The Café with No Name

A NUMBER ONE INTERNATIONAL BEST-SELLER A NEW YORK TIMES EDITORS' CHOICE A tale of love, companionship, and renewal set against the transformations of 1960s Vienna. "How I loved this book! Filled with truth after truth, poignantly rendered and given to us with tender open-handedness."--Elizabeth Strout, author of Olive Kitteridge Robert Simon is in his early thirties in 1966, when the owners of the corner bar in the Carmelite market square of Vienna shutter the business. With the help of an old family friend, he buys the property. It is dark and dilapidated, located in a neglected neighborhood of the broken Austrian capital. But for a while now, an unexpected spirit of renewal has been felt in the city. One hears talk of a bright future beginning to rise from the quagmire of the past. Robert refurbishes the café and soon customers begin to arrive in search of a congenial place to gather, talk, read, come to terms with the monumental changes afoot, or just sit and be. They bring with them stories of passionate love, friendships, abandonments, and bereavements. Some are in search of company, others long for love. As the city is transformed, Robert's café becomes at once a place of refuge and one from which to observe, mourn, and rejoice. Combining the enchantment of warm prose with tender humanity and gentle humor, Robert Seethaler has written a charming, atmospheric tale about the extraordinary richness of ordinary lives. ★ "A gem of a novel, whimsical and bittersweet but never sentimental, with indelible characters and a powerful sense of place."--Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

Robert Seethaler was born in Vienna in 1966 and is the author of eight novels. In 2017 he was a finalist for the Man Booker International Prize with A Whole Life (FSG, 2016). He also works as an actor, most recently in Paolo Sorrentino's Youth. He lives in Berlin.