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Back The Woman on the Stairs Save as PDF
Chapters (83)
  1. Cover
  2. Also by Bernhard Schlink
  3. Title Page
  4. Copyright
  5. Part One
  6. 1
  7. 2
  8. 3
  9. 4
  10. 5
  11. 6
  12. 7
  13. 8
  14. 9
  15. 10
  16. 11
  17. 12
  18. 13
  19. 14
  20. 15
  21. 16
  22. 17
  23. 18
  24. 19
  25. 20
  26. 21
  27. 22
  28. 23
  29. 24
  30. 25
  31. 26
  32. Part Two
  33. 1
  34. 2
  35. 3
  36. 4
  37. 5
  38. 6
  39. 7
  40. 8
  41. 9
  42. 10
  43. 11
  44. 12
  45. 13
  46. 14
  47. 15
  48. 16
  49. 17
  50. 18
  51. 19
  52. 20
  53. 21
  54. 22
  55. 23
  56. 24
  57. 25
  58. Part Three
  59. 1
  60. 2
  61. 3
  62. 4
  63. 5
  64. 6
  65. 7
  66. 8
  67. 9
  68. 10
  69. 11
  70. 12
  71. 13
  72. 14
  73. 15
  74. 16
  75. 17
  76. 18
  77. 19
  78. 20
  79. 21
  80. 22
  81. Author’s Note
  82. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
  83. What’s next onyour reading list?

I’ve often comforted myself with the thought that, had I not made such a mess of this affair, I could never have run my marriage so successfully. As my wife used to say, every cloud has a silver lining.

The past can’t be changed. I made my peace with that long ago. But I find it hard to make my peace with the fact that, again and again, the past doesn’t make sense. Maybe every cloud has a silver lining. But every cloud is also just a cloud.

22

On Saturday I took the ferry across the bay to the green strip of land and the open sea behind. It wasn’t that I had tired of the Botanic Garden. I just thought I shouldn’t confine myself to this little habitat, day after day. It was never enough for me to spend my holidays lying on a beach. Instead, I always explored the surrounding area, and I always chose places with interesting surroundings to explore.

The ferry went past a small island, fortified long ago for an imaginary war with some imaginary enemy, past rusty, gray, bobbing warships, past waterfront houses where life was cheerful and light, past woods, a swimming beach here and there, and a marina. The sun, the wind, the smell of the sea – it made for a pleasant morning and, during the tour, children ran tirelessly from fore to aft and aft to fore, where the wind blasted their faces again. I was cold, but was too proud to sit with the old people inside the cabin.

When the boat moored, I got off, and walked up a slope to see the ocean. It looked no different from the Atlantic or Pacific. But I was moved by the idea that it stretched from there to Chile in one direction, and to the Antarctic in the other. When I felt that breadth and depth, the blue of the sea looked darker, the waves washing softly ashore seemed menacing.

I walked along the beach until I tired of the beachside road with its traffic. I went back to where I’d started, and rented a deckchair and a beach umbrella. Once again, I had a bottle of red wine in my backpack, a couple of apples, and my Australian history book.

The history of Australia is short, so the book quickly reached the present day. I learned about the country’s climate and natural resources, agriculture, industry and foreign trade, transportation, culture, sport, schools and universities, cuisine, constitution and administration, population density and demographic trends, geographic and social mobility, careers and recreational activities, men and women, divorce rates.