The Granddaughter: A Novel

“Compelling . . . unfailingly interesting, building suspense as readers wonder what will happen” —Booklist (starred review)

“Schlink knows how to tell a gripping yarn . . . [The Granddaughter] is a rewarding and wonderfully readable novel.” —The Guardian

“A brilliant dissection of a fragmented nation in which a glimmer of hope relieves a somber but wholly memorable tale.” —Kirkus (starred review)

From the bestselling author of The Reader, a striking work of historical fiction exploring the past, told through the story of a German bookseller’s attempt to connect with his radicalized granddaughter.

It is only after the sudden death of his wife, Birgit, that Kaspar uncovers a devastating family secret—the price she paid years earlier when she fled East Germany to join him: she had to abandon her baby. Shattered by grief, yet animated by a new hope, Kaspar closes up his bookshop in present day Berlin and sets off to find her lost child in the east.

His search leads him to a rural community of neo-Nazis, intent on reclaiming and settling ancestral lands to the East. Among them, Kaspar encounters Svenja, a woman whose eyes, hair, and even voice remind him of Birgit. Beside her is a red-haired, slouching, fifteen-year-old girl. His granddaughter? Their worlds could not be more different—a profound ideological divide and gulf of mistrust yawns between them—but he is determined to accept her as his own.

More than twenty-five years after The Reader, Bernhard Schlink once again offers a masterfully gripping German literary fiction novel that powerfully probes the past’s role in contemporary life, transporting us from the divided Germany of the 1960s to modern day Australia, and asking what unites or separates us.

Translated from the German by Charlotte Collins

“The Granddaughter's premise will feel familiar to readers of Schlink's previous novels—-including the bestselling The Reader (1995) . . . many of which use individual relationships as proxies for examining the ongoing legacies of World War II and the Cold War in his native country. . . . [Schlink] writes instructive tales that adeptly raise difficult questions and propose appealing answers.” - New York Times Book Review

“Mr. Schlink’s timing is . . . astute. The rise of antisemitism and right-wing nationalism across Europe and the U.S. imbues The Granddaughter with a wider, more profound resonance.” - Wall Street Journal

“Schlink offers an unflinching look at the neo-Nazi movement and the compromises people make out of love. It’s a powerful story of loss and the desire to move forward.” - Publishers Weekly

“Compelling…Schlink does a superb job of character development and sensitively charts the evolving relationship between Kaspar and Sigrun. . . . well plotted and unfailingly interesting, building suspense as readers wonder what will happen to Sigrun as she becomes a young woman.” - Booklist (starred review)

“A brilliant dissection of a fragmented nation in which a glimmer of hope relieves a somber but wholly memorable tale.” - Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“Author Bernhard Schlink . . . is perhaps best known for his book The Reader, which was adapted into a critically acclaimed film starring Kate Winslet and Ralph Fiennes. The Granddaughter is a worthy follow up.” - Town & Country

“Schlink knows how to tell a gripping yarn . . . [The Granddaughter] is a rewarding and wonderfully readable novel . . . Schlink remains a perceptive chronicler of modern Germany.” - The Guardian

“The Granddaughter captures something important about contemporary Germany, lost amid countless news articles about the woes of a once mighty economy and the swift rise of the far-right party AfD (Alternative für Deutschland), especially among the Ossis, as those from the East are called. The weight of the past hasn’t disappeared, it has shape-shifted. Perpetrators are dead, but the record of their evil deeds lives on. How best to cope? Schlink has his doppelgänger provide an answer.” - Washington Post

"The Granddaughter is the great novel of German reunification . . . a perfect blend of sadness and tenderness." - Le Figaro

"Some great novels manage to encapsulate an entire era, showing how history makes its way into the innermost recesses of families and individuals. Such is the case with War and Peace, in its epic style, and such is the case, for a very different subject, with Bernhard Schlink's new book, The Granddaughter." - Le Monde

“Bernhard Schlink is one of the greatest talents in contemporary German literature. He is a sensitive, keenly observant and extremely intelligent storyteller. His prose is clear, precise and beautifully elegant.” - Frankfurter Neue Presse