Discover Germany | Cover Feature | Melanie Raabe
Melanie Raabe: The writing machine Before she finished her debut novel, the international publication rights were already sold. By now, her book The Trap has been published in more than 20 countries and Hollywood is working on the film adaptation. Although Melanie Raabe has become one of Germany’s most successful authors of 2015, she is still a down-to-earth young woman who has not changed her habits. Her new novel Die Wahrheit (German for ‘the truth’) has just been released. TEXT: NADINE CARSTENS
Interviewing Melanie Raabe might seem dangerous if you are familiar with her debut novel The Trap. There, the central character Linda Conrads, who is a famous author as well, tries to trap a journalist because she believes he is her sister’s murderer. But, luckily for me, Raabe is in good spirits when we meet at a café in Cologne. As the 35-year-old author arrives, she smiles friendly and makes a relaxed impression. In this cosy place, she wrote part of her successful thriller The Trap. When she does not work at home, she often goes to the Weltempfänger in the Ehrenfeld district to write and to find inspiration. “There is a quiet corner where I like to write quite often. I can concentrate here very well, while it is also possible to get into conversations with people from all over the world because there is a hostel above the café,” Raabe explains. Her novel turned out to be a major hit worldwide, with international publishing houses scrambled to obtain the rights for the book even before it was released. At last year’s London Book Fair for example, The Trap was one of the most discussed books. Additionally, a famous film production studio acquired film rights to Raabe’s novel and Phyllis Nagy, who worked on Academy Award nominated Carol, will be the screenwriter for the film
adaptation. “I don’t want to be involved in this process, because the novel already perfectly represents how I envisioned the story,” says Raabe. “I have complete confidence in Nagy and look forward to seeing her interpretation.” Although more than a year has passed since the release of her debut, she cannot quite believe her success.“I still feel totally overwhelmed: I never expected to become so successful. Publishing a pocketbook that is available in a couple of small bookshops would have already made me extraordinarily happy, so seeing that people around the world read my novel feels absolutely crazy and surreal,” Raabe says with a bright smile. The love for writing Nevertheless, the journey to her success was longer than one might expect at first. Before The Trap was published, Raabe had already written four other books that were rejected by publishing houses. “I put as much effort, commitment and time into each of these books as in The Trap. After all these rejections there were indeed times when I started to think ‘maybe I am not that talented’ or ‘maybe I’m out of luck’,” she says.“What made me continue was the matter of fact that I simply love to write and that is something I would never Issue 42 | September 2016 | 21