Bernhard Schlink’s new book, the acclaimed author of “The Reader,” contains seven captivating love stories under the common title “Summer Deceptions.” A conversation between fellow passengers during a many-hour flight, a single night in Baden-Baden, a brief resort romance—will this become the beginning of a new life or forever remain only a romantic memory? Together with Schlink’s characters, the reader discovers different facets of love, with all its small betrayals and unspoken things, hurts and jealousy, self-deception, lies told for mercy—and the indelible memory of the heart. Again and again we are convinced of the fragility of happiness and the steadfastness of hope. Written in Schlink’s restrained, simple, and noble manner—long his “signature”—“Summer Deceptions” is an attempt to answer what it means to love, what deception is, and how difficult it is to always remain a human being.