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Lovely read, although a bit old-fashioned. I read this to our youngest child. It took some time to get into, because of the slightly archaic style and word-choices. Chapters describing the setting in particular suffered from this, while chapters with a lot of dialogue and/or action read much more smoothly.

The story is told by Hans, thirty years after the events, and is about him, his father - printer and bookseller - , and his friends during the Franco-Dutch War, the occupation by French forces, and the period shortly afterwards. The title ‘city in the storm’ also refers to one of the main events in the story. Historical figures like Louis the XIV, the De Witt brothers, William III, Bernhard von Galen - Bommen Berend - pass by, as well as the use of what we call the (old) Hollandse Waterlinie - a military defence line consisting of a combination of fortifications and inundated land.

Apart from the fun story, it was also special to read and learn so much about Dutch history, and especially about our own city #Utrecht. Street names and places in the city, surrounding villages; they are all mentioned by name, and many still exist in today's city, especially the old city centre within what is now "De Singel", the canal surrounding the city center. Places and buildings that no longer exist are also part of the story, and again it was fun to find out where these were and when they disappeared.

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[English below] Das ist so: Ich lese wirklich nicht nur Belletristik und will nicht immer nur hochtrabend über Literatur sprechen. Und vor allen Dingen unterstütze ich gerne kleine Indie-Verlage, wir können uns glücklich schätzen, in Deutschland noch einige zu haben. Dementsprechend auch grundsätzlich all meinen blauglitzernden Support für den Querverlag! Aber. Nicht das, nicht „Einmal noch“, für mich zumindest nicht (das mag ich betonen, it‘s me. Gebt ihr dem Buch bitte selbst eine Chance, es hat allgemein sehr gute Bewertungen! Meine schwankt zwischen 2,5 und 3.) - Hier wurde mit dem Anspruch geschrieben, keine platte Schmonzette, keine platte Schicksalslitanei zu schreiben. Deep soll es sein: Der Background und das zu tragende Päckchen der Figuren. Ihre Dialoge. Ihre Verantwortung füreinander. Bleibt aber eher gewollt und konstruiert, ziemlich steif und sehr frontal auserzählt und manche Fäden gehen dann doch auch verloren. - Dabei kommt all das ungefiltert; manches hätte auch eine CN verdient. Zum Beispiel gibt es: Suizidale Gedanken, starke Trauer und Trauma, häusliche Gewalt, NS-Zeit und Antisemitismus, lebensbedrohliche Krankheit, Unfallschilderung, Verstoßen werden wegen Schwul sein, Übergeben. (Und fatshaming. Das scheint aber im Autor drin zu sein und ist nicht geplottet.) Trotz allem geht es dabei um sehrsehr privilegierte Figuren. Ich konnte die Figuren nie ganz >>fühlen<<, sie bleiben im Roman immer ganz Träger*innen ihres Schicksals. Na ja und der Schluss … - Die sehr gekünstelten Dialoge haben mich wirklich jeden Nerv gekostet, I‘m sorry to say. Allein, das j e d e r Sprechakt den Vornamen der angesprochenen Person enthält. Argh! I can‘t! - Ach, naja und ich muss gestehen. Ich lese gerne schwule Sexszenen. Schade, dass die ausgespart wurden : ) Nichtsdestotrotz: Dies war mein Abend Buch vor dem Einschlafen und ich habe es dann doch noch gespannt aufgeschlagen, um zu erfahren wo Umberto - Daniele - Debora - Umberto - Debora - Daniele - Umberto mit ihren namensreichen Dialogen enden werden.

[English very well translated by AI] It's not you, dear book, it's me. We just aren’t meant for each other. Here’s the thing: I don’t exclusively read literary fiction, nor do I always want to discuss books in an overly highbrow way. And most importantly, I love supporting small indie publishers—we’re lucky to still have quite a few in Germany. So, of course, all my sparkly blue support goes to Querverlag! But. Not this one, not Einmal noch—at least not for me (and I want to emphasize that: it’s me. Please give this book a chance yourselves; it has received very positive reviews overall!). • This was written with the clear ambition not to be a shallow romance or a mere litany of tragedies. It aims to be deep: the background, the characters’ backstories, their dialogues, their responsibilities toward one another. But it feels more forced and constructed—quite stiff, very on-the-nose in its storytelling, and some narrative threads ultimately get lost. • Everything is presented unfiltered; some parts would have warranted a content note. For example, the book contains: suicidal thoughts, intense grief and trauma, domestic violence, the Nazi era and antisemitism, life-threatening illness, an accident description, being disowned for being gay, vomiting. (And fat-shaming. But that seems to come from the author rather than being an intentional plot point.) Despite all this, the characters remain very privileged. I never truly felt them; they always stayed mere carriers of their fates. And then the ending… well. • The highly artificial dialogues drove me up the wall, I’m sorry to say. Especially the fact that every single section of dialogue includes the other person’s first name oder and over again. Argh! I can’t! • Oh, and I must admit—I enjoy reading gay sex scenes. Shame they were left out. : ) That said: This was my bedtime book, and I still picked it up eagerly each night to find out where Umberto – Daniele – Debora – Umberto – Debora – Daniele – Umberto and their name-heavy dialogues would lead in the end.

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