Café Berlin

A Novel

Harold Nebenzal

• Publisher: The Overlook Press
• Year: 2019
• Print ISBN:
  9781468316995
• eBook ISBN:
  9781683357131
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Literature General
• Index: Literature

A Syrian Jew finds romance and intrigue in Weimar-era Berlin in this "superbly imagined" literary thriller ( Kirkus Reviews).
In the years between Germany's defeat in World War I and the reign of the Nazis, the underground clubs and cabarets of Berlin pulsed with the frenetic energy of rebellion. Suspended on the precipice of global catastrophe, a young counterculture emerged in the Weimar capital, where—if only for a moment—races and religions mixed, jazz music resounded, and liquor flowed in abundance.
In Harold Nebenzal's daring, suspenseful novel Café Berlin, this high-flying scene forms the backdrop for a thrilling tale of love and the universal human yearning to be free, even under the yoke of totalitarianism. Daniel Saporta is a young Jewish immigrant from Damascus, who comes to Berlin in search of fame, fortune, or at least a good party. He begins a tumultuous love affair with Samira, an exotic dancer secretly under the employ of British Intelligence. When Samira uncovers a conspiracy involving Adolf Hitler and the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Daniel is drawn inexorably into an underground world of espionage, sex, and dire political stakes. Presented as a series of diary entries written years later, while Daniel is in hiding during the war, Café Berlin recounts his fleeting memory of the club and the German society now laid waste by the war.
First published by Overlook to great acclaim in 1991, Café Berlin is available once again, offering an incredible story of decadence and defiance during Nazi Germany's rise to power.
Praise for Café Berlin
"A story that combines the picturesque with the spy thriller, the idyllic with the decadent, and does it very well." — The Atlantic Monthly
"Dramatic. . . . Memorable. . . . Gripping and fast-paced." — The Washington Post
"Nebenzal . . . mixes seedy ambiance and solid historical detail in this darkly kaleidoscopic first novel. . . . An absorbing, ingenious debut." — Publishers Weekly

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• November 14, 1943
• November 15, 1943
• November 18, 1943
• November 19, 1943
• November 20, 1943
• November 21, 1943
• November 22, 1943
• November 25, 1943
• November 26, 1943
• November 27, 1943
• November 28, 1943
• November 29, 1943
• November 30, 1943
• December 1, 1943
• December 2, 1943
• December 3, 1943
• December 4, 1943
• December 5, 1943
• December 7, 1943
• December 8, 1943
• December 9, 1943
• December 10, 1943
• December 11, 1943
• December 12, 1943
• December 13, 1943
• December 15, 1943
• December 16, 1943
• December 17, 1943
• December 18, 1943
• December 19, 1943
• December 20, 1943
• December 21, 1943
• December 22, 1943
• December 23, 1943
• December 26, 1943
• December 27, 1943
• December 29, 1943
• December 30, 1943
• January 1, 1944
• January 2, 1944
• January 4, 1944
• January 6, 1944
• January 7, 1944
• January 8, 1944
• January 9, 1944
• January 11, 1944
• January 12, 1944
• January 16, 1944
• January 18, 1944
• January 20, 1944
• January 21, 1944
• January 23, 1944
• January 24, 1944
• January 25, 1944
• January 26, 1944
• January 29, 1944
• Charlottenburg, January 28
• January 30, 1944
• February 1, 1944
• February 2, 1944
• February 4, 1933
• February 5, 1944
• February 6, 1944
• February 8, 1944
• February 10, 1944
• February 11, 1944
• February 12, 1944
• February 13, 1944
• February 14, 1944
• February 15, 1944
• February 17, 1944
• February 18, 1944
• February 19, 1944
• February 20, 1944
• February 21, 1944
• February 23, 1944
• February 25, 1941
• February 26, 1944
• February 27, 1944
• February 28, 1944
• February 29, 1944
• April 22, 1945
• April 25, 1945
• April 28, 1945
• April 29, 1945
• April 30, 1945