13-year-old Anni recounts the events of a special week for her from her own perspective. She unexpectedly meets the new boy Fred in the queue at the bakery. Their paths cross again shortly afterwards during Anni's morning ice swimming session at the lake. Why Anni tries to come to terms with this daily routine, where Fred has suddenly turned up from and why he doesn't want to swim with her at first is traced in hushed tones.
Recurring motifs are finely woven into the story of getting to know each other, characterising the two figures but also underlining the steps they take towards each other. Linguistically sensitive and skilfully balancing on the fine line between humour and seriousness, Lena Hach tells the story of a girl who is looking for a language for the loss she has experienced and a trans boy who is struggling with the expectations of his gender identity that are placed on him from the outside. Both characters find support in their new friendship and the carefully hinted at infatuation. The author develops all of this in just 95 pages with apparent ease, but the narrative never falls flat. This title is nominated for the 2024 German Children՚s Literature Award.