The Collected Novellas of

A casual introduction, a challenge to a simple game of chess, a lovers'' reunion, a meaningless infidelity: from such small seeds Zweig brings forth five startlingly tense tales--meditations on th ...

A casual introduction, a challenge to a simple game of chess, a lovers'' reunion, a meaningless infidelity: from such small seeds Zweig brings forth five startlingly tense tales--meditations on the fragility of love, the limits of obsession, the combustibility of secrets and betrayal.To read anything by Zweig is to risk addiction; in this collection the power of his writing--which, with its unabashed intensity and narrative drive, made him one of the bestselling and most acclaimed authors in the world--is clear and irresistible. Each of these stories is a bolt of experience, unforgettable and