Small World

by Martin Suter

Published 21 March 2002
The moving story of a man, drawn back into his past by an illness that robs him of his sense of the present. Konrad Lang, a man in his sixties, is hunted by images of his early childhood, while he forgets his immediate past. The fading gentleman is pulled back towards the villa of his adoptive "family", the Kochs. Konrad grew up with Thomas Koch, the rich and spoiled heir to the family's fortune. He was Thomas's playmate and increasingly became the family's whipping-boy and now the Kochs don't want to know. Except for Elvira Senn, the all-powerful matriarch, who becomes increasingly worried by Konrad's flashbacks. Simone, the newcomer to the family, takes pity on Konrad and threatens to uncover secrets the family would like to see hidden forever.