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DIE MACHT DER MUSIK d’Ullrich Fichtner

Music makes us happier, healthier, smarter and nicer – and we need more of it in our lives.

DIE MACHT DER MUSIK
(The Power of Music)
by Ullrich Fichtner
DVA/PRH Germany, November 2025

Music has an extraordinary effect on us: it can give us goosebumps and butterflies, it can make our hearts beat faster, it can cheer us up and make us sad, can bring our stress levels down and ease pain. Not just that, but the latest findings from neuroscience and brain science show that it can have a positive impact on our health, psyche and social skills, and help develop and reinforce cognitive skills in both the young and the old.

In DIE MACHT DER MUSIK, the multi-award-winning Spiegel reporter and music aficionado demonstrates that music has huge tangible benefits. Using his wide-ranging experience with music and musicians in all genres around the world, as well as the latest scientific studies, he reveals how and why music is so important both for us individually and society at large, how it works, its enormous potential as a social tool, and how it can help us live a healthier, happier, more peaceful – in short: better – life.

Ullrich Fichtner was born in 1965 and is a Spiegel reporter based in Paris. With three Egon Erwin Kisch and three Henri Nannen prizes to his name, he is one of the most award-winning German journalists. His latest book, « Geboren für die großen Chancen » (‘A future of opportunities’) was shortlisted for the German Non-Fiction Prize.

DARK FACTOR de Benjamin E. Hilbig, Morten Moshagen & Ingo Zettler

Gripping insights into the dark side of human nature.

DARK FACTOR
by Benjamin E. Hilbig, Morten Moshagen & Ingo Zettler
Artiston/PRH Germany, October 2025

What do people with a tendency to steal, incite hatred, bully and lie have in common? Studies conducted over the past 10 years by international teams of researchers suggests that what they all share is a quality called ‘the dark factor’. It exists in each of us to a greater or lesser degree, and can actually be measured. For the first time ever, DARK FACTOR provides comprehensive answers to some key questions, based on data obtained from more than 2 million people.

What makes us do bad things? What do our negative personality traits – such as narcissism, psychopathy and sadism – have in common? How do gender, age and level of education affect the dark factor, and how does it, in turn, shape our relationships, career choices and political views? Does it lead to success and happiness, or is it more likely to make you lonely, or even ill? And can its levels change, or is it a case of ‘once bad, always bad’?

The D-Factor: The general tendency to maximize one’s individual utility – disregarding, accepting, or malevolently provoking disutility for others –, accompanied by beliefs that serve as justifications

An analysis of the nine classic personality traits: egoism, malice, Machiavellianism, moral disengagement, narcissism, psychopathy, sadism, self-centeredness and excessive entitlement.

Prof. Benjamin E. Hilbig, PhD, has a degree in psychology and obtained his PhD in 2009. He then joined the Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods before moving to an assistant professor role at the University of Mannheim, where he specialised in judgement and decision-making. In 2014, he joined the University of Kaiserslautern-Landau, where he heads up the experimental psychology and personality research group. He specialises in ethical and social decision-making, personality traits and research methods.

Prof. Dr. Morten Moshagen has a PhD in psychology. Following a postdoc at the University of Mannheim, he became professor of psychology at the University of Kassel in 2014, specialising in research methods. After a spell at the University of Copenhagen as visiting researcher, he joined the University of Ulm in 2016. He now heads up Ulm’s Department of Research Methods in Psychology, specialising in mathematical modelling and socially problematic personality traits.

Prof. Dr. Ingo Zettler is professor of personality and behaviour at the University of Copenhagen’s Institute of Psychology and Center for Social Data Science (SODAS). Before moving to Denmark, he did a degree in psychology, and after graduating worked at the RWTH in Aachen (obtaining his PhD there) and at the University of Tübingen. He is part of a research team specialising in personality traits and their significance in different contexts, including anti-social, pro-social, workplace and environment-related behaviour.

UND FEDERN ÜBERALL de Nava Ebrahimi

Award-winning author Nava Ebrahimi immerses us in the world of a provincial backwater, weaving the lives of six people into a stunning social novel that asks whether it is possible to retain our humanity and compassion in the face of adversity. For fans of Jenny Erpenbeck, Dörte Hansen and Lucy Fricke.

UND FEDERN ÜBERALL
(Feathers Everywhere)
by Nava Ebrahimi
Luchterhand/PRH Germany, August 2025

A small town, six people embarking on a new chapter in their lives, and one day that changes everything

The fog lingers over the fields and the canal. In the small town of Lasseren near the Dutch border, it is as if winter were refusing to end. Nothing much happens here, in the flatlands. Anyone looking for work inevitably ends up at Möllring, the gigantic poultry slaughterhouse on the edge of town. Here, a handful of people has woken up this Monday morning with great expectations: single mum Sonia hopes to get a job far away from the conveyor belt and portioning machine; for young engineer Anna, more or less everything depends on today’s trial run of the latest automation solution; meanwhile, Merkhausen – a process optimisation manager with a weakness for Polish women whose wife has left him – is looking forward to a first date tonight; Nassim, a visually impaired refugee from Afghanistan, has got himself entangled with Justyna, who is twenty years older than him, and is convinced his poems will soften the hearts of German bureaucrats; and German-Iranian author Roshi has travelled all the way from Cologne to translate the poems for him.

