From here, you can see that dreams can be a nightmare when you wake up. What’s all in your head, and what’s going to happen?
From here, you can see everyone you’ve always known. The village is close.
From here, you can see the forest and the hills, but you can’t see beyond them. Everywhere else is far away.
From here, you can see the fields, factories, fences beside the train tracks. Unless you close your eyes. And then a door might open…
From here, you can see someone new coming. Three new people, in fact. What’s all in your head, and what’s in theirs when they see you?
In a small community where people know each other, forgive each other, and look out for each other, the wider world might not seem relevant. But it’s out there.
Marina Leky’s book is gentle, rooted in a place. Sometimes it felt like not-quite-hot-enough chocolate, lukewarm and too sweet. In the face of loss and death, it felt tender. Was man von hier aus sehen kann (Dumont) has been a huge hit in Germany, internationally, and in Tess Lewis’s English translation. It’s a film now too, though that hasn’t done as well as the book. Get What You Can See From Here from Bloomsbury. Root yourself in a place gently, for a change.
Translator, editor, writer, reader
found in translation 
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