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The Granddaughter
Birgit fled to West Berlin to Kaspar, choosing love and freedom. It is only after Birgit’s death that he discovers the price she paid. He sets out to uncover her secret in the East, meeting those she cared about, witnessing their oppression and their stubbornness first-hand. His search leads him to a rural community of neo-Nazis – and to a young girl who comes to think of him as a grandfather, and whom he considers a granddaughter. Their worlds could not be more different – but he is determined to fight for her.
368 pages
2021
978-3-257-07181-8
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»Schlink once again presents a gripping relationship drama.«
»In his new novel The Granddaughter, he picks up thematically from his most successful book: The Reader.«
»Bernhard Schlink has once again woven his new novel around an exciting plot, within which the existential topics intensify further still.«
»Schlink packs a great deal into this novel. The soft tones are convincing, as is grief as an impetus to search for the lost daughter; and especially the initial, sensitively narrated section.«
»Because one can relate to this immediacy of personal experience, the novel is very gripping.«
»He puts a big sign of hope at the end.«
»Bernhard Schlink's new novel is, in its own way, brave too.«
»Once again, a very readable book.«
»Solving major conflicts like those in The Granddaughter requires not only understanding and knowledge, but also patience, empathy, listening, music and good reading material.«
»The book is also a reflection of the complex and by no means finalized process of reunification, underpinned by numerous historical details.«
»A great book with a brilliant ending.«
»Bernhard Schlink has written a novel that you will carry with you everywhere, just in case you have a spare moment to read further.«
»Schlink's novel remains captivating because he gives space to the main character's doubts and ruminations.«
»The history of the past century separates the generations – even now, as can be read in the touching novel by Bernhard Schlink. People are driven by incomprehension and discontent.«
»The Granddaughter is a well-conceived novel based on thorough research. In its humanity, it attempts to make irreconcilable points of view a touch more comprehensible«
»An excellent narrator who is a pleasure to follow.«
»Schlink's Granddaughter – a novel that will again conquer the world.«
»The novel time and again provides insights into contemporary German history. That, too, is a merit of this author, who writes about war, shame and guilt like no other.«
»A fascinating political journey through the history of contemporary Germany and its reunification, charged with dark concern.«
»The cohabitation of these irreconcilables, the permanence of the country's ills and wounds - these are all things that the author of the hugely successful The Reader (1996) manages to capture with elegance and acuity.«
»There are historians who have made Germany's work on its Nazi past their favourite discipline. And then there's Bernhard Schlink.«
»Once again, Bernhard Schlink explores with humanity the transmission of the memory of his country.«
»Bernhard Schlink tells a wonderful story of relationships tinged with bitterness that are far more complex than we think [...] It's a bright book of dazzling generosity, devoid of hatred. It’s a crush of hearts that will become permanent [...]«
»Beyond Germany, The Granddaughter is above all a dazzling story of love, reparation, and completed mourning. And it is a story that constantly lifts the spirits of the reader, as the pages are written in the tightest, most painful way. For it is all about loving the other to the end of his unbearable, indecipherable otherness.«
»The German writer Bernhard Schlink, author of the impeccable The Reader in 1995, is back with a great novel, The Granddaughter. Rightly considered one of the best contemporary authors, he offers a journey between two Germanys, in space and in time. Without hesitation, we follow him. An essential text.«
»Bernhard Schlink deals with the issues of transmission, exile and commitment with great sensitivity.«
»An admirable novel about Germany after reunification. Beautiful and heartbreaking.«
»A masterpiece.«