In 1942, a narrator waits in Lisbon, trying to find a way out of Europe. At the harbor he meets a stranger who offers him two tickets to America on a ship leaving the next day, with a condition: he must listen to the man's story through the night. The stranger, a German refugee who has fled the Nazis, recounts years of exile in France, a wife left behind, and a dangerous return to Germany. Remarkably, as the story unfolds, the nature of his sacrifice and his love becomes clear. Remarque writes in direct prose about exile and fear.
Readers drawn to Second World War fiction about refugees will find a moving, concentrated novel.
Thought-provoking; a moderate read.
Best for readers like The Story Seeker. Which reader are you?
- Published
- 1998
- Publisher
- Kiepenheuer & Witsch
- ISBN
- 9783462027228
- Language
- DE
