Eva Menasse Book order

Set against the backdrop of European history, this panoramic novel weaves together intricate narratives and diverse characters, capturing the essence of various eras and events. The internationally bestselling author skillfully explores themes of identity, conflict, and resilience, providing readers with a rich tapestry of experiences that reflect the complexities of the continent's past. Through compelling storytelling, the novel invites readers to engage with the historical forces that have shaped Europe.

From the very beginning - the birth of the narrator's father in the middle of a bridge party - the reader is plunged headlong into the world of Vienna, a novel crowded with voices, characters, tragedy and joy. The disintegration of history and indentity in the twentieth century is seen through the adventures of one family - half-Jewish Viennese, split apart by the Nazi invasion and sent out into the world. Dispensing with linear narrative, the story loops forwards and back to follow each member on their winding course. Their experiences encompass fraudsters, footballers, fools and fur coats as the narrative moves from Austria to London, from Canada to the battlefields of Burma. This is a landmark European novel of impressive reach and power whose readership will spread as widely as the family whose story it tells. It introduces in Eva Menasse an intimate chronicle of human experience and an unashamedly gleeful storyteller. Her cast of entrancing characters and unexpected events shows us imperceptibly the formation and disintegration of family history and identity.