First published 2017
Franz Ritter cannot sleep. The musicologist lies in his Vienna bed, struck down by illness, as darkness settles over the city. His mind wanders through memories of the Middle East. He recalls journeys to Istanbul, Aleppo, Damascus, and Tehran. Writers and musicians drift through his thoughts alongside orientalists and explorers. At the heart of these recollections stands Sarah, a brilliant French scholar he loved. She embodies the complex relationship between Europe and the Middle East, a tension that has shaped both their lives. Through one long night, Franz moves between waking memories and fevered dreams. His past unfolds in fragments that connect distant places and disparate people. The boundary between his academic work and personal experience dissolves. Sarah remains just out of reach, a presence that illuminates everything yet stays elusive. This restless night becomes a meditation on love, scholarship, and the bridges between cultures.
Genres: literary-fiction, historical-fiction, contemporary, academic
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Vienna, Istanbul, Aleppo, Damascus, Tehran
Period: 20th-century, 21st-century
448 pages · Hardcover · New Directions