Fantastic Night

 'I alone know that I am only just beginning to live.' He is distinguished, rich, a member of fashionable society-utterlybored. But, over the course of one fantastic night, a young Baron becomes a thief, unashamed, and awakes to life for the first time. This collection is full of tales of infinite passions, of intense encounters that transform lives, a knock on a door that forces a whole community to take flight, a doomed attempt to save a soul poisoned by addiction, a love soured into awful cruelty, of longing and liberation. They are the gripping work of a master storyteller, unmatched and completely unforgettable.

Review: 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