The Two Hotel Francforts
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- £6.99
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- £6.99
Publisher Description
A taut and subtle historical novel of two couples caught up in a world at war, from the acclaimed author of The Indian Clerk
'A highly accomplished, urbane and satisfying novel ... Splendid' Literary Review
'This is a sublime novel that captures the mood of a continent about to be subsumed in war' Bookseller
It is the summer of 1940, and Lisbon is one of the only neutral ports left in Europe – a city filled with spies, crowned heads and refugees of every nationality, tipping back absinthe to while away the time until their escape.
Awaiting safe passage to New York on the S. S. Manhattan, two couples meet: Pete and Julia Winters, expatriate Americans fleeing their sedate life in Paris; and Edward and Iris Freleng, elegant, independently wealthy, bohemian, and beset by the social and sexual anxieties of their class.
Swept up in the tumult, the hidden currents of the lives of these four characters – Julia's status as a Jew, Pete and Edward's affair, Iris's increasingly desperate efforts to save her tenuous marriage – begin to come loose. This journey will change the four of them irrevocably, as Europe sinks into war.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Leavitt's (The Indian Clerk) new novel depicts a 1940 Lisbon overflowing with Axis spies and refugees fleeing France ahead of the impending German invasion, but this smart, well-crafted story is less wartime drama than a vivid depiction of husbands and wives under pressure. Expatriate Americans Pete and Julia Winters can't stand each other she hates Portugal and hates even more the thought of returning to the U.S. Pete, meanwhile, accepts that their marriage is just a vapor, without any substance. Edward and Iris Freleng, another American couple, are lazy mystery writers mired in their own debauchery. When these four people are thrown together, strange relationships develop as they wait to leave on the weekly ship to New York. They share drinks, meals, and much more, "too worried about what we were losing to care about those who were losing more." One spouse is self-destructive, one is a manipulative sexual predator, a third is obsessive, and the fourth has a suppressed sense of moral purpose. And only two will leave Portugal. Leavitt's clever, engaging tale of marriage's hidden shadows, lies, and half-truths demonstrates that husbands and wives are only as happy as they've already decided to allow themselves to be.
