Our debut author of the month – Romy Hausmann

22nd March 2020

Romy Hausmann’s debut novel Dear Child has been labelled Gone Girl (Gillian Flynn) meets Room (Emma Donoghue).

A windowless shack in the woods. Lena’s life and that of her two children follows the rules set by their captor, the father: Meals, bathroom visits, study time are strictly scheduled and meticulously observed. He protects his family from the dangers lurking in the outside world and makes sure that his children will always have a mother to look after them.

One day Lena manages to flee – but the nightmare continues. It seems as if her tormentor wants to get back what belongs to him. And then there is the question whether she really is the woman called ‘Lena’, who disappeared without a trace 14 years ago. The police and Lena’s family are all desperately trying to piece together a puzzle which doesn’t quite seem to fit.

Romy was born in the former East Germany in 1981.  At the age of twenty-four she became chief editor at a film production company in Munich. Since the birth of her son she has been working as a freelancer in TV.

Published in the German language in 2019 as Liebes Kind, her debut novel topped Der Spiegel’s bestseller list, won the Crime Cologne Award in 2019, and has been translated into 15 languages. Film rights have already been optioned by Constantin Film, the company behind the movie Downfall.

Romy lives with her family in a secluded forest house near Stuttgart. Her second novel ‘Marta Schläft’ (Marta is Sleeping) is another thriller and will be published in the German language in April 2020.

A video profile of Romy (in German) can be found here.

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