Novel: The Selfish Samaritan

Cornelia Goethe Literaturverlag ISBN 3-86548-279-1 in German

Charles Kistner was born in Germany, grew up in Switzerland and emigrated to complete a PhD at Harvard. His life is perfect: his business is successful, his wife Kimberly is charming and his son James is full of promise.

On a business trip to Switzerland, which he had left twenty years earlier, he touches on his past. He visits the grave of his father, who he never knew, and he encounters Brigitte, the flame of his youth.

Brigitte needs help, and Charles responds.

Charles’ apparently great idea of saving Brigitte by inviting her, and her daughter Sybille, to his home in Los Angeles is the beginning of a love triangle. Charles has two women: double happiness, he thinks - but not for long.

The reader encounters Charles in the first chapter as a nameless Gringo in Mexico, where he already has some adventures behind him - and where several lessons of life still await him.

Max Wyss tells the story of his helpful, but not entirely selfless hero with fine irony and with sympathy for the female characters, as well as with understanding for the love pangs of the teenagers. It’s a sensitive and humorous tale about giving and taking, about loving and leaving and about helping and hurting others.

The novel also contains some recipes for Swiss dishes - and reveals the secret of the famous cheese fondue.

Download the first two chapters of 'The Selfish Samaritan' in pdf format