Bernhard Schlink is the bestselling author of "The Reader." His new book, "The Weekend," tells the story of a group of people involved in the political upheaval in Germany in the 1970s and how it affects their lives today. In this Vook, he reflects on terror, politics and his writing process. Bernhard's reflections are paired with chapters from the novel to give insight into the history behind the story. As a special bonus at the end of this Vook, read Bernard Schlink's short story "A Little Fling." The plot of "The Weekend" revolves around a group of old friends and lovers who reunite for a weekend in a secluded country home after spending decades apart. They excavate old memories and pass clandestine judgments on the wildly divergent paths they’ve taken since their youth. But this isn’t just any reunion, and their conversations about the old days aren’t your typical reminiscences: After twenty-four years, Jörg, a convicted murderer and terrorist, has been released from prison. The announcement of his pardon sends shock waves throughout the country, but before the announcement, his friends—some of whom were Baader-Meinhof sympathizers or those who clung to them—gather for his first weekend of freedom.
Author
Bernhard Schlink is a German jurist and writer. He became a judge at the Constitutional Court of the federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia in 1988 and has been a professor of public law and the philosophy of law at Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany since January 2006. His career as a writer began with several detective novels with a main character named Selb—a play on the German word for "self." In 1995 he published The Reader (Der Vorleser), a partly autobiographical novel. The book became a bestseller both in Germany and the United States and was translated into 39 languages. It was the first German book to reach the number one position in the New York Times bestseller list.
