Katharina Hacker Eine Art Liebe (A Kind of Love) Suhrkamp Verlag, September 2003. 280 pp. ISBN 3-518-41460-7 Sophie, the narrator, is a young German who goes to Israel to study at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. There she meets Moshe, a lawyer in his sixties. Some years later, Sophie and Mosche meet again in Berlin, where Mosche gives Sophie his 'gift': she is to write the story of his friend Jean, a Trappist monk, who has been found dead in a Berlin nightclub. Moshe tells the story in fragments, over a period of years, between visits and phone calls. The book is, in effect, his story. Mosche's tale begins when he is a young boy, the son of German Jewish parents. It is 1938 and Mosche and his parents have been forced to leave Berlin and take refuge in France. There they are befriended by a French priest, who persuades them to send Mosche to a French boarding school to ensure his safety. After he is forced to leave the first school, Mosche moves to a new school, where his identity is kept secret. A fellow pupil, Jean, suggests that Mosche share his name. So Mosche becomes Jean, learns French and temporarily sheds his Jewish identity. Soon Moshe's parents are captured while trying to escape into Switzerland. This is a tragedy for which both Jeans will come to feel responsible. Weighed down by the knowledge of the couple's death, each boy feels guilty of a certain and separate betrayal. After the war, Mosche recovers his Jewish identity, while Jean becomes a Trappist. The two friends remain in close contact, but something is clearly wrong. Jean disappears from his monastery, and is finally found dead in Berlin. This is a haunting and compelling story written in simple but lyrical language. Hacker moves masterfully between settings, shifting between scenes from wartime France, the Gulf War and present-day Israel. Eine Art Liebe is a moving exploration of love across different boundaries.