The Tobacconist

Resumen del libro

When seventeen-year-old Franz swaps his home in the idyllic beauty of the Austrian lake district for the bustle of Vienna, his homesickness quickly dissolves amidst the thrum of the city. In his role as apprentice to the elderly tobacconist Otto Trsnyek, he will soon be supplying the great and good of Vienna with their newspapers and cigarettes. Among the regulars is one Professor Freud, whose willingness to dispense romantic advice and predilection for cigars will forge a bond between him and young Franz.

But this is Europe in 1937. In a matter of months Germany will annex Austria and the storm that has been threatening to engulf the little tobacconist will descend, leaving the lives of Franz, Otto and Professor Freud irredeemably changed. In the tradition of novels such as Fred Uhlman's classic Reunion, Bernhard Schlink's The Reader and Rachel Seiffert's The Dark Room, The Tobacconist tells the story of lives profoundly affected by the Third Reich, and the feats of which the human spirit is capable.

This is a beautiful translation by Charlotte Collins - whose previous work includes the English translation of Seethaler's A Whole Life - that captures perfectly the artistry of the original German.

Biografía del autor

Robert Seethaler, geb. 1966, erhielt zahlreiche Stipendien, darunter das Alfred-Döblin-Stipendium der Akademie der Künste und das Heinrich-Heine-Stipendium. Der Film nach seinem Drehbuch 'Die zweite Frau' wurde mehrfach ausgezeichnet und auf verschiedenen internationalen Filmfestivals gezeigt. Robert Seethaler lebt in Wien und Berlin. <br>