PLEASE NOTE: DUE TO THE SAN DIEGO PADRES AMAZING PLAYOFF RUN THIS EVENT IS BEING MOVED TO THE MISSION HILLS-HILLCREST/KNOX LIBRARY TO AVOID CONFLICTING WITH A POTENTIAL GAME AT PETCO. The Mission Hills-Hillcrest/Knox Library is located at 215 W Washington St, San Diego, CA 92103 and has underground parking with the same free two hours with validation as at the Central Library.

With the lower capacity of the Mission HIlls Branch we strongly recommend RSVPing in advance if you have not already done so. All current RSVPs are still valid and your seat is guaranteed. We apologize for the inconvenience and Go Padres!

Internationally bestselling author Bernhard Schlink stormed onto the U.S. literary scene when his book The Reader (1997) was selected as an Oprah pick and made into an Oscar-winning film featuring Ralph Fiennes and Kate Winslet. Since then, he has continued to write powerful and disquieting books that raise moral questions about Germany after WWII.

Now, in partnership with our friends at Adventures By The Book, The Library Shop is pleased to invite you for a live and in-person presentation by this renowned international bestselling author in one of his few visits to present his powerful novel, Olga, a story of love, passion, and history.  Following the presentation there will be a Q&A, book signing, and the opportunity to meet Bernhard Schlink.

This event is free and open to the public. Those who purchase of copy of Olga from the Library Shop in advance will receive preferred seating at the event and be first in the signing line afterwards. There is no purchase necessary to attend the event.

About the Author and the Book

Bernhard Schlink was born in Germany in 1944. A professor emeritus of law at Humboldt University, Berlin, and Cardozo Law School, New York, he is the author of many internationally bestselling novels, including The Reader, which became an Oscar-winning film starring Kate Winslet and Ralph Fiennes, and The Woman on the Stairs.

His latest novel, Olga, a story of love, passion, and history, was a #1 international bestseller and follows Olga from late nineteenth-century to modern-day Germany. Orphaned at an early age, Olga lives with her grandmother in a small Prussian village. Unloved by her grandmother and different from the local children, Olga grows up a lonely soul, until she meets Herbert, the son of a local aristocrat. Olga is quickly drawn to his adventurous spirit.

When Herbert joins the army, he falls in love with his missions, and Olga sends him frequent letters to cope with her sense of loneliness, until one day, Herbert embarks on a quixotic mission into the Arctic, and Olga’s loyalty is put to the test.

Bernhard, a master storyteller, who arguably may be Germany’s greatest living writer, seamlessly shifts between different viewpoints and forms and tells the story of a woman who, like many of her generation, is forced to live below her capacities, next to men who live above theirs. Yet Olga manages to cope with the hardships of her era with strength, dignify, and courage. And she loves against all odds: passionately, desperately, wisely.