It's Switzerland in the 1920s when the two lovers first meet. She is young, beautiful and rich. In contrast, he can barely support himself and is interested only in music. By the end of their lives, he is a famous conductor and the richest man in the country, but she is penniless. And most important of all, no one knows of her love for him; it is a secret he took to his grave. Here begins Urs Widmer's novel "My Mother's Lover". Based on a real-life affair, "My Mother's Lover" - the first part of a much-loved trilogy - is the story of a lifelong and unspoken love for a man - recorded by the woman's son, who begins this novel on the day his mother's lover dies. Set against the backdrop of the Depression and World War II, it is a story of sacrifice and betrayal, passionate devotion and inevitable suffering. Yet in Widmer's hands, it is always entertaining and surprisingly comic - a unique kind of fairy tale.Urs Widmer is a playwright, essayist and short-story writer, and has also translated works from Eniglish and French including Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness and dramatic works by Alexandre Dumas and Eugène Labiche. He is co-founder of Verlag der Autoren, an author-owned publishing house focusing on texts related to the performing arts. Widmer lives and works in Zürich.

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Weiterführende Informationen

• Leseprobe

Serie / Reihe: The Swiss list

Personen: Widmer, Urs McLaughlin, Donal