by Prof Bernhard Schlink (Author)
An exceptionally powerful novel exploring the themes of betrayal, guilt and memory against the background of the Holocaust. An international bestseller. For 15-year-old Michael Berg, a chance meeting with an older woman leads to far more than he ever imagined. The woman in question is Hanna, and before long they embark on a passionate, clandestine love affair which leaves Michael both euphoric and confused. For Hanna is not all she seems. Years later, as a law student observing a trial in Germany, Michael is shocked to realize that the person in the dock is Hanna. The woman he had loved is a criminal. Much about her behaviour during the trial does not make sense. But then suddenly, and terribly, it does - Hanna is not only obliged to answer for a horrible crime, she is also desperately concealing an even deeper secret. 'A tender, horrifying novel that shows blazingly well how the Holocaust should be dealt with in fiction. A thriller, a love story and a deeply moving examination of a German conscience' INDEPENDENT SATURDAY MAGAZINE
Format: Paperback
Pages: 240
Edition: New Ed
Publisher: Weidenfeld & Nicholson
Published: 02 Oct 2003
ISBN 10: 0753804700
ISBN 13: 9780753804704
Book Overview: Part of the Phoenix 'Eyewitness to History' promotion
Prizes: Shortlisted for Heathrow Travel Product Award: Travel Read, Fiction 2009.
Bernhard Schlink was born in Germany is 1944. A professor of law at Humboldt University, Berlin, and Cardozo Law School, New York, he is the author of the internationally bestselling novels THE READER, which became an Oscar-winning film starring Kate Winslet and Ralph Fiennes, and THE WOMAN ON THE STAIRS; the short story collections FLIGHTS OF LOVE and SUMMER LIES, and several prize-winning crime novels. His latest novel, OLGA, was a #1 bestseller internationally and will be published in English in 2020.
He lives in Berlin and New York.