Synopses & Reviews
Warsaw, 1941--an exhausted and elderly psychiatrist named Erik Cohen makes his way home to the Jewish ghetto after being interned in a Nazi labor camp. Yet only one visionary man-Heniek Corben- can see him and hear him. Heniek soon realizes that Cohen has become an ibbur-a spirit. But how and why has he taken this form?
As Cohen recounts his disturbing and moving story, small but telling inconsistencies appear in his narrative. Heniek begins to believe that Cohen is not the secular Jew he claims to be, but may, in fact, be a student of practical Kabbalah-of magic. Why is he lying? And what is the importance of the anagrams he creates for the names of his friends and relatives? Heniek traces his suspicions and comes to an astonishing conclusion-one that has consequences for his own identity and life, and perhaps for the reader's as well.
Review
"Part murder mystery and part historical fiction . . . thrilling."
--Boston Globe Review
"A gripping, heartbreaking, beautiful thriller."
--Simon Sebag Montefiore, author of Young Stalin Review
"Spare but striking prose . . . masterful."
--Newsday Synopsis
With his international bestseller , Richard Zimler first made a name as a master of historical thrillers. in this chilling mystery, winner of the Marques de Ouro Prize, Zimler has woven a gripping tale in the tradition of It is autumn, 1940, and the Nazis have sealed 400,000 Jews into the Warsaw Ghetto. Erik Cohen, an elderly psychiatrist, moves into a tiny apartment with his last remaining relatives. then his beloved great-nephew Adam goes missing and his body is discovered tangled in the barbed wire, strangely mutilated. soon afterward, another body turns up, this time a young girl. could there be a Jewish traitor luring children to their deaths? With an unlikely hero and hair-raising suspense, is a profoundly moving and darkly atmospheric thriller.
Synopsis
The "riveting, heartbreaking, inspiring, and intelligent" (San Francisco Chronicle) historical thriller by the bestselling author of
About the Author
Richard Zimler was born in New York and studied journalism at Stanford University. He has published eight novels over the last fifteen years, including the famous The Last Kabbalist of Lisbon. He has won numerous prizes for his work, and is a contributor to the Los Angeles Times Book Review. Visit zimler.com.