The Sonderberg case : a novel
(Books)

"Originally published in France as Le cas Sonderberg by Éditions Grasset & Fasquelle, Paris, in 2008"--T.p. verso.

From the Nobel laureate and author of the masterly Night: a deeply felt, beautifully written novel of morality, guilt, and innocence. Despite personal success, Yedidyah - a theater critic in New York City, husband to a stage actress, father to two sons - finds himself increasingly drawn to the past; as he reflects on his life, he longingly reminisces about the relationships he once had with the men in his family: his father, his uncle, his grandfather. But his longing takes on another aspect when he is assigned to cover the murder trial of a German expatriate named Werner Sonderberg. Sonderberg returned alone from a walk in the Adirondacks with an elderly uncle, whose lifeless body was soon retrieved from the woods. His plea is enigmatic: 'Guilty . . . and not guilty.' But it strikes a chord in Yedidyah, plunging him into feelings that bring him harrowingly close to madness. As Sonderberg's trial moves along a path of dizzying yet revelatory twists and turns, Yedidyah begins to understand his own family's hidden past and finally liberates himself from the shadow it has cast over his life. With his signature elegance and thoughtfulness, Wiesel has given us an enthralling psychological mystery, both vividly dramatic and profoundly emotional.