Lothar Schöne:
Das Labyrinth des Schattens
Novel
The German-Jewish journalist Sabina-Esther Morane flies from Stuttgart to Cracow to conduct research work. While on the airplane, she meets a man whose charisma makes her uneasy. In Cracow, during her first tour of the city, a ten-year-old girl takes her by the hand, pulls her along, and brings scenes from the past to life. The girl shakes the journalist to the core with the absurd claim that she is really her mother. Sabina’s world descends into turmoil and ultimately she seeks out the advice of a psychologist and a rabbi. Das Labyrinth des Schattens takes place in the present as well as in Cracow before World War II. Through the girl, the journalist experiences her grandparents’ love story, the contrary lifestyles of two different Jewish families, and is confronted with the question of God and the theodicy - why is there evil in the world despite God? At the same time, she begins an affair with the man from the airplane to whom she feels equally attracted and disgusted. But the stranger wants too much from her: she cannot love him. Driven and insecure, Sabina senses how the past has become part of her present, and the strange, charismatic man soon shows her the full extent of his terrifying power.
Das Labyrinth des Schattens. Novel.
Approx. 280 pages, hardcover with jacket
Kloepfer & Meyer, 2010
ISBN 978-3-940086-43-3
About the author: Lothar Schöne was born in Herrnhut. He studied in Frankfurt and Mainz and completed his doctorate in Tübingen. He has worked as a banker, journalist, college lecturer, and screenplay writer. Schöne has published novels, novellas, and specialized works. His novel, Der blaue Geschmack der Welt, was voted book of the year in 2002 by readers of the German newspaper Die Welt. Das jüdische Begräbnis, his most recently published novel, was translated into six languages, including Hebrew. It was celebrated in Israel as a literary event and is currently being adapted as a screenplay. Lothar Schöne has received numerous prizes and awards, including the literature award from the city of Offenbach, a Villa Massimo Scholarship in Rome, and the Erfurt city author prize.
Novel
The German-Jewish journalist Sabina-Esther Morane flies from Stuttgart to Cracow to conduct research work. While on the airplane, she meets a man whose charisma makes her uneasy. In Cracow, during her first tour of the city, a ten-year-old girl takes her by the hand, pulls her along, and brings scenes from the past to life. The girl shakes the journalist to the core with the absurd claim that she is really her mother. Sabina’s world descends into turmoil and ultimately she seeks out the advice of a psychologist and a rabbi. Das Labyrinth des Schattens takes place in the present as well as in Cracow before World War II. Through the girl, the journalist experiences her grandparents’ love story, the contrary lifestyles of two different Jewish families, and is confronted with the question of God and the theodicy - why is there evil in the world despite God? At the same time, she begins an affair with the man from the airplane to whom she feels equally attracted and disgusted. But the stranger wants too much from her: she cannot love him. Driven and insecure, Sabina senses how the past has become part of her present, and the strange, charismatic man soon shows her the full extent of his terrifying power.
Das Labyrinth des Schattens. Novel.
Approx. 280 pages, hardcover with jacket
Kloepfer & Meyer, 2010
ISBN 978-3-940086-43-3
About the author: Lothar Schöne was born in Herrnhut. He studied in Frankfurt and Mainz and completed his doctorate in Tübingen. He has worked as a banker, journalist, college lecturer, and screenplay writer. Schöne has published novels, novellas, and specialized works. His novel, Der blaue Geschmack der Welt, was voted book of the year in 2002 by readers of the German newspaper Die Welt. Das jüdische Begräbnis, his most recently published novel, was translated into six languages, including Hebrew. It was celebrated in Israel as a literary event and is currently being adapted as a screenplay. Lothar Schöne has received numerous prizes and awards, including the literature award from the city of Offenbach, a Villa Massimo Scholarship in Rome, and the Erfurt city author prize.