Brecht's Mistress by Jacques-Pierre Amette

Brecht's Mistress by Jacques-Pierre Amette

A fictional story based on the final years of playwright Bertolt Brecht, Brecht’s Mistress is a literary Cold War thriller that “recalls le Carré” (Daily Telegraph) in its evocation of the grim world of postwar East Germany and its depiction of personal destinies intertwined with superpower rivalry. Inspired by an actual photograph taken of Brecht and a beautiful unknown young woman, Amette’s novel opens on October 22, 1948, the day of Brecht’s return to the Soviet-controlled zone of Berlin. Despite Brecht’s abiding communist sympathies, the Stasi, East Germany’s notorious secret police force, suspects his motives and recruits the young and vulnerable Viennese actress Maria Eich to spy on him. Brecht—married to the actress Helen Weigel—is a womanizer, and Maria soon becomes one of a long string of mistresses. Maria, for her part, has fallen in love with her Stasi recruiting officer, Hans Trow. An intricate plot plays itself out on the terrain of infidelities, ambition, and Cold War politics.

“Delicate, lightly structured, very subtle—a mature work” — Le Monde

“The dramatist’s ear for dialogue, the screenwriter’s eye for the details of location, the critic’s relish for ideas—are everywhere evident in Brecht’s Mistress.” — The Times Literary Supplement

Jacques-Pierre Amette is the author of over twenty novels, including several thrillers. He is also a playwright, screenwriter, and literary critic for Le Point. He lives in Paris, France.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9781595580191
ISBN 10	1595580190
Title	Brecht's Mistress
Author	Jacques-Pierre Amette
Condition	Unavailable
Publisher	The New Press
Year published	2006-02-16
Number of pages	228
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.