Illusionen

In her novel "Illusions," Rehmann tells the story of the work life and weekend pleasures of three women and one man who work in a large corporate office. With their differing ideas and dreams, they set off into the weekend on Saturday afternoons. In twelve chapters, Rehmann depicts their adventures and disappointments, dreams and illusions, allowing us to partake in the confusing, happy, fascinating, or risky past and present of her four protagonists—until their sobering return to the 13th floor on Monday morning. Released in the same year as Grass's "The Tin Drum" and Böll's "Billard at Half Past Ten," Rehmann's contemporary and societal novel uncovers entirely new facets of the post-war economic boom and still impresses today with its modernity. In 1958, Ruth Rehmann read the chapter "The First Dress" at the Group 47 conference in Grossholzleute. However, in the vote for the group's prize, she ultimately lost to Günter Grass.