This is a brilliantly written tale about guilt and reconciliation. Ernst Kestner, a pork butcher in Lubeck, is driving back to the small French village where he spent the summer of 1944. For 40 years Kestner has kept secret his memories both of janni, his French lover,and of the atrocity which brought his time in Lescaud-sur-Marn to an end. But now, in view of the state of his lungs, there is no need for secrecy any longer... Highly insightful, sensitive and lucid writing. ( )