The Reader

For 15-year-old Michael, a chance meeting with an older woman leads to far more than he ever imagined. 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 find Hanna in the dock. The woman he loved is a war criminal. Much about her behaviour during the trial does not make sense. Hanna must answer for a horrible crime, but she is desperately concealing an even deeper secret ... "Leaps national boundaries and speaks straight to the heart ... a moving, suggestive and ultimately hopeful work" - NEW YORK TIMES "A sensitive, daring, deeply moving book about the tragic results of fear and the redemptive power of understanding"- RUTH RENDELL