In little more than a hundred pages, a lingering glimpse of
Stuttgart Gymnasium life in the Thirties and the abruptly severed
friendship of two teenage boys. Hans Schwarz, remembering this
inscribed episode, skillfully conveys the sweaty set of the
classroom - academic competition, small cliques, nicknames like
Pigface, Smelly, and Muscle Max. Into this arena comes Graf yon
Hohenfeis Konradin, a boy of noble bearing from a family with an
illustrious 1000-year history. Schwarz, virtually friendless,
tentatively seeks him out; they become fast friends ("Castor and
Pollack"), spouting poetry, arguing the mysteries of the universe,
and resolving the world's problems with the intensity and pristine
devotion of adolescents. Then, at the opera, Konradin, seen with
his august parents, snubs Schwarz; Hans confronts him later, and
Konradin confesses to his mother's virulent anti-Semitism: "I've
had to fight for every hour I've spent with you." Their friendship
fades, and Schwarz, very much alone, endures vicious hostility at
school. Before Hans' cautious parents ship him to the US, Konradin
sends him a letter endorsing Hitler and naively assuring Hans a
place in Germany once the Fuhrer's mission is completed. Author
Uhlman counters Schwarz' adult reserve with the richness of
memory-pastries, schoolboy antics, forest scenery - and a bitter
avowal of loss and betrayal. Hans also finds some vindication years
later when he discovers which of his taunting schoolmates died for
the cause and, in the Gymnasium listing, what happened to Konradin:
"implicated in the plot to kill Hitler. Executed." A subtle,
deceptively simple excursion into the coils of adolescence,
surprisingly fresh despite the familiarity of the scene. (Kirkus
Reviews)
'A brilliant work of art that deserves a far wider readership' Ian
McEwan FROM THE PUBLISHERS OF STONER AND REVOLUTIONARY ROAD COMES
REUNION Reunion is a little-known novel. But it is also a universal
story of friendship. It is a book of great power, waiting to be
discovered. On a grey afternoon in 1932, a Stuttgart classroom is
stirred by the arrival of a newcomer. Middle-class Hans is
intrigued by the aristocratic new boy, Konradin, and before long
they become best friends. It's a friendship of the greatest kind,
of shared interests and long conversations, of hikes in the German
hills and growing up together. But the boys live in a changing
Germany. Powerful, delicate and daring, Reunion is a story of the
fragility, and strength, of the bonds between friends. 'Exquisite'
Guardian 'I loved Reunion and found it very moving' John Boyne WITH
AN AFTERWORD BY RACHEL SEIFFERT
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