ABOUT THIS BOOK

Hailed for its coiled eroticism and the moral claims it makes upon the reader, this mesmerizing novel is a story of love and secrets, horror and compassion, unfolding against the haunted landscape of postwar Germany.

When he falls ill on his way home from school, fifteen-year-old Michael Berg is rescued by Hanna, a woman twice his age. In time she becomes his lover--then she inexplicably disappears. When Michael next sees her, he is a young law student, and she is on trial for a hideous crime. As he watches her refuse to defend her innocence, Michael gradually realizes that Hanna may be guarding a secret she considers more shameful than murder.

"A formally beautiful, disturbing and finally morally devastating novel." --Los Angeles Times

"Moving, suggestive and ultimately hopeful. . . . [The Reader] leaps national boundaries and speaks straight to the heart." --The New York Times Book Review

"Arresting, philosophically elegant, morally complex. . . . Mr. Schlink tells his story with marvelous directness and simplicity." --The New York Times

"Haunting. . . . What Schlink does best, what makes this novel most memorable, are the small moments of highly charged eroticism." --Francine Prose, Elle

#AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

Bernhard Schlink was born in Germany in 1944. A professor of law at the University of Berlin and a practicing judge, he is also the author of several prize-winning crime novels. He lives in Bonn and Berlin.

Hailed for its coiled eroticism and the moral claims it makes upon the reader, this mesmerizing novel is a story of love and secrets, horror and compassion, unfolding against the haunted landscape of postwar Germany.

When he falls ill on his way home from school, fifteen-year-old Michael Berg is rescued by Hanna, a woman twice his age. In time she becomes his lover--then she inexplicably disappears. When Michael next sees her, he is a young law student, and she is on trial for a hideous crime. As he watches her refuse to defend her innocence, Michael gradually realizes that Hanna may be guarding a secret she considers more shameful than murder.

"A formally beautiful, disturbing and finally morally devastating novel." --Los Angeles Times

"Moving, suggestive and ultimately hopeful. . . . [The Reader] leaps national boundaries and speaks straight to the heart." --The New York Times Book Review

"Arresting, philosophically elegant, morally complex. . . . Mr. Schlink tells his story with marvelous directness and simplicity." --The New York Times

"Haunting. . . . What Schlink does best, what makes this novel most memorable, are the small moments of highly charged eroticism." --Francine Prose, Elle

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morally distasteful Em Australia

An older woman who holds in her thrall younger "readers" - by any means she can. In the death camps, the girls had no choice - nor did it lead to any of them surviving. In Michael's case - a boy on the edge of manhood, having spent three months with little to do but read or day-dream, and having apparently correct,parents who appear to give littledirection, other than the observance of good manners, he too falls victim to Hanna who has a need. She seems to use any method available to satisfy her need to learn. In doing this she controls the young who come within her orbit. She is an immoral person who leaves a trail of destroyed people in her wake. In the Nazi camp it is a trail of bright young girls dead - as they each discover her secret. In Michael's case it is an inability to ever love any woman except Hanna. Michael shows compassion. But is itcomplicity? As he reads the books he loves to Hanna, now in Gaol. Also he cannot visit her. Perhaps he has realised the damage she has done to him. There is much more to this book than I have written, but I have never written a review before. I found this a book both disturbing and dark.

WOW! one of the best S T Thomas

This is a fabulously written book which uses the relationship between a schoolboy and a women twice his age to represent the generation gap in the 1960`s between children and their parents, the coming to terms with the acts of their parents. The pair fall in love, although there is more to Hanna than Michael realises! Hanna vanishes for many years, due to her Secret(wont spoil the book), but when they are reunited it is in entirely different circumstances. Fabulous book!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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