About the Author

Stefan Zweig (1881-1942) was born in Vienna, into a wealthy Austrian-Jewish family. He studied in Berlin and Vienna and was first known as a poet and translator, then as a biographer. Zweig travelled widely, living in Salzburg between the wars, and was an international bestseller with a string of hugely popular novellas including "Letter from an Unknown Woman," "Amok" and "Fear."In 1934, with the rise of Nazism, he moved to London, where he wrote his only novel "Beware of Pity." He later moved on to Bath, taking British citizenship after the outbreak of the Second World War. With the fall of France in 1940 Zweig left Britain for New York, before settling in Brazil, where in 1942 he and his wife were found dead in an apparent double suicide. Much of his work is available from Pushkin Press.

Reviews

One of the joys of recent years is the translation into English of Stefan Zweig's stories. They have an astringency of outlook and a mastery of scale that I find enormously enjoyable. -- Edmund de Waal, author of The Hare with Amber Eyes Zweig belongs with those masters of the novella-Maupassant, Turgenev, Chekhov. -- Paul Bailey One of the masters of the short story -- Nicholas Lezard Guardian The stories are as page-turning as they are subtle... Compelling Guardian Stefan Zweig... was a talented writer and ultimately another tragic victim of wartime despair. This rich collection... confirms how good he could be -- Eileen Battersby Irish Times The rediscovery of this extraordinary writer could well be on a par with last year's refinding of the long-lost Stoner, by John Williams -- Simon Winchester Telegraph Zweig, prolific storyteller and embodiment of avanished Mitteleuropa, seems to be back, and in a big way New York Times For far too long, our links with Zweig... have been broken. Pushkin Press's phenomenal, heartbreaking collection is a reminder that it's time to forge them again Los Angeles Review of Books The Updike of his day... Zweig is a lucid writer,and Bell renders his prose flawlessly New York Observer Zweig's impassioned pursuit of personal freedom seems more relevant than ever Newsweek