RRP: Price: £8.99
Haus Price: £7.19

Publication Date:
2012-03-01

ISBN:
978-1-907822-53-7

Format:
Paperback

Territory:
UK & Commonwealth

Category:
Coming Soon, Fiction

Pages:
163

By Günther Freitag

Höller knows that he will soon die. Instead of withdrawing into the arms of his family, he withdraws from them. His only remaining aim in life is to persuade Alfred Brendel to play the definitive interpretation of Franz Schubert’sWanderer Fantasy especially for him. Both in his life and dream he is no longer prepared to accept compromises, and he can only muster disgust for his wife’s shameless pursuit of high society thrills and his son’s materialist aspirations.

To their shocked consternation, Höller decides to sell his profitable business and decamps to rural Tuscany. The decidedly odd stranger, who is seen about town with a towel wrapped around his head to prevent it from splitting, inspects the community hall to check its suitability as a concert venue and hires the inhabitants of Castelnuovo’s old people’s home as stewards for the performance. He soon becomes an object of bewilderment for the townsfolk. But will Höller’s humanity be revealed before it is too late?

Translated by Eugene H. Hayworth

Günther Freitag was born in 1952 in Feldkirch/ Vorarlberg, and studied German and history in Graz, while continuing his piano studies at the conservatory. He has won a number of prizes for his literary works, including the Steiermark Scholarship in 1990 and the town of Leoben’s Culture Prize in 1992.