Instead, Schlink frames the novel as a search for meaning, which dances in Olga between a multitude of timeframes and territories. This is not a straightforward elegy - and throughout the book, death is not an absolute end. And in Schlink's macro look at Germany's past, it's the small acts - of kindness and humility - that linger. there's a sophisticated precision to his writing, which is superbly translated by Charlotte Collins. Like that excellent novel, his latest, Olga, is a searching examination of modern Germany and its scarred soul. * Observer *īernhard Schlink, one of Germany's best-loved authors, is famous beyond its borders for the international bestseller The Reader. * Mail on Sunday *Ī poignant portrait of a woman out of step with her time. Olga's story draws us into a present-day reckoning with Germany's past. * Evening Standard *Ī cleverly-constructed tale of cross-class romance. 'History is not the past as it really was. One line still sticks in my head, in a letter from a Norwegian bookseller. This is the effect of memory lives are condensed into a series of experiences and relationships. How do we remember each other? As individuals, or as parts of a larger whole? As they were, or as we wish they had been? The narration can be breakneck: decades pass in single sentences, while other paragraphs describe mere moments. You should read this novel if you appreciate the power of history. The story of Olga, translated here from German by Charlotte Collins, is the story of Germany's modern history.

From the author of The Reader comes a brilliant new novel about history and the nature of memory.

Olga schlink