The Two Hotel Francforts
It is the summer of 1940, and Lisbon, Portugal, is the only neutral port 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 SS Manhattan, two couples meet: Pete and Julia Winters, expatriate Americans fleeing their sedate life in Paris; and Edward and Iris Freleng, sophisticated, independently wealthy, bohemian, and beset by the social and sexual anxieties of their class. As Portugal's neutrality, and the world's future, hang in the balance, the hidden threads in the lives of these four characters-Julia's status as a Jew, Pete and Edward's improbable affair, Iris's increasingly desperate efforts to save her tenuous marriage-begin to come loose.
Gorgeously written, sexually and politically charged, David Leavitt's long-awaited new novel is an extraordinary work.Earn by promoting books
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David Leavitt's books include the collection Family Dancing, and the novels The Lost Language of Cranes, While England Sleeps, The Body of Jonah Boyd, and The Indian Clerk (finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award and the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award). He is also the author of two nonfiction works, The Man Who Knew Too Much and Florence, A Delicate Case. He is professor of English at the University of Florida in Gainesville and edits the literary magazine Subtropics.
www.davidleavittwriter.com
"[A] smart, well-crafted story... [A] clever, engaging tale of marriage's hidden shadows, lies, and half-truths." "Publishers Weekly", starred review
"Leavitt's new novel establishes a brisk pace from page... [It's] a dramatic story that Leavitt weaves with compelling authority and empathy." - "Booklist", starred review
"Brings to mind the classic film Casablanca... Told from different perspectives, this multilayered tale intrigues with its twists and turns of plot and viewpoint. Leavitt's graceful depiction of same-sex romance will have universal appeal. Highly recommended." - "Library Journal"
"An artfully crafted story of two marriages... Very fine work." - "Kirkus"
"We can always count on David Leavitt to bring buried desires to the surface and give the uncertainties of an era startling clarity in his fiction. Here in his glorious new novel, with his characters on the run from war and suspended in a precarious state of exile, he traces their efforts to create meaningful lives amidst the turmoil surrounding them. The result is a book that is artful, gripping, delicate, and fierce." - Joanna Scott, Pulitzer Prize finalist and author of FOLLOW ME
"An artfully crafted story of two marriages . . . Very fine work." --"Kirkus Reviews "
"We can always count on David Leavitt to bring buried desires to the surface and give the uncertainties of an era startling clarity in his fiction. Here in his glorious new novel, with his characters on the run from war and suspended in a precarious state of exile, he traces their efforts to create meaningful lives amidst the turmoil surrounding them. The result is a book that is artful, gripping, delicate, and fierce." --Joanna Scott, Pulitzer Prize finalist and author of "Follow Me"
An artfully crafted story of two marriages . . . Very fine work. "Kirkus Reviews"
We can always count on David Leavitt to bring buried desires to the surface and give the uncertainties of an era startling clarity in his fiction. Here in his glorious new novel, with his characters on the run from war and suspended in a precarious state of exile, he traces their efforts to create meaningful lives amidst the turmoil surrounding them. The result is a book that is artful, gripping, delicate, and fierce. "Joanna Scott, Pulitzer Prize finalist and author of Follow Me""
"An artfully crafted story of two marriages . . . Very fine work." --Kirkus Reviews
"We can always count on David Leavitt to bring buried desires to the surface and give the uncertainties of an era startling clarity in his fiction. Here in his glorious new novel, with his characters on the run from war and suspended in a precarious state of exile, he traces their efforts to create meaningful lives amidst the turmoil surrounding them. The result is a book that is artful, gripping, delicate, and fierce." --Joanna Scott, Pulitzer Prize finalist and author of Follow Me
