Jana Frey » A Paradise as Cold as Ice « 12+, January 2000 192 pages, 21.0 x 13.0 cm ISBN 978-3-7855-3569-1 hardcover 10,00 € (D) Rights sold: Polish, Czech

"We are Jehova‘s witnesses and therefore we are the chosen ones.“ This is what Hannah wrote into her diary when she was a child. Indeed she felt like a chosen one for a long time. But growing up she feels more and more often like an outsider and starts to hate being the "silly aunt Jehova" – the name she is called at school. She wants to live an ordinary teenager‘s life and starts questioning the strict rules of her religion. But when she is demanding her personal freedom, the borders of her world that once seemed so protecting become unsurmountable walls. The psychological pressure she is confronted with causes a vicious circle of feelings of self-doubt and guilt. But in her despair Hannah, nevertheless, finds hope. She begins to understand that not everything beautiful represents sin and ruin. She makes friends with Marie who used to be a temptation of Satan for her and she finally allows herself to fall in love with Paul. With the help of her friends she gets an idea of what her life could be like without the strict religious rules. But there is still a long way to go until Hannah succeeds in entering this life.

Jana Frey was born in 1969. She started writing when she was only five years old. She studied litera...