From Library Journal
Claudia's well-regulated life seems nearly complete as she approaches 40. A doctor in an East Berlin hospital, she nonetheless avoids the banalities of human contact whenever possible, devoting her free time to her single passion: photographing empty landscapes. This pattern is suddenly broken when Henry walks into her life. His love of danger inexorably draws her out of her self-imposed alienation, and she finds herself once again facing the tyranny of emotion. Family, friends, and lovers now clutter her personal landscape with unresolved conflicts as Henry leads her toward an unwelcomed catharis. This novel is a masterpiece of subtle detail by one of East Germany's leading writers, here introduced to American readers in this first English translation of his work. The controlled power of Hein's writing will certainly win him a sizeable audience.