The Very Best Time of My Life is a critically acclaimed Danish debut novel about young love, devastating secrets and taking responsibility for one’s own life.
When Vitus’ girlfriend gets pregnant and insists on keeping the child, he somehow connects it to his mother’s suicide that happened eight years earlier. He makes the drastic decision to leave her, and shortly after, he falls in love with Emma, who is also hiding something and running from reality. Together, they embark on a journey that enables Vitus to finally open up and confront his demons. Just when things are falling into place, Emma takes him into the night and tells him something that tears his world apart and becomes crucial to both his past and future.
Sigurd Hartkorn Plaetner’s novel The very best time of my life is a sad, but also funny, smart and encouraging read. The way Vitus and Emma struggle to cope with fate is touching, sometimes heartbreaking. And every word vibrates with the young people’s love for live. And there is something to keep in mind these days: Telling stories does not save lives. But it can open a space to rest, to dream and to transform our love and sorrow into universal human experience. Literature may offer comfort. Such as Sigurd Hartkorn Plaetner’s novel.We can’t wait to publish this debut that may mark the beginning of Sigurd’s literary career in Germany.”
Alice Huth, Editor, dtv
If you want to read this year’s most beautiful book about young love, then hurry up and buy this book. It is touching, beautiful, funny and tragic. And brilliantly written.
Ugebladet Søndag
The story of the girl that Vitus fell in love with, loved, lost and still loves. It is a story of accepting the things you cannot change, gathering courage to change the things you can – and having the insight to see the difference. A story of how life and death can sometimes go hand in hand.
Quote from the podcast
In his debut novel, Sigurd Hartkorn Plaetner reveals himself as an eminent storyteller (…) Nothing in the novel’s rather complicated plot seems strained; on the contrary, the story emanates a surplus of energy and an infectious appetite for life (…) I can not remember having read such a gripping story about life’s fragility.
Kristeligt Dagblad
One of the most important books of the year.
Carsten Jensen (Author of We, the drowned)
