Snowleg

On his 16th birthday Peter Hithersay learns that the man he thought was his father isn't. This disclosure profoundly influences the direction his life takes. His mother can tell him very little about his biological father other than that he was East German, from Leipzig. He used to be a doctor and was, at the time of their brief encounter, an escaped prisoner. Peter decides to explore and exploit his Germanness. He studies the language and attends medical school in Hamburg. While a student there he visits Leipzig and tries to find out more about his father. He meets a girl nicknamed Snowleg and engages in a very brief but intense affair with her. He treats her poorly in the end, denying that he knows her and this act of cruelty haunts him throughout his life. Although he becomes a physician he remains unhappy. He has numerous affairs, some more serious than others, but they do not fill his emptiness nor his need to atone.
A credulity-straining coincidence takes him back to Leipzig, 19 years after his first visit. He searches for Snowleg and for information about his father against a grim eastern European backdrop - the grey cold desperation of the place is palpable.
Nicholas Shakespeare is a good writer (I loved his novel, "The Dancer Upstairs") but in this book he relies too heavily on coincidence to pull the story together. I enjoyed the story all the same and found it to be a compelling romantic thriller.