The Antwerp Testament was written by Evelyn Grill and translated by Jean M. Snook.
Evelyn Grill Book order
January 15, 1942 – October 15, 2024
Evelyn Grill is a distinguished Austrian storyteller, celebrated for her dark humor and focus on idiosyncratic characters. Her narratives are known for their unique atmosphere and deep exploration of the human psyche. Grill masterfully employs language, crafting vivid imagery and prompting readers to contemplate life's complexities. Her writing offers a sharp perspective on the world while maintaining a touch of irony and detachment.
- 2017
- 2013
On the Phone
- 132 pages
- 5 hours of reading
“On our 20th wedding anniversary my husband had invited me to an elegant dinner. We sat in the casino-restaurant by candlelight and had already ordered our meal. I had asked for filets of milk-fed lamb, he a wiener schnitzel. He raised his glass and instead of saying: “To our future happiness” he looked at me intently and said: “I'm taking this opportunity today to tell you that I'm planning to leave you. And so I'd like to drink with you to the years still lying ahead of us, and which we'll be spending apart.” I felt that this could only be one of his bad jokes, and gave a somewhat forced laugh…”A ghastly snippet in the life of 52-year-old Elfriede Schweiger—and an opportunity. The abandoned wife and mother of a full-grown son studies law and opens her own practice. The housewife is transformed into a career woman. But new men enter her life, and with them come new problems.On the Phone is the journal of a woman in upheaval and transition. Evelyn Grill dissects the physical and spiritual sensitivities of this woman in the prime of life, recounting moments of hope, disappointment, love, self-doubt, and megalomania. Aloof, laconic, and full of irony, Elfriede Schweiger's narrative causes a period of upheaval in her life to pass like a parade before the reader's view.
- 2004
As a small Austrian town prepares for its 1000-year jubilee, the quiet life of Roswitha, a 42-year-old tailor, is completely disrupted. There is dust and dirt everywhere because the outside of the building she lives in is being resurfaced. In the midst of the noise and chaos, one of the construction workers introduces himself and quickly moves in with her. Roswitha has to deal with escalating episodes of drunkeness and vandalism. She has almost decided that Max will have to go, when his friends and hers crowd into her apartment to watch a sensational event across the way. As the event drags on through the night and into the next day, the situation in the apartment becomes increasingly intolerable. By the time the crisis outside is resolved, two people lie dead in Roswitha's apartment.