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.She enthralls him with her passion, but puzzles him with her odd silences.Then she inexplicably disappears.

When Michael next sees her, he is a young law student and Hanna is on trial for a hideous crime. But as he watches her refuse to defend herself, Michael gradually realizes that his former lover may be guarding a secret she consid-ers more shameful than murder.