You’re seventy-six years old, you have a young wife and a six-year-old child, and you have only a few months left to live. How will you spend them?
Martin, a former professor, lawyer, and historian of law, learns he has a fatal diagnosis, and now he must plan the rest of his life. What do you want to accomplish if, in a few months, the people you love will say goodbye to you forever? What can you leave them—shared affairs, memories, feelings? Should you leave them anything? Important scholarly articles, a letter to your son, your wife’s freedom?
And what surprises can late life bring?
Bernhard Schlink, a contemporary classic of German literature and winner of numerous literary awards, author of the bestsellers “The Reader” and “The Guiltless,” has written a new novel—about love and its unexpected faces, and about quiet courage in the face of the inevitable.
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