For the first time in Russian, the latest novel by Bernhard Schlink, the author of the famous “The Reader,” is a poignant story about the clash of generations, the inability to forget one’s past, the paradoxes of love and time. Kaspar and Birgit lived together all their lives. Many years ago, she ran to him from East Berlin to West Berlin, towards love and freedom. However, only now, in his declining years, Kaspar was destined to learn about the price that Birgit had to pay for her escape. One day, returning home, Kaspar finds his wife in the bathroom. She committed suicide. In search of answers, Kaspar dives into the past of a woman whom he thought he knew well. Some questions give rise to others, Kaspar's investigation leads him to strange, dark places where the past is brought back to life...