One of my favourite books of 1998, the sort that, on completion, leaves you stunned and really does stay with you for – well, in my case – years as it was 10 years ago that I read it but now, with the film coming, it’s going to be back in the limelight. That sensation of admiration is still with me. Clever, beautifully written, short, stark and hard-hitting, it is a tale of sex, guilt and shame with the holocaust raising its ugly head in an original and alarming way.
Below is a video of Ben Twiston-Davies discussing the sculptures he made for the 20th anniversay edtions of the Orion classics, specifically The Reader by Bernhard Schlink.
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.
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 major international bestselling novel and movie The Reader, short story collection Flights of Love and several prize-winning crime novels. He lives in Berlin and New York.
