The story of the unusual Wirring family is a hymn to freedom, rebellion and anarchy. Just like the famous Gallic village the Wirring’s old farmhouse defies the surrounding concrete apartment blocks in Salzburg. For the narrow-minded neighbourhoods it’s a thorn in their side, but for the shameless everyday anarchy of the four family members, it offers a reliable home: Claudia, campaigner for environmental and social renewal, Werner, former advertising guru and now life scientist, grandfather Peter, called Pete Wire, rock musician, and son Rolf, who tries to make sense of it all. That is until the day a terminally ill man stands in the doorway claiming to be an illegitimate child produced from an encounter between their rock star grandpa and a waitress…and with this he sets a turbulent family story spanning three decades in motion.

Where is the child prodigy? In the shadow of Mozart, even murder becomes art. Birgit has disappeared: The ten year-old musical prodigy is abducted in Salzburg, right under Mozart’s eyes, so to speak. This happens just when she is supposed to compete in the finals of an international piano competition after beating her friend Anja, daughter of a respectable family, in the semi-finals. Her friend’s father, manager of the state’s largest energy corporation, political lackey and pawn declared fair game in the local political scene, is definitely keen on seeing his daughter make a quick career. His ambition catches the attention of chief inspector Laber, who, struggling to solve his first case, must find his place in an intricate web of power and music, beauty and cruelty. From one day to the next, fingers in the city start pointing in several directions – to the murderer as well? All the while, Mozart silently weeps on his pedestal: full of anger, but also full of laughter and ardor for this book.

Josef Urban's one thought is to get away – so a car with the key left in the ignition offers the very chance. It is not his car, but this matters to him just as little as the fact that he has no driver's licence. He soon realises, however, that there is a girl asleep on the back seat. When she wakes up he tells her to get out, but she refuses. Maria, a schoolgirl, is the lover of the RI teacher to whom the car belongs. She is pregnant, and has little sympathy with the victim of the theft. She can understand Urban's escape attempt, however. The border is closer that they realise, and they suddenly find themselves in Italy. Josef is enjoying the trip and the company; but he cannot avoid feeling responsible for the girl – a thankless role, especially as it is hardly consistent with his love for the absurd. Nominated for the German Book Prize 2005 (Longlist)

Austria in the not too distant future: right-wing populist Michael Hichl has just begun his third term as prime minister; the country is not only free of foreigners, it is in recession, isolated internationally and crippled by inflation and unemployment. In search of a brighter future, the Putschek family emigrate to what is now one of the richest EU countries, Turkey. On their eventful journey, the Putscheks meet Burgenland racketeers, authentic Arian Hungarians, shady people-traffickers, and politically persecuted Carinthians, finally landing in an Istanbul refugee centre. It is very hard to integrate, however, when a member of the family is slowly losing their mind. The Round Table consists of Klaus Oppitz, Rudi Roubinek, Mike Bernard and Gerald Fleischhacker. The other knights of the Round Table assisted the creation of Emigration Day with wordplay, tips and feedback. The four have pooled their diverse talents and with their combined strength have become leading writers on the Austrian comedy scene.

Under right-wing populist Michael Hichl, Austria has become a despotically ruled police state. Dissidents, foreigners, and homosexuals are made illegal, the country is run down, and border regions are abused as cheap production sites where the rural population and regime critics slave away in sweatshops. We meet some drifters cluelessly wandering around Austria: Emma with her dilettante assassination plans, opportunistic former callboy Pascal, Alwine who's searching for the love of her, and Wolferl the no-good son of Hichl's chief PR guy who can't get over the murder of his ex-girlfriend Valli Putschek. But something is going on in Upper Austria's impoverished Mühlviertel: Austria's first terror militia, the "Christian Republic" is making its way towards the hills around Linz. Just then the four lost souls cross paths and things quickly get out of hand.