Then I read his book ‘ The Weekend‘ and hated it and I stopped reading Bernhard Schlink. I loved his books, ‘ The Reader‘ and ‘ Homecoming‘, and some of the stories I read in ‘ Flights of Love‘. I had forgotten how much I liked Bernhard Schlink till I read this book. What happens when, after many years, Sherlock Holmes stumbles upon a clue and goes on a quest for Irene Adler? What if Sherlock Holmes is not a detective but a lawyer? What if it is not Bohemia of the 19th century but the Germany of the contemporary era? And what if Irene Adler is, well Irene Adler? 😊 Well, this is the story we get.

It is a beautiful love letter to Irene Adler. ‘ The Woman on the Stairs‘ is a beautiful homage to Sherlock Holmes and Irene Adler and ‘A Scandal in Bohemia’. The next passage is my own opinion, but I think it is also spoiler-ish. I don’t want to tell you anything more on the plot, but I can’t resist saying this. What happens after that, when our lawyer goes on a quest for a secret from his past and tries to find the mysterious woman in the painting forms the rest of the story. Then he hires a detective to find that out. Our lawyer tries to find out who owns the painting, but hits a dead end. We discover that there are mysterious past events that connect him to the painting and the people related to it. He is surprised when he sees a painting there called ‘The Woman on the Stairs’. During a break from work, he goes to the art gallery. The narrator of the story is a German lawyer. I haven’t read a book by him in a while and so I thought I’ll read this now for German Literature Month hosted by Caroline from Beauty is a Sleeping Cat and Lizzy from Lizzy’s Literary Life. I stumbled upon Bernhard Schlink’s ‘ The Woman on the Stairs‘ recently.

The reader by bernhard schlink writing