DON'T ASK FOR SUGAR A TRUE STORY
About world travel, freedom, love, adventure and a new beginning.
The Complete Trilogy
The train brakes screech.
A young man punches a hole in the ceiling of an overcrowded Indian night train and jumps down from the upper sleeping berth. The passengers stare at him. Moments earlier, he discovered that his backpack had disappeared.
Passport gone. Money gone. Everything gone.
Desperately, he searches among hundreds of passengers for the thief. But this is only one stop on a journey that began years earlier in Germany.
Christoph grows up as the fifth of six brothers in Stuttgart. From an early age, he wants to see the world. Not someday. Now. With little money and even less of a plan, he sets off for Asia.
In Thailand, he meets Suzanne from New Zealand. For one week, the world seems to stand still. Then she flies to Australia and he returns to Germany. Four months later, Christoph has earned enough money to follow her.
For the first time, life seems to be heading in the right direction.
Which should probably have made him suspicious.
Then they hear about a fortune teller known for her remarkably accurate predictions. Suzanne, she says, will soon be living far to the south. Christoph, on the other hand, has a difficult test ahead of him.
A few days later, Suzanne is offered a remarkably cheap flight to New Zealand.
She boards the plane.
Christoph is left behind.
And the test begins.
To take his mind off things, Christoph travels around Australia, works on a dive boat and survives on casual jobs. Shortly before his visa expires, he learns that his brother Ralf is back in India.
Christoph knows exactly what that means.
He gets on the plane anyway.
India greets him with chaos, heat and a severe case of food poisoning. Soon afterwards, he finds himself with Ralf on that overcrowded night train to Nepal – the train on which his backpack, passport and money disappear.
His brother lends him enough money to get back to New Delhi. Back in Germany, Christoph works as a CNC machinist in West Berlin and spends an entire year saving for one goal: to see Suzanne again.
The money is never enough.
Eventually, he makes a decision that will change everything. It takes him through East Berlin and into the Himalayas – and ultimately behind the walls of an East German prison.
Interrogations. Pre-trial detention. Forced labour. Isolation. The infamous Tiger Cage of Rummelsburg.
Life, by this point, has clearly abandoned subtlety.
DON’T ASK FOR SUGAR is the true story of a young man searching for freedom and repeatedly discovering that freedom has a rather complicated sense of humour.
It is a story of world travel and downfall, love and loss, brothers, adventure and spectacularly questionable decisions – told with self-irony and black humour. The kind that sometimes makes you laugh when, strictly speaking, there has long been nothing left to laugh about.
And it is about getting back up when life has already provided several convincing reasons to stay down.
This edition contains the complete trilogy:
• How It All Begins
• Nothing Remains As It Is
• Anticyclical Thinking
Including numerous original photographs from that period.
Bernhard Christoph Lichtinger writes from lived experience – from setbacks, detours, new beginnings and encounters that never needed to be invented. His stories begin where real life leaves its mark.
If you are interested in my novels, you can find the links to the titles here.
ALMOST NORMAL – 16 SHORT STORIES
NOTHING REMAINS AS IT IS – VOLUME 2
GOODREADS ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
REVIEW August 25, 2025
This is a fantastic book!! Once i started I could not put it down. A heart breaking, epic tale of true love, endurance and survival. I can’t recommend this one enough, it felt like I was there in the middle of it. At times it made me cry, it is a real wild ride. Amazing!!
verifizierter Kauf, Luke de Pina
GOODREADS ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
REVIEW February 7, 2024
Hold onto your hats, folks, because Don’t Ask for Sugar is one heck of a ride! This memoir is like a rollercoaster through the wild and wonderful world of Christoph’s life, packed with love, adventure, and enough twists to make your head spin. From steamy romance in Bangkok to heartbreak in the Australian outback, Christoph’s story will tug at your heartstrings and leave you breathless with anticipation. So, if you’re craving a memoir that’s equal parts thrilling and heartfelt, then grab a copy of Don’t Ask for Sugar and buckle up for the adventure of a lifetime! 🌍💔
- Sue 978 reviews 65 followers
GOODREADS ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
- Peter J.
KOBO ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
- Abigail L. 968 reviews / 59 followers
KOBO ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
December 5, 2023
- Shay Cunniffe
KOBO ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
- Caroline M. on January 13, 2024
KOBO ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
- Lynn
AMAZON ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
If you want to believe in true love, read this book!
Rezension aus den Vereinigten Staaten vom 18. Januar 2024
Verifizierter Kauf
You’ll go through every emotion in this book, which is both funny and touching.
A magnificent journey that makes us believe in true love and travel around the world !
- Cogne Sandrine
AMAZON ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
- WayneForza
GOODREADS ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
- READERS
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