num_pages: 224
description: INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER •  Hailed for its coiled eroticism and the moral claims it makes upon the reader, this mesmerizing novel is a story of love and secrets, horror and compassion, unfolding against the haunted landscape of postwar Germany."A formally beautiful, disturbing and finally morally devastating novel." — Los Angeles TimesWhen he falls ill on his way home from school, fifteen-year-old Michael Berg is rescued by Hanna, a woman twice his age. In time she becomes his lover—then she inexplicably disappears. When Michael next sees her, he is a young law student, and she is on trial for a hideous crime. As he watches her refuse to defend her innocence, Michael gradually realizes that Hanna may be guarding a secret she considers more shameful than murder.
language: English
title: The Reader
titlecomplete: The Reader (Turtleback School & Library Binding Edition)
characters: Hanna Schmitz, Michael Berg
genres: Fiction, Historical, War, German Literature, Romance, Classics, Holocaust, Germany, Historical Fiction, World War II
ratings_count: 204171
places: Germany
awards: awardedAt: 852105600000
name: Los Angeles Times Book Prize
category: Fiction, awardedAt: 915177600000
name: Exclusive Books Boeke Prize, awardedAt: 852105600000
name: Prix des libraires du Québec
category: Lauréats hors Québec, awardedAt: 852105600000
name: Prix Laure Bataillon, awardedAt: 852105600000
name: Premio Grinzane Cavour
category: Narrativa Straniera, awardedAt: 946713600000
name: Ελληνο-γερμανικό Βραβείο Μετάφρασης
category: Ιάκωβος Κοπερτί, awardedAt: 915177600000
name: Dublin Literary Award
category: Shortlist
publisher: Tandem