Adiós, Shanghai (Spanish Edition) - Softcover

Wagenstein, Angel

Softcover

ISBN 10: 8492663006 ISBN 13: 9788492663002

Publisher: Libros del Asteroide, 2009

Synopsis

In the midst of World War II, the open city of Shanghai was one of the few places in the world where Jews trying to escape Nazi Germany could find refuge. Elisabeth and Theodore Weissberg, world-famous musicians; Hilde Braun, a promising actress; rabbi Leo Levin and his wife Esther; pickpocket Schlomo Kinfelstein, are some of the characters who seek refuge in this Asian city. The Shanghai of the late 1930s, under Japanese occupation, was a city of extremes: an international financial center with more than 300 banks and luxury hotels, but also a port city plagued by brothels and opium dens; a city in which the wretched neighborhoods such as Hongkou, which would later turn into a Jewish ghetto, contrasted sharply with the opulent international trade centers. Part historical account and part fictional thriller, Angel Wagenstein’s novel is a reconstruction of one of the lesser known aspects of World War II, weaving a tale of love and death that is, above all, a tribute to all the women and women who thought they had found their salvation in Shanghai.

 

En los albores de la segunda guerra mundial, la ciudad abierta de Shanghai era uno de los pocos lugares del mundo  en el que se podían refugiar los judíos que huían de la Alemania nazi. Elisabeth y Theodor Weissberg, músicos de fama mundial; Hilde Braun, una prometedora actriz; el rabino Leo Levin y su esposa Ester; el carterista Schlomo Finkelstein, son algunos de los personajes que buscan amparo en esta ciudad asiática. El Shanghai de finales de los años treinta, bajo ocupación japonesa, era una ciudad de extremos: un centro financiero internacional con más de trescientos bancos y lujosos hoteles, pero también una ciudad portuaria plagada de prostíbulos y fumaderos de opio; una ciudad en la que los míseros barrios como el de Hongkou, que terminaría convertido en gueto judío, contrastaban con las opulentas concesiones internacionales. Entre el relato histórico y la novela de intriga, Angel Wagenstein reconstruye en esta novela uno de los episodios menos conocidos de la segunda guerra mundial, narrando una historia de amor y muerte que es, sobre todo, un homenaje a todos aquellos hombres y mujeres que creyeron encontrar su salvación en Shanghai.

About this title

About the Author

Angel Wagenstein is a Bulgarian film director and author who was born in Bulgaria but spent his childhood in France where his Sephardic Jewish family emigrated for political reasons due to their leftist politics.

Review

"[T]he Bulgarian novelist sets refugees, spies and a few true believers into play for a sprawling and utterly engaging book."  —San Francisco Chronicle, on the English-language edition
"Moving effortlessly from Paris to Dresden to Shanghai, Wagenstein masterfully chronicles the lives of European émigrés and refugees in WWII . . . [and] is impressive in his ability to move from the small details of individual displaced lives to a larger panorama of international intrigue."  —Publishers Weekly, on the English-language edition

About this edition

• Publisher: Libros del Asteroide
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 8492663006
• ISBN 13: 9788492663002
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 424