What does it really mean to be at home somewhere? Is it the place where it all began, the familiar streets and memories it holds? Or is it more of a place that still has to be found, perhaps even one that doesn’t exist yet?
In a time when seemingly anything is possible, the meaning of home is shifting as well. The term loosens its grip on geography and becomes something that has more to do with inner states than with maps. The search for it is multilayered: it’s about fulfillment, about self-location, about encounters with people who lift you up, and about the need to belong to something larger. At the same time, perhaps precisely because of this openness, the longing for something lasting grows. For a place that carries you, a feeling that is not fleeting but remains.
A Multilayered Portrait of Being on the Road Between Homesickness and Wanderlust
Marie Luise Ritter dedicates herself to this longing in her new book and spends a summer in Paris — a city that for many serves as a projection space for big feelings and stories. “The Search for Home” tells of this journey and of the questions that accompany it: Can a place of longing be more than a dream? Can it be transformed into a home? What does it take to really settle somewhere — outwardly and inwardly? Ritter’s writing weaves personal experiences with reflections on home, otherness, and belonging, creating a multilayered portrait of being on the road between homesickness and wanderlust. The result is a quiet, precise tracing of what connects people to places — and what they themselves must bring to arrive.
“The Search for Home” is now available as a 240-page paperback for €17, as well as as an e-book for €16.99 (Amazon Affiliate Link) from Munich-based Piper Verlag. A sample chapter is available on the publisher’s site.
The author Marie Luise Ritter, born in 1991, studied journalism and has made Hamburg and now Berlin her home. As an influencer focused on personal, authentic stories, she takes her readers along on Instagram at @luiseliebt — on travels and festivals, on her dates, and on the search for love. (dd/pm)
