In the summer of 2018, Andreas Schäfer's father comes to Berlin for a visit. Shortly before, he has learned that a cancer he overcame long ago has returned, but he has no complaints. He goes to the opera, takes a trip to the seaside, sits on his son's sofa and says in amazement, "That there's something there!" But what? What is there in the father's head? He goes back to Frankfurt, where he has lived alone since separating from his Greek mother decades ago. He also goes to the biopsy alone, as if he wanted to give up his lone wolf life only at the last possible moment. On the day of the examination, the senior neurosurgeon reports to the son and informs him that his father has suffered a brain hemorrhage: "Your father is going to die," he says. "He's in an induced coma. It's up to you to decide when we turn off the machines."

How to cope when the life of your own father is placed in your hands? How to say goodbye when you're supposed to decide the timing yourself? "My Father's Shoes" is as harrowing as it is heartfelt, a book about fathers and sons and the unexpected ways of grief. Sincerely, poetically and empathetically, Andreas Schäfer tells of his own state of shock – but above all he approaches the father, the passionate traveler, the war traumatized, happy and lost at the same time, and their special, not always easy relationship.

A book about parting, mourning, the relationship to one's own father and his influence on one's own life and actions.

Andreas Schäfer was born in Hamburg in 1969, grew up near Frankfurt/Main and now lives with his family in Berlin. He writes novels, essays, libretti and radio features. His debut "Auf dem Weg nach Messara" was awarded the Bremen Literature Prize, among others. This was followed by the novels "Wir vier" (DuMont 2010), which was nominated for the German Book Prize and awarded the Anna Seghers Prize, "Gesichter" (DuMont 2013) and most recently the Spiegel bestseller "Das Gartenzimmer" (DuMont 2020).