In
Luz de
juventud
, Julian is a twelve-year-old boy growing up in a mining community in 1960s Germany. Covering a few weeks in summer when Julian’s emotionally exhausted and dissatisfied mother takes his little sister Sophie on vacation, this book details Julian’s gradual social and sexual awakening amidst his parent’s financial and marital problems. Through a combination of vibrant characters and subtle prose, Rothmann captures the ambiguous period of a boy approaching the end of childhood when adulthood is not within grasp.