1913

The best possible holiday read * Irish Times * A hugely enjoyable idiosyncratic month by month narrative, in which the frenzy of artistic activity in London, Paris, Vienna, Berlin, and Trieste is conveyed with vigour and humour * Daily Telegraph * A vivid, richly textured book that chronicles a world crackling with talent, energy and foreboding * FT * A brilliant game of original quotations and tracings * Der Spiegel * Illies shapes his material not as a scholar, but as a wordsmith, as a story-teller with a strong sense for dramatic effect and composition...the most enjoyable book I've read in years * Die Welt * Illies makes the hundred years between 1913 and his readers disappear. A beautiful book. * Suddeutsche Zeitung * Illies is as astute a researcher as he is an observer of the zeitgeist ... reads like something out of a magic realist novel. -- Philip Oltermann * Guardian * I couldn't stop reading - Illies' stories are simply magnificent -- Ferdinