On Tuesday, the British director Stephen Daldry sat in on a murder trial at a Berlin court. Daldry is searching for locations he can use in filming the bestseller, said Justice Department spokeswoman Iris Berger. It's unclear whether the Brit will film in the 100-year-old justice building on Berlin's Turm Street, Berger said.

Daldry directed "Billy Elliot" and "The Hours," Michael Cunningham's story about writer Virginia Woolf.

"The Reader" is one of the most successful international German books. It tells the story of a secret love affair between a teenaged boy and an older women, who one day simply vanishes. The two meet again years later, when the young man is a law student visiting a trial about war crimes.

In the US, "The Reader" was praised by well-known talk show host Oprah Winfrey. In Germany, the book quickly became a best seller after it was published in 1995.

Schlink, 62, is an attorney who has written other thrillers. His most recent work is the 1996 book "Homecoming," about a father-son relationship.

Another German bestseller, "Perfume" by Patrick Süskind, was made into a movie last year. Set in 18th century France, it is the story of a man with a phenomenal sense of smell who becomes obsessed with the scents of women. He murders his young, female victims in order to preserve their scents.