Penguin Broder

The long-awaited, major new novel by Dörte Hansen. "Only one counts on the farm, and that is the son who stays. But the others, the second, third, fourth sons and the daughters who do not count, remain part of the herd, whether they want to or not. Because they have grown up with large animals, know their breathing and their roaring, and still carry the smell of milk and manure. Because they were raised in the belief of the old, unjust order: father, son, and holy farm, always has been that way."

Broder Bahnsen never wanted to be anything other than a farmer, the successor to his father, who passed on to him the "cow sense," the instinct for animals. But the farm goes to his twin brother Henning, who is just a few minutes older, increasingly self-assured, and more interested in machines. Driven away from the farm, Broder Bahnsen builds a counter-life for himself, becomes a veterinarian, and keeps his distance from the operation, until he returns after more than twenty years and takes over a practice near the family. From then on, he also takes care of his brother's herd, which has turned the parental farm into a state-of-the-art showcase operation, with cows bred for maximum milk production.

But success comes at a price. Broder is the first to notice that Henning is slowly losing control of his farm. And he suddenly has to ask himself whether he has been waiting for this moment all these years. Is this the opportunity to finally take his brother's place? Or does he, like his daughter Claire, already have doubts about this kind of animal husbandry? Dörte Hansen writes with great clarity about a world where our belief in growth reaches its limits, and the question of responsibility towards creation becomes increasingly urgent.