Cherrypicker
A matter of interpretation

Martin Suter’s latest novel has everything a good book needs – making it the perfect read for the summer holidays. This tale of a woman who disappears just before her wedding can be quickly devoured in a deckchair by the sea or in a hammock in the garden.

By Swantje Schütz

Melody is the name of the young woman that Dr Peter Stotz has been searching for for half his life – for over 40 years. Old and ill, Stotz has been told by his doctors that he hasn’t long to live. He is still plagued by the disappearance many years ago of Melody, who was considerably younger than he, just before the lavish and expensive wedding that was to see her marry her rich and much older groom.

Was she perhaps kidnapped by her brother and taken back home to Morrocco? Even 40 years later, Dr Stotz apparently still doesn’t know. What happened to the only love of his life, portraits and artistic embroideries of whom adorn his large house from top to bottom?

So many secrets

With a view to putting his affairs in order before meeting his maker, Stotz engages a young unemployed lawyer named Tom. His job, employing the greatest discretion, is to sort through endless boxes of documents and prepare the old man’s estate, which involves delving into his colourful past. Dr Stotz was a Swiss National Councillor, a successful businessman, a puller of strings in politics and society, a well-known personality.

But perhaps Stotz engaged Tom only so that he would listen to him and keep him company? After all, part of the deal was that the young man would move into the magnificent house with the Italian housekeeper – a wonderful cook – and the reserved butler. Incidentally, a good portion of the book is devoted to the Italian dishes she prepares, which sound extremely enticing; appropriately, the author recommends in the acknowledgements the cookbook, published not long ago by the owner of a delicatessen, to those readers who might fancy giving the delicious recipes a try themselves.

During the course of numerous fireside conversations, and just as many glasses of exquisite alcohol, Stotz tells him about all the ways in which he has attempted to track down his beloved Melody, and about all the countries he has travelled to during his search. But has this quest really been entirely in vain, right to the end?

Expectations most definitely met

“Martin Suter certainly knows how to write an entertaining and gripping novel.” That could be one way to sum up this book recommendation. Though another way, with far greater enthusiasm, would be to say: I love this author’s books! Thank you for so much reading pleasure, for your imaginative stories that are never boring! For the finest of plot twists, for thunderbolts and fanfares, for a great read that sticks with you for days. That keeps popping into your mind even weeks later, prompting you to ponder or smile at the memory. I can say only of Melody that the novel may well come to a quite different end than one might perhaps have assumed, given how slowly and gently it starts. But that’s all I will say. This is classic Suter – so just read it please!