“A novel like a dazzling movie.
“If you only read one book this year, make it this one!” _Amazon Review

★★★ Winner of Austria's highest literary award with a manuscript of only 22 pages ★★★
★★★ The very work that 13 German publishers competed for! ★★★
★★★ German Amazon Bestseller within 3 days of publication ★★★
★★★ Readers' Picks for Best Novels of the Year ★★★
★★★ Spiegel Bestseller ★★★

“Even as memories fade, the heart grows stronger.”
Three times a week, a record of those brilliant times spent in each other's lives.

The hit novel, "Monday Wednesday Saturday," which won an Austrian regional literary award with a manuscript of only 22 pages and for which 13 German publishers competed for the rights, has finally been published in Korea.

Author Petra Fellini wrote this novel based on her experience working for many years as a nurse caring for patients.
This is his debut full-length novel.
While working in a hospital, the author often asked how people spent their time, what abilities they had in life, and what makes a human being human.
And I personally experienced that the answer to that question contained sadness, pain, laughter, and hope.

In 2021, three years before its official publication in Germany, the novel already garnered significant attention, winning Austria's highest literary award with just a 22-page manuscript.
Afterwards, 13 German publishers competed fiercely for the copyright, and eventually a major literary publisher won the copyright.
In an interview shortly after publication, the author stated, “Perhaps the reason I wrote this novel was because of my inner desire to protect the weak.”
He added that he wanted to talk about respect for life and courtesy towards human dignity.

This novel, which received praise from the Austrian and German press as “a fireworks display of emotion and imagination” and “a brilliant, delicate, and heart-wrenching literary masterpiece,” also received rave reviews from numerous readers, who said, “If you read only one book this year, it must be this one,” and became a bestseller immediately after its publication.

"Monday, Wednesday, Saturday" is a story about people who find hope and luster in life by supporting each other in their crumbling daily lives.
This novel, which delicately and warmly captures the solidarity between 15-year-old Linda, who wishes to die, 86-year-old Hubert, who still waits for his wife who passed away, and the small and fragile beings around them, is also a record of a bright and splendid time in which they understand and accept each other's differences and ultimately become 'by each other'.
Even if memories are erased, the heart does not disappear.
This book conveys that hard truth deeply to the heart in the most elegant and truthful sentences.

Every time Kevin belittles humanity, I feel more and more convinced that my plan is right.
I don't necessarily have to be here when everything falls apart.
It would be reasonable to say goodbye before your eighteenth birthday.
I want to leave this world properly and neatly.
The day people stare down at my lifeless body on the street, my hair will be neat, my homework will be done, and my room will be tidy.
I imagine that scene beautifully.
It will be really meaningful for pedestrians.
Some people say, “He’s so young.
“I haven’t even lived my life properly,” he might say, and then go home and hug his child.
Another guy will quit his fucking job, and another guy will stop beating his wife.
The world will be a better place.

--- p.45

Why can't Hubert come out into the courtyard anymore? He's been having trouble breathing for weeks now, and I personally find this quite unfair.
Is dementia alone not enough?
The courtyard has always had a positive influence on Hubert.
Warmth rising from the stone slab.
The rustling sound of the barley tree.
The sound of pigeons cooing on the roof.
The smell of freshly cut grass.
And many different colors.
But as for color, he has been unable to see the sky for a long time because he has been tilting back his neck, so he can only see the colors right in front of him.
“Tilt your head back.
“Grandpa, watch what I do.” I tried to show him, even turning his head this way and that when no one was watching, but it was no use.
Hubert's loss of the outdoor pool, courtyard, and sky gave Kevin and me the idea of ​​sound recording.

--- pp.65-66

Hubert, Eva and me.
How should I describe this relationship? I can't say we're best friends.
Then it would be an exaggeration.
We feel each other.
It's like waves or children's hand play, either digging into each other or reaching out to each other anyway.
Another hand is placed on top of the top hand, the bottom hand is pulled out and placed on top again, and so on.
Emotions, moods, and gestures accumulate.
Sometimes it's Hubert's growl, sometimes it's Eva's country, and sometimes it's my humor.

--- pp.119-120

Sometimes I think deeply about what to give to whom.
It's not a real gift that can be unwrapped.
Rather, it's more like a delusion, something my grandmother would say, "Honey, you have a rich imagination."

(……)
I want to wish the moth many, many mistakes.
I'd like to see her make mistakes in a series so that she can realize that humans are flawed and make mistakes.
No, it would be better to experience a very serious mistake, a serious mistake, and still not have the ground split open and swallow you.
Mistakes are part of everyone's life, and that includes hers.
The next day the moth will still be alive.
I also wish the moth had strong wings.
I want her to feel free.
Complaining in the kitchen or saying, “Oh, Linda.
Stop saying "everyone is like a dog's nose".

--- pp.159-161

I feel like I am the water and [Ave Maria] is the sponge.
I think it's magic.
The tension of the past few weeks just melts away.
The tension in your shoulders goes away, and your hands rest calmly on your knees.
Even though there is no apple cake, the scent wafts through the air.
Soft light shines through my eyelids.
How good it is to have Hubert.
How nice it is to have Eva.
How wonderful it is that life has brought us together.
Every time we parted ways, the words of Hugo von Hofmannsthal, which my grandmother used to whisper in my ear, suddenly came to mind.
My grandmother used to say that sentence to me when I was five years old, until I could say it myself, and then the roles were reversed, and whenever we met or parted ways, I would always whisper that sentence in her ear.

'We, who live in the same time, are beings with a mysterious meaning to each other.'
--- p.167

I watch Hubert's gaze follow a pair of ducks swimming past.
He nods slightly, almost imperceptibly, and the next moment a smile spreads across his face.
He looks at me as if to say, 'Have you seen the ducks?'

I imagine him smiling and thanking me for bringing him here.
The sky is blue, the sunlight is soft, and his expression is relaxed.
I think I imagined something like this.
I feel a joy that seems too great for this work.
Something inside me cheers as if this is my success.

I place my hand on his back with love.

--- pp.216-217

“Oh my, Mom,” I sigh.
“Let’s just pretend it is.” My mom looks at me as if to ask what I mean.
“Most people just pretend to be like that.
I pretend that life is okay, but like everyone else, I'm not doing well.
We can pretend to be like that too.
“Pretend our lives are okay.”
--- p.222

This is a slow death.
Brain cells and skin cells die, and muscles break down.
Hair and eyelashes fall out.
Everything is getting thinner and thinner, but the eyebrows are getting thicker.

“You can put your cigarettes here,” I say, stroking his eyebrows.
Hubert doesn't know anything about cigarettes or how to smoke them.
“My grandfather used to smoke.
Lucky Strike.
Do you remember?
When I find an eyelash stuck to his cheek, I blow it and wish for money, a house by the sea, a Tesla, and for Hubert to have a super brain.
A super brain with genius turbo synapses and billions of new neurons, a super brain that would allow him to easily find out his parents' names and bring Eva peace.

--- p.299