[4] Following his graduation from high school in 2003, he decided not to go to university but instead moved to Berlin to pursue his writing.

[6] It was described by Die Zeit as "the most interesting debut of the year"[2] and was made into a film in 2015, starring Christian Ulmen.

[8] It remained on the German bestseller list for more than 80 weeks and awarded the 2016 European Union Prize for Literature.

The novel won the Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis and is also described as an hommage to classic American 80s-movies like The Breakfast Club and Stand by Me (film).

Wells legally changed his surname at the age of 19, because he wanted to distance himself from what his German grandfather had done and this part of his family's history, which he condemns.