Leyla Falkenau
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A family album, not a register

The Falkenau family

The title was abolished in 1919. The family kept the house, the stories and a habit of not talking about money. On paper the youngest is still Leyla Charlotte von Falkenau; only her grandmother calls her that, and only when she's cross.

Profile with a small pearl earring, her grandmother's, against a lime-washed wall
Oma's pearl earring.
The Falkenau family: Georg and Lotte, their son Ferdinand and Shirin, and their children Konstantin and Leyla.Georg† 1988Charlotte “Lotte”b. 1948, at the lakeFerdinandb. 1973, ViennaShirinb. 1968, Shiraz · MadridKonstantinb. 1996, LondonLeylab. 1999, Madrid · BarcelonaseparatedStefan M., 1968
Drawn from Lotte’s notes. The “von” has not been used in public since 1919.
The jetty below the house in winter, the lake grey and still
The jetty, November.

Lotte

Keeper of the house and its chronicle since 1979. Answers letters on paper, never by phone.

A piano workshop in a Vienna courtyard: an upright piano opened, its hammers on the bench, the lamp still on, nobody there
Margareten. Back in five minutes.

Ferdinand

Leyla's father. Restores pianos in a courtyard in Margareten, and is usually out.

A woman’s hands turning a pot of saffron rice out onto a blue-and-white plate, the crust golden
Madrid, Sunday. Tahdig.

Shirin

Leyla's mother. A pharmacist in Madrid, from Shiraz. Very direct on the phone, in three languages.

A man’s hand on the knee of a navy suit in the back of a taxi, rain on the window
London, in the rain.

Konstantin

Leyla's older brother. London, finance, no numbers. Wants to sell the house and will tell you so.

@konstantin.falkenau

Leyla at a typewriter by a window in Gràcia, chin on her hand, letters tied with a ribbon beside her
Gràcia, typing up the summer.

Leyla

Writes for small hotels, lives in Gràcia, and is typing up last summer instead of deciding anything.