Vienna, 1936. One morning, a high-ranking ministry official, married to a beautiful and rich Viennese lady, opens a letter. He recognizes the pale blue handwriting on the envelope. And that handwriting sinks into his brilliant life like the blade of a knife and immediately dislocates it. In a few extremely formal lines, the signer requests help from the powerful official to transfer an eighteen-year-old German boy to a Viennese school. However, for the recipient, in those coded lines a love of many years emerges, a love buried with great care. And that unknown boy, might he not perhaps be an unknown son? The tremendous pressures when it comes to combining one's life with the demands of society have distanced this man – the elegant, impeccable and courteous Leonidas – from all the authentic elements of his existence, both his humble origins and that unacceptable passion. Werfel manages...read more
