By Alois Hotschnig
Peirene Press  2011

A spellbinding short story collection by one of Austria’s most critically acclaimed authors. 

A man becomes obsessed with observing his neighbours. A large family gathers for Christmas only to wait for the one member who never turns up. An old woman lures a man into her house where he finds dolls resembling himself as a boy. Mesmerizing and haunting stories about loss of identity in the modern world.
 

Reviews
The Guardian Paperback of the Year 2011: "incredibly weird and unclassifiable"
 
"clever and enticing" Times Literary Supplement
 
‎"Not since Julio Cortazar's game of Hopscotch ... has an author so daringly undertaken to challenge the reader." Amanda Hopkinson, The Independent
 
"Hotschnig's stories have the weird, creepy and ambiguous quality of disturbing dreams. .. It is, though, very refreshing to be confronted by stories which so firmly refuse to yield to conventional interpretation." Nicholas Lezard, The Guardian
 
"This award-winning collection by the Austrian writer Alois Hotschnig drew comparisons with Kafka. But Hotschnig’s quietly terrifying voice is all his own." Daily Mail 
  
"Intriguing and powerful, Maybe This Time perfectly captures the sense of abandonment, the unpalatable truths, the trickery and the nihilism that have driven our desperate bid to find both a sense of identity and a firm footing in the bewildering and uncharted waters of the 21st century." Pamela Norfolk, Lancashire Evening Post
 
"These stories... demonstrate Hotschnig's impressive talent at creating and drawing the reader into psychological terrains that are at once familiar and strange." Pamela Saur, Journal of Austrian Studies, University of Nebraska Press

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