Henny & Ponger

“The novel Henny & Ponger begins with an unheard-of incident: in a suburban train, the boy Ponger spots the girl Henny, because they both seem to be reading the same novel. Shortly afterwards, she pulls the emergency brake, slips him a disposable mobile phone and flees from the carriage in front of plainclothes police officers. Of course, the paths of the two cross again soon afterwards. But they are not simple encounters. Rather, page after page of confusing clarity reveals mysteries.
For Ponger, a pinball mechanic of unknown origin, a confrontation with an extraterrestrial flying object takes place and a road trip to Amrum shakes up his previous world view. The personal narrative construction brings the reader directly into his swirling experience. At the end, the question remains as to what really happened.
In terms of language, Nils Mohl draws virtuously on the imagery of outer space when names and motifs are based on it. With a touch of science fiction, he finds a new and refreshing trick to tell the story of growing up as an experience of strangeness in the guise of a love story.” – Jury of the German Children’s Literature Award

“Nils Mohl develops a fast-paced story, linguistically virtuosic with quirky but likeable characters on the outskirts of the big city. An adventure, a mysterious love story that you slowly approach, only to be left with questions. A novel you should read again and again!” – Deutsche Akademie für Kinder- und Jugendliteratur – Buch des Monats September 2022

“Mohl is a poetic writer, never kitschy, always clear and often unexpected in his images. This is beautiful to read: a story that is fantastic in two respects and that one would like to believe.” – NDR, Katja Weise

“Fiction, as we know from every love story, is always a part of reality. […] How adolescents experience the world and love is an adventure that transcends everything in this book. The feelings are too powerful to be easily captured in sentences. Nils Mohl is a master at making them perceptible in echoes, inklings, resonances, and by quoting other texts.” – Süddeutsche Zeitung, Fritz Göttler

“Anyone who gets involved in what Mohl is up to will experience a ravishing story. An adventure, a love story, something that is incomprehensible but very special. In 202 chapters, some of them very short, Mohl appeals to all the senses with his way of narrating, feeling his way towards the unspeakable and unimaginable with careful steps.” – TitelKulturmagazin, Andrea Wanner

“With Nils Mohl, you should be used to the fact that nothing is what it seems. […] Nils Mohl is a master of subtle forms of  unreliable narration – and he plays with them in this novel as well.” – STUBE, Toad of the Month | Kröte des Monats, September 2022