Bernhard Schlink

The Reader

A teenager and an older woman: years later she stands trial as a concentration-camp guard.

💡 Did you know? It was the first German novel to top the US bestseller list.

Kate Winslet

She played the mysterious Hanna Schmitz.

💡 Did you know? The film „The Reader“ made the novel even better known worldwide.

constitutional judge

His legal eye shapes the clear, weighing prose of his novels.

💡 Did you know? Before „The Reader“ he wrote successful crime novels about the detective Selb.

Gerhard Selb

The former public prosecutor investigates in Mannheim: the series began with „Selbs Justiz“.

💡 Did you know? Schlink’s crime novels appeared years before his global hit „The Reader“.

that she cannot read

Out of shame she even takes greater guilt upon herself in court.

💡 Did you know? That is why she had the boy read to her: hence the title.

Guilt and the Nazi past

How do you deal with people you love who were also perpetrators?

💡 Did you know? Schlink himself belongs to the generation of war children.

Oprah Winfrey

Its selection for Oprah’s Book Club in 1999 made the novel a number-one bestseller in the US.

💡 Did you know? Thus „The Reader“ became the first German novel to top the US list.

Law / jurisprudence

He long taught at the Humboldt University of Berlin.

💡 Did you know? Law and literature remained for him two sides of the question of justice.

Bernhard Schlink