The Reader by Bernhard Schlink [U.S. FIRST EDITION] 1997 • Pantheon

The Reader by Bernhard Schlink translated from the German by Carol Brown Janeway

U.S. FIRST EDITION [1997] PANTHEON BOOKS

5th printing / 1997. 

Small hardcover with dust jacket in excellent condition. 

Dust jacket is near pristine with light shelf wear; housed in a new archival quality jacket protector. 

Book looks and reads like new; one faint stain to edge of text block. 

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.

When 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.