‘Anselm Walser, 1944,’ the Englishman says, reading out loud. ‘Who was your subject?’
‘His name was Manfred. Manfred Hahn. He was the commandant of the camp. No one knows what became of him. He was a brutal man but also a cultivated one. Before the war he had been a professor of philosophy. He was good to me.’
‘In what way?’
‘He let me live.’
As they stand with their backs to him, studying the painting, Friedrich becomes distracted by the Beatles’ singing in the other room. He looks over his shoulder. They are singing about someone called Eleanor Rigby who picks up the rice in a church where a wedding has been. When his gaze returns to the room, he sees his father’s hand reach for the Englishman’s.
He then shrugs and runs back outside to kick his new football against the wall.
Acknowledgements
Above all, I would like to thank Marianne Velmans, my editor at Doubleday, David Miller, my agent at Rogers, Coleridge & White, and Mary, my wife, for all their patience, encouragement and wisdom. I am also grateful to Emma Howard, Chris Lang, Gillian Stern and Suzanne Bridson for their close reading and perceptive comments, and to Ben Lyster-Binns, the British Ambassador to Uruguay, for his steer on Foreign Office protocol.
About the Author
Nigel Farndale
is the author of
The Blasphemer
, which was shortlisted for the 2010 Costa Novel Award. His previous books include
Haw-Haw: the Tragedy of William and Margaret Joyce
, which was shortlisted for the 2005 Whitbread Biography Award and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize. He lives on the Hampshire–Sussex border with his wife and their three sons.
Also by Nigel Farndale
Fiction
The Blasphemer
A Sympathetic Hanging
Non-fiction
Haw-Haw: the Tragedy of William and Margaret Joyce
Flirtation, Seduction, Betrayal: Interviews with Heroes and Villains
Last Action Hero of the British Empire:
Commander John Kerans, 1915–1985
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First published in Great Britain
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Copyright © Nigel Farndale 2013
Nigel Farndale has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.
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