attempts to kill a cruel officer in the name of justice. He escapes by swimming, goes under ... and resurfaces, reborn in 1979, as a Polish president wrestling for power in a Europe that has shifted to the right.

With just one name, Szczepan Twardoch ignites a literary tour de force that simultaneously chronicles the 20th and 21st centuries. This is the tale of one man chasing his dreams across epochs - the same person in three distinct lives. It asks: How did I become who I am? Why are we torn between the longing for the distant, the "Other" - and the desire for home? An epic adventure and a celebration of the freedom to think and act anew.