Selected Stories

Truly gripping, these mini-masterpieces each contain the substance of a condensed full-length novel. Fantastic Night is the story of one transformative evening in the life of a rich and bored young man. He spends a day at the races and an evening in the seedy but thrilling company of the dregs of society. His experiences jolt him out of his languor and give him a newfound relish for life, which is then cut short by the Great War. Two of Zweig's most powerful works, The Invisible Collection and Buchmendel, explore lives led in the single-minded pursuit of art and literature against a backdrop of poverty and corruption. Letter from an Unknown Woman is a poignant and heartbreaking tale of the strength and madness of unrequited love, while in The Fowler Snared, it is the man whose passion remains unrequited. Twenty-Four Hours in the Life of a Woman is the story of a middle-aged English widow who travels to escape loneliness and boredom. One evening while enjoying the elegant atmosphere of the Monte Carlo Casino, she becomes mesmerized by the obsessive gambling of a young Polish aristocrat. This fateful encounter leads to passion, despair, and death, changing their lives forever.