BOOK TALK: The Exiles Return

Elisabeth de Waal’s stunning novel follows a number of exiles. Each of those returning has come to terms with a city in painful recovery: Kuno Adler, a Jewish research scientist, is tired of his drab existence in America; Theophil Kanakis, a wealthy Greek businessman seeks to plunder some of the spoils of war; Marie-Theres, a brooding teenage girl, has been sent by her parents in hopes that the change of scene will shake her out of her funk; And Prince “Bimbo” Grein, is a handsome young man with a title divested of all its social currency.

In The Exiles Return, de Waal captures a city rebuilding and relearning its identity, and the people who have to do the same, with immaculate precision and sensitivity. As mesmerizing as Stefan Zweig’s World Before Yesterday, and as tragic as Hans Fallada’s Every Man Dies Alone, de Waal has written a masterpiece of European literature, an artifact revealing a moment in our history, clear as a snapshot, but timeless as well.

To read an excerpt, click HERE.  “Chapter 1” excerpts from The Exiles Return by Elisabeth de Waal. Copyright © 2013 by The Estate of Elisabeth de Waal. All rights reserved. Reprinted by permission of Picador USA.

To purchase, visit us.macmillan.com.

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