Café Berlin: A Novel - Softcover

Nebenzal, Harold

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1468316990 ISBN 13: 9781468316995

Publisher: Harry N. Abrams, 2019

Synopsis

In the years between Germany’s defeat in World War I and the reign of the Nazis, the underground clubs and cabarets of Berlin pulsed with the frenetic energy of rebellion. Suspended on the precipice of global catastrophe, a young counterculture emerged in the Weimar capital, where―if only for a moment―races and religions mixed, jazz music resounded, and liquor flowed in abundance. In Harold Nebenzal’s daring, suspenseful novel Café Berlin, this high-flying scene forms the backdrop for a thrilling tale of love and the universal human yearning to be free, even under the yoke of totalitarianism. Daniel Saporta is a young Jewish immigrant from Damascus, who comes to Berlin in search of fame, fortune, or at least a good party. He begins a tumultuous love affair with Samira, an exotic dancer secretly under the employ of British Intelligence. When Samira uncovers a conspiracy involving Adolf Hitler and the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Daniel is drawn inexorably into an underground world of espionage, sex, and dire political stakes. Presented as a series of diary entries written years later, while Daniel is in hiding during the war, Café Berlin recounts his fleeting memory of the club and the German society now laid waste by the war. First published by Overlook to great acclaim in 1991, Café Berlin is available once again, offering an incredible story of decadence and defiance during Nazi Germany’s rise to power.

About this title

About the Author

Harold Nebenzal, born in Berlin in 1922, is a film producer best known for his work on the acclaimed film Cabaret starring Liza Minnelli. After serving in the Marine Corps during WWll as a Japanese interpreter, he apprenticed in film production at the Samuel Goldwyn Studio and has since worked as producer, associate producer, production supervisor, and screenwriter with such legendary actors as William Holden, Michael Caine, Sidney Poitier, and Sophia Loren. Nebenzal has also authored a number of novels including the highly acclaimed Café Berlin. 

Review

“A superbly imagined first novel. One can’t praise enough this novel’s Nabokovian, termite-like detail, no matter what area of life it enters into . . . After a strong start, it only gets better.”
- Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“Dramatic . . . memorable . . . gripping and fast-paced.    ”
- The Washington Post

“A story that combines the picaresque with the spy thriller, the idyllic with the decadent, and does it very well.”
- The Atlantic

“Nebenzal mixes seedy ambiance and solid historical detail in this darkly kaleidoscopic first novel . . . An absorbing, ingenious debut.  ”
- Publishers Weekly

“I loved this book very much―a novel packed with life and energy, a novel that all readers should find both fascinating and greatly entertaining.     ”
- Oscar Hijuelos, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love

About this edition

• Publisher: Harry N. Abrams
• Publication date: 2019
• ISBN 10: 1468316990
• ISBN 13: 9781468316995
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 288