A mesmerising and inventive novel that lays bare the devastations of war on the most intimate aspects of our lives
Mathias Énard’s immersive, nocturnal, musical journey is a declaration of admiration, a hand reaching out, a bridge of words between West and East
As night falls over Vienna, Franz Ritter, an insomniac musicologist, spends a restless night drifting between dreams and memories. He revisits his life: his travels to Istanbul, Aleppo, Damascus and Tehran; the various writers, artists, musicians, academics and explorers who populate this vast dreamscape. At the centre of these memories is an elusive, unrequited love – Sarah, a fiercely intelligent French scholar caught in the perpetual tension between Europe and the Middle East.
Mathias Énard
About the Author
Mathias Énard, born in 1972 in Niort, France, studied Persian and Arabic and has spent long periods in the Middle East
Charlotte Mandell
About the Translator
Born in Connecticut, Charlotte Mandell has translated over 50 books of fiction, poetry and philosophy from FrenchOther nominated books by Mathias Énard
Other nominated books by Charlotte Mandell
A mesmerising and inventive novel that lays bare the devastations of war on the most intimate aspects of our lives
