Tschick, by Wolfgang Herrndorf

Production: NDR, 2011

Radio Adaption by Norbert Schaeffer

Actors: Julian Greis, Constantin Jascheroff, Effi Rabsilber, Ulrike Grote, Stephan Schad a.o.

Music: Andreas Bick

Director: Iris Drögekamp

First Broadcast: 16. October 2011

A journey into the countryside... in a Lada.

With his mother in rehab and father away on a "business" trip with his young lover, Maik is home alone in his parents' villa. It's the first day of the summer holidays. Together with Tschick, a German-Russian from the tower blocks on the wrong side of the tracks, Maik shows up in a stolen Lada at Tatjana's birthday party, a girl he's head over heels in love with. Soon after, they're tearing through the German countryside in the blazing sunshine, heading even further south east, to Walachai, where Tschick's grandfather lives. This latest novel by Wolfgang Herrndorf is a story of an impossible friendship between two boys - a road novel packed with melancholy and humour.

Sample translation by Jefferson Chase can be found here.