{"product_id":"the-post-office-girl-9781590172629","title":"The Post-Office Girl","description":"\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eWes Anderson on Stefan Zweig: \u003c\/b\u003e \"I had never heard of Zweig...when I just more or less by chance bought a copy of \u003ci\u003eBeware of Pity\u003c\/i\u003e. I loved this first book. I also read the \u003ci\u003eThe Post-Office\u003c\/i\u003e \u003ci\u003eGirl\u003c\/i\u003e. \u003ci\u003eThe Grand Budapest Hotel\u003c\/i\u003e has elements that were sort of stolen from both these books. Two characters in our story are vaguely meant to represent Zweig himself -- our \"Author\" character, played by Tom Wilkinson, and the theoretically fictionalised version of himself, played by Jude Law. But, in fact, M. Gustave, the main character who is played by Ralph Fiennes, is modelled significantly on Zweig as well.\" \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe post-office girl is Christine, who looks after her ailing mother and toils in a provincial Austrian post office in the years just after the Great War. One afternoon, as she is dozing among the official forms and stamps, a telegraph arrives addressed to her. It is from her rich aunt, who lives in America and writes requesting that Christine join her and her husband in a Swiss Alpine resort. After a dizzying train ride, Christine finds herself at the top of the world, enjoying a life of privilege that she had never imagined.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBut Christine's aunt drops her as abruptly as she picked her up, and soon the young woman is back at the provincial post office, consumed with disappointment and bitterness. Then she meets Ferdinand, a wounded but eloquent war veteran who is able to give voice to the disaffection of his generation. Christine's and Ferdinand's lives spiral downward, before Ferdinand comes up with a plan which will be either their salvation or their doom.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eNever before published in English, this extraordinary book is an unexpected and haunting foray into noir fiction by one of the masters of the psychological novel.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sureshotbooks-com.myshopify.com\/search?type=product%2Carticle%2Cpage\u0026amp;q=AUTH-16592327\"\u003eStefan Zweig\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e New York Review of Books\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 04\/15\/2008\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 272\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.60lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 7.98h x 5.10w x 0.56d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781590172629\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN10:\u003c\/b\u003e 1590172620\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBISAC Categories:\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e- \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sureshotbooks-com.myshopify.com\/search?type=product%2Carticle%2Cpage\u0026amp;q=CAT-FIC\"\u003eFiction\u003c\/a\u003e | \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sureshotbooks-com.myshopify.com\/search?type=product%2Carticle%2Cpage\u0026amp;q=BISAC-FIC019000\"\u003eLiterary\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cbr\u003e- \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sureshotbooks-com.myshopify.com\/search?type=product%2Carticle%2Cpage\u0026amp;q=CAT-FIC\"\u003eFiction\u003c\/a\u003e | \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sureshotbooks-com.myshopify.com\/search?type=product%2Carticle%2Cpage\u0026amp;q=BISAC-FIC004000\"\u003eClassics\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cbr\u003e- \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sureshotbooks-com.myshopify.com\/search?type=product%2Carticle%2Cpage\u0026amp;q=CAT-FIC\"\u003eFiction\u003c\/a\u003e | \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sureshotbooks-com.myshopify.com\/search?type=product%2Carticle%2Cpage\u0026amp;q=BISAC-FIC025000\"\u003ePsychological\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eStefan Zweig\u003c\/b\u003e (1881--1942) spent his youth studying philosophy and the history of literature in Vienna and belonged to a pan-European cultural circle that included Hugo von Hofmannsthal and Richard Strauss. In 1934, under National Socialism, Zweig fled Austria for England, where he authored several novels, short stories, and biographies. In 1941 Zweig and his second wife traveled to Brazil, where they both committed suicide. NYRB Classics published his novels \u003ci\u003eChess Story\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eBeware of Pity\u003c\/i\u003e. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003eJoel Rotenberg\u003c\/b\u003e has produced NYRB original translations for Stefan Zweig's \u003ci\u003eChess Story\u003c\/i\u003e and Hugo von Hofmannsthal's \u003ci\u003eThe Lord Chandos Letter\u003c\/i\u003e.","brand":"New York Review of Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42710710714605,"sku":"9781590172629","price":16.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0550\/8097\/6621\/files\/img_12bbb0ef-8a2d-4d35-b2cb-cd909064986a.jpg?v=1747436873","url":"https:\/\/sureshotbooks.com\/products\/the-post-office-girl-9781590172629","provider":"SureShot Books Publishing LLC","version":"1.0","type":"link"}