Much has been written about socialism but very little about what it was like to live as an ordinary citizen under socialism in East Germany. With the fall of the Berlin Wall now 30 years past, the realities of that time have begun to fade. Some people have even become nostalgic, such as former Party functionaries and others who benefited from the communist rule. For the rest, however, it is important to bear witness to what it was really like to live in those times before the memories begin to vanish. The stories in this book are by their nature far from complete because memory is not linear but impressionistic. Still, the reader may find them of interest because they are the legacy of a lost socialist world.

Caspar David Friedrich's dark, melancholic view of life and Joseph Mallord William Turner's full-blooded engagement with the world around him characterize this novel. Despite the contrast between them, these two romantic painters are connected by the uniqueness of their art. Friedrich's works became part of an existential awareness of life, Turner with his powerful use of light and colour paved the way for a new impressionistic art form. The novel lets the reader experience an encounter of intimate distance between the two painters and opens the world of their images, their motives and their times.

Always the canvas recoils when he tries to apply the brush. How can hope be made apparent if he doesn’t succeed in putting the white dove into the painting? Brentano’s smile was so friendly when he, Schinkel, had made a sketch in his notebook of Brentano’s impromptu story even while it was being told. And now, in oil, almost ready on the easel, he can’t reach the painting with his brush … In his feverish dreams, Schinkel struggles to complete his painting "Castle By The River"; on his sick bed, he relives his fulfilled life marked by an overwhelming sense of duty and the tragedy of the architect and artist who became a servant of his king.

Der Roman lässt den Leser eine distanzierte Begegnung der Maler Turner und Friedrich erleben und führt ihn in die Welt ihrer Bilder, ihrer Motive und ihrer Zeit.