Book description
At first, they put Konrad's absentmindedness down to an immoderate
fondness for alcohol. For years he had been a benign parasite on the
Koch family, first as the childhood playmate of Thomas, heir to the
Koch family fortune, later as caretaker of the Koch family holiday
villa on Corfu. And they, in their turn, had used him as the mood took
them. But when the villa burns down because of Konrad's forgetfulness,
Elvira Senn, the matriarch of the Koch family, puts him on a strict
regime. No longer allowed his daily tipple, Konrad recovers and even
falls in love again. But then his condition deteriorates. He can't
find his way out of the supermarket, let alone his way home. Soon
Konrad doesn't even recognise his new lover. Alzheimer's has taken
hold.
As Konrad loses his present he regains his distant past, and this is
what Elvira fears the most. As they watch and wait for him to rewind
to the crucial moment, his life is in danger from far more than the
debilitating disease...
A gripping psychological thriller, Small World depicts a man
with a void in his soul whose only salvation lies buried deep within himself.
Martin Suter was born in Zurich and now lives in Spain and Guatemala.
He worked as an advertising copywriter and has written features for the
nature magazine GEO and scripts for film and television series.
