The photo shows a view of the meeting room. The rows of chairs for the council members are arranged in a semi-circle in ascending order. On the wall behind them is an installation showing the outline of the town of Idar-Oberstein with the coats of arms of the individual districts.

Frank P. Meyer presents globalization novel

The work, published by Conte Verlag in 2022, is not a crime novel, although, as in almost all of Meyer's books, there is a dead body. Instead, it is - as the publisher writes - "a furious globalization novel about a close-knit village community whose life plans are thoroughly disrupted by the confrontation with the foreign".

Wang Fei, a Chinese man, turns up in Primstal in Saarland because he has seen an interesting property on the internet. But he doesn't stop at buying a house and hires villagers as drivers and warehouse staff for his "Wang's World Trade". He exports beer, schnapps and crocheted coat hangers. He takes part in village life, sings in the choir, is involved in the fruit and gardening association and likes to go "majen". Wang Fei even reactivates the Bundeskegelbahn bowling alley in the Zeggels inn and finds a girlfriend.

Meyer was already a guest in Idar-Oberstein in 2019 and apparently left a lasting impression. After all, there were many people in the audience who had also attended the previous reading. They were not disappointed this time either. As usual, Meyer had a few items in his luggage to go with the book, such as crocheted coat hangers or St. Zeggel's pilsner, which he offered for tasting. There was also a special little gift for one guest, who was well versed in Chinese cuisine.

In addition to the read text passages, the listeners also learned a lot of amusing facts about the creation of the book and how the author approaches a new book project. Meyer reported that his stories have so far always been set in places he knows well, such as the Saarland or Oxford. This time, however, the protagonists are traveling to China, where Meyer has never been before. Using Google Earth, he walked through the Chinese city and visited the beer museum, among other things. But he admitted that it was still very difficult for him and that he only wanted to write about places he knew.

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