Picked up at the Beavercreek Library Sale. I enjoyed this book so much; I can never pass picking it up to share with someone else.

FROM THE PUBLISHER
The Reader is both a literary surprise and a moral challenge: a riveting, provocative, and deeply moving novel about a young boy's erotic awakening in a passionate, clandestine love affair with an older woman, and what happens to them both when the secrets in her past are revealed. Fifteen-year-old Michael Berg becomes ill on the way home from school. A woman takes care of him. Later, the boy arrives at her home with a bunch of flowers to thank her. And then comes back again. Hanna is the first woman he has ever desired. But there is something slightly off-key about her. His questions about her family and her life go unanswered. One day Hanna simply disappears. Michael's life goes on, but he can't forget her. Years later, as a law student observing a trial in Germany, Michael is shocked to realize that the person in the dock is Hanna. The woman he had loved so passionately is a criminal. Much about her behavior during the trial makes no sense. But then, suddenly and terribly, it does — Hanna is not only obliged to answer for a horrible crime, she is also desperately concealing an even deeper secret. As the past erupts into the present — both Michael's past with Hanna, and the past of Germany itself — Michael must accept that he will never be free of either of them.
SYNOPSIS
Set in postwar Germany, The Reader is a provocative, morally challenging, and deeply moving novel about a young boy's erotic awakening in a clandestine love affair with a mysterious older woman. Falling ill on his way home from school, 15-year-old Michael Berg is rescued by Hanna, a woman twice his age. For a time, the two become passionate lovers. Then, one day, Hanna disappears without a word. Years later, as a law student observing a trial in Germany, Michael recognizes his former lover on the stand, accused of a hideous crime. And as he watches Hanna refuse to defend herself against the charges, Michael gradually realizes that she may be guarding a secret more shameful than murder.

Surprise RABCK to tiatia.

I enjoyed this book so much that I've bought several copies to release. Happy Reading!

WHAT A SURPRISE! It was an unexpected "happy" in my mailbox. Thank you so much! I will journal when I finsh it.

The dialogue about good and evil, how much you can do for another without their consent, and what constitutes betrayal was timely because our book club had just finished reading Wicked, the Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Maguire. Both books make you think about the cause and effects of evil in the world. And made you consider if evil action is always worse than evil by failure to act. Thought provoking book.

RELEASE NOTES:

OBCZ Box in lobby on red table