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The Woman on the Stairs
A famous painting, missing for decades, suddenly turns up again. A surprise for the art world, and confusing for the man who, as a young lawyer, became entangled in the conflict between the painter and the owner. And who, in the process, fell in love with the woman depicted in the painting. He starts to search for her, and finds much more than the answers to her demeanour and mysterious disappearance. He also has to ask questions about himself that he has always suppressed. The scene: Frankfurt am Main, Sydney and an impassable bay on the Australian coast. A novel about being in the right, about sympathy, property and loss, true and false proximity. And about the happiness of a love that knows its own finite nature.
256 pages
2014
978-3-257-06909-9
World rights are handled by Diogenes
»A novel told with breathtaking ease about rights and ethics, great emotions and bitter disappointment.«
»Bernhard Schlink’s ›The Woman on the Stairs‹ flows with great style between fiction and the politics of the day. The novel is gripping and intelligent, offset with a good portion of thoughtfulness.«
»Bernhard Schlink offers a profoundly moving meditation on how one's life is affected by the choices one makes along the way.«
»...exquisite novel...«
»At the end of this clever but melancholy novel readers are left with some answers to some questions but with others still to ponder. And that’s a satisfying ending because it keeps the novel alive after the last page has been turned.«
»Bernhard Schlink's The Woman on the Stairs runs on taut suspense.«
»Bernhard Schlink [...] tells a mysterious, character-driven, and history-enriched story in which a man reckons with his past.«
»A beautiful novel exploring how nostalgia can both keep us at a standstill and enliven us to dramatic action, Schlink’s writing is as graceful and unsettling as a fine work of art.«