Film tie-in edition of Bernhard Schlink's exceptionally powerful novel - 'A thriller, a love story and a deeply moving examination of a German conscience' [Independent on Saturday]

Presenting reflections inspired by the elements of the periodic table, this title ranges from young love to political savagery; from the inert gas argon - and 'inert' relatives like the uncle who stayed in bed for twenty-two years - to life-giving carbon.

Winner of the Booker Prize and international bestseller

First published in 1935, this is the story of a distinguished scholar in Germany between the wars. It builds up the elements in the scholar himself, and in his personal relationships, which will lead to his destruction. The author won the 1981 Nobel Prize for Literature.

Spins out a multiple mystery of obsession and betrayal (both scholarly and romantic). This book creates an exuberant enquiry into the ways in which art mirrors life and then turns around to shape it.

Mr Artur Sammler, a lecturer at Columbia University in 1960s New York City, is a registrar of madness, a refined and civilized being caught among people crazy with the promises of the future (moon landings, endless possibilities). His Cyclopean gaze reflects on the degradations of city life while looking into the sufferings of the human soul.