The Late Life

What can death teach us about life?

‘One of the greatest achievements of the author of The Reader’ Les Echos

‘Schlink's novel belongs alongside Julian Barnes's. It sounds like a farewell’ Le Figaro littéraire

‘Masterful’ Suddeutsche Zeitung

At seventy-six, Martin Brehm is, by his own measure, content. He tends his garden, writes, and cares for his six-year-old son, David, while his much younger wife pursues her work as a painter. Their life, though unconventional, feels complete—until a diagnosis of terminal cancer gives him only months to live.

Confronted with the certainty of his death, Martin becomes determined to secure a future for those he loves and leave behind something lasting. But as his plans unfold, he begins to question what it truly means to give. What will remain a gift and what will become a burden?

In the final season of his life, Martin must face the limits of intention and the necessity of letting go. The Late Life is a tender, searching and quietly profound novel that explores how to live fully at the edge of death, the value of a good death and how to leave, well.

‘One of Germany's most celebrated and popular writers’ Financial Times

Translated from the German by Charlotte Collins