Plot summary

On a rainy day in late 1950s Neustadt in West Germany, shivering 15-year-old tram passenger Michael Berg chances upon Hanna Schmitz, a stern tram conductor and a woman six years more than twice his age. A few months later, a fragrant bouquet and an inadvertent glimpse of Hanna's silken undergarments set the stage for an unexpected, passionate, summer-long affair, accompanied by the life-changing ritual of having Michael narrate the classics to her. In 1966, many years after their secret liaison mysteriously ended, the couple meets again when Michael, now a law student, sees a grizzled Hanna among a group of Nazi SS wardens while attending a war-crimes trial. But how can this be true? How can Michael come to terms with a dark past and an entire country's shame and guilt?—Nick Riganas