In this indispensable collection of short stories, Stefan Zweig captures the best and worst of human nature. At the heart of these tales lies passion – from a humble waiter’s love for an aristocratic guest to an exiled Frenchwoman’s longing for the glitter of court life, and a bookseller’s fatal lust for print in wartime Vienna. Perfectly paced and brimming with passion – twenty-two tales from a master storyteller of the twentieth century Translated by the award-winning Anthea Bell, and spanning a prolific literary career, these stories form a map of the human soul, drawn by a writer both tender and perceptive. ‘One hardly knows where to begin in praising Zweig’s work’ – Ali Smith ‘The Updike of his day… Zweig is a lucid writer, and Bell renders his prose flawlessly’ – New York Observer
