Daphne Ferber, mid-twenties, moves to Berlin from London to live to the bohemian dream -cool friends and wild nights in the city’s shady edges – while she learns German and awaits the start of her (fictional) Philosophy Masters programme. That old maxim “you can never escape yourelf” plays out quite quickly, despite her intentions. So tightly bound in the micro-activities over which she can exercise complete control, she leaves no space for other people in any real sense. Rather than take up space and BE someone, it’s easier to skirt the edges of social groups, and project an impression of agreeable companionship while finding the interactions interminable and annoying. Trying to maintain any forward motion proves difficult. She can’t commit to anything significant, will say anything to anyone if she thinks it will make them like her, but then is repelled when they expect her to live up to her own portrayal of herself. Something is wrong, she knows it but can’t name it. Those around her sense an unease within her that they can’t reach deep enough to grasp. Daphne is a far better companion to the reader than she is to anyone she meets in the city. She’s self-aware, funny, sharp, and – to a degree - honest. She’s aware that she’s in a position of privilege and, while she tries to cloak this from those around her, she’s very frank with us and it brings her only guilt at feeling so broken. This reminded me very much of Sarah Moss’ memoir of her own mental health issue, My Good Bright Wolf: People would kill to be me, but I would sooner die. It’s a smart, impactful, and pertinent, depiction of a fracturing personality, exhausting itself trying to find some solid ground on which to stand, always fretting: “if Rewe or Aldi was cheaper, if it was important to buy organic, whether or not identity politics is actually a good thing or if I just feel compelled to think it is because I want to be considered a good person, whether all my personal failings can legitimately blamed on patenting and patriarchy or if this is just the cowards way out.”