When a careless cyclist breaks Nassim’s cane right in the middle of town, and the story is picked up by the local radio station, Nassim becomes a local legend – but more than that too: he inspires people to look their truth squarely in the eye.

Nava Ebrahimi, born in Tehran in 1978, is one of Austrian literature’s most exciting new voices. She is the winner of the 2021 Ingeborg Bachmann Prize, and her novel Sechzehn Wörter (« Sixteen words ») won the Austrian Book Prize and the Morgenstern Prize. After studying journalism and economics in Cologne, she became editor at Financial Times Deutschland and at the Cologne-based Stadtrevue. She has been shortlisted for the Open Mike debut prize, and has attended the Bavarian Academy of Writing. Alongside her novels, she also writes a column for the Süddeutsche Zeitung.

HEILEN & GENIEßEN d’Elisa Dag

Promote natural hormone balance with an anti-inflammatory diet. Vegan, high-protein, high-fibre, nutrient-rich and gluten-free cooking & baking.

HEILEN & GENIEßEN
(Heal & Enjoy)
by Elisa Dag
Yuna/PRH Germany, July 2025

Silent inflammation, hormonal imbalance, chronic fatigue – many of these complaints do not arise overnight, yet they are often not taken seriously. This book is for anyone who longs for a greater connection with their body and wants to understand what really lies behind fatigue, skin problems or mood swings.

Elisa Dag sensitively shows how an overworked liver, a stressed intestine and permanent inflammatory processes can disrupt hormonal balance and how we can regain balance through conscious, natural nutrition and gentle impulses from naturopathy.

This is not about dogmatic rules or short-term trends, but about a deep understanding of the body’s signals. With holistic knowledge, everyday tips and over 85 nourishing recipes that have a natural anti-inflammatory and hormone-friendly effect, this book accompanies you on your journey to more energy, clarity and well-being.

Particularly valuable: the book includes a 3-week intensive programme that supports you step by step in relieving, building up and stabilising your body – suitable for everyday use, nutrient-rich and lovingly guided.

In addition, the four phases of the cycle are discussed, with accompanying knowledge and tips on how you can better align your diet, energy levels and body awareness with your hormonal rhythm.

With lots of practical tips on vegan, protein-rich, anti-inflammatory and gluten-free cooking and baking, as well as inspiration from naturopathy to help you strengthen your body holistically.

Elisa Dag is a holistic nutritionist specialising in naturopathy, a fitness trainer and mother of four. She is passionate about combining nutrition, exercise and a healthy lifestyle. She offers hula hoop and running courses, among other things, to get people moving holistically. On Instagram, she inspires over 180,000 followers at @fitmitelisa with simple, plant-based recipes that are gluten-free, sugar-free and, above all, anti-inflammatory. Her approach combines modern nutrition science with proven naturopathic knowledge to provide lasting support for the gut, liver, hormones and immune system.

TREPPE AUS PAPIER de Henrik Szántó

What stories would the walls tell, if they could speak? A house and its inhabitants, from the Nazi era to the present day. For fans of Imre Kertész, Saša Stanišić and Jenny Erpenbeck.

TREPPE AUS PAPIER
(Paper Stairs)
by Henrik Szántó
Blessing Verlag/PRH Germany, August 2025

When 15-year-old Nele Bittner and 90-year-old Irma Thon meet in the stairwell of a four-storey period building, their conversation breathes life into what Nele always thought was boring old history.

The narrator of Nele and Irma’s story is the house itself, whose walls, hallways, pipes and nooks and crannies harbour the memories of all those who have lived in it over the past hundred years. Irma has a special connection to the building: she and her Nazi-supporting parents lived here when she was a child. Nele, meanwhile, lives on the top floor, in a flat once occupied by the Sternheim family – and Irma feels responsible for what happened to them.

For this house, everything happens simultaneously: when little Ruth Sternheim skips down the stairs, the house remembers the SA who, years later, will smash the window of the Sternheims’ ground-floor watch shop with their truncheons. While Irma looks back on her life, Nele’s questioning of her own family brings to light things they had hoped to suppress.

A daring, courageous novel about remembrance, responsibility and the shadow cast by history.

Henrik Szántó, born in 1988, is a half-Hungarian, half-Finnish author and presenter living in Hannover. He performs as a spoken word artist on stages across Germany, Austria and Switzerland, and has won several fellowships. He also works as an instructor, running poetry, creative writing, public speaking and performance skills seminars, and stages events showcasing both new and experienced voices. He is particularly interested in multilingualism, remembrance and multiculturalism.