Die Wut, die bleibt [literally: The Anger That Stays] is a novel by Mareike Fallwickl. It has not been translated to English (yet).
Finished on: 2.2.2026

Content Note: suicide, rape, sexualized violence, (critical treatment of) misogyny, sexism

Plot:
One night, Helene suddenly stands up from the dinner table with her husband Johannes and her three children, two small boys and a teenaged daughter, Lola. She walks to the balcony without a word and jumps. Her suicide leaves everybody shocked. Helene’s best friend Sarah tries to take over her care duties as Johannes throws himself into his work. Lola feels mostly incredibly angry and doesn’t really know how to channel that anger. Sarah and Lola both have to figure out how to live their new lives without Helene.

Die Wut, die bleibt is a strong novel with vibrant characters. It is filled with the (feminist) anger that the title promises, but finds pockets of softness many times, especially in the relationships between women.

I had this book on my radar for quite a while, but as things so often go, it took me a bit until I got around to it. Given that the book is set during the early days of the COVID pandemic for the most part, I really appreciated reading it now, though, when we like to pretend that COVID pretty much doesn’t exist anymore and time has muddled my memory of the beginning of it – with lockdowns and more or less helpful regulations as to what we can do to stem the infections. The novel was a good reminder of the many ways especially children, teens and their mothers (for the most part) where hit really hard by many of those rules.

But regardless of the COVID situation, the book is a precise look at how women are settled with (child) care work, how men seem to easily distance themselves from their children and the everyday responsibilities that come with them. Johannes‘ first helper is Lola who seems to know so much better about the needs of her brothers and that they need attention now, no matter her emotional state and other duties. Johannes‘ second helper is his own mother – who suffers from Long COVID and is in no actual condition to take care of a toddler and a kindergarten kid. And then Johannes‘ third helper is Sarah who happens to have a flexible job, no children of her own, and a sense of responsibility for Helene and her offspring. Meanwhile, Johannes is at work. Of course, that also includes traveling for work. No, he never even considers how it might be possible to take time off work. No, even when he is home, he doesn’t really take part in the everyday grind.

There were many moments where the book made me angry with its description of this reality, despite me being pretty aware of those things. And it should make all of us angry. It is not a state of things that we should be happy about.

The book is told alternately from Lola’s and Sarah’s perspective, except for the first page or so where it is from Helene’s perspective. (Fair warning: as I so often do when a book or movie catches my interest, I read very little about it and like to go in unprepared. So, I really didn’t know what was going to happen with Helene and it hits incredibly hard.) Fallwickl has a good way of making their voices very distinct from each other. There is a generation between the two, and they are at very different stages in their lives, especially emotionally. This should show in their perspectives – and it does.

As the book heads towards the end, one does start to wonder how things are going to go, especially for Lola and whether Fallwickl would manage to get the two narratives to a satisfying ending. At one point, I didn’t think she really would be able to, but she does manage, making the novel even more worth a read. I found it very engaging in any case.

Summarizing: burns with anger and hope, recommended.