is an epic family saga, a highly moving story based in Bavaria, Germany, between 1890 and 1990: a hundred years of love, tragedy, madness and some of the irreconcilable contradictions of existence which mark out Man’s human nature. It ranges over an immensely wide spectrum of human concerns: crucial dilemmas, family ties, the psychological upbringing of children, the relationship between Church and State, and above all everyone’s responsibility to others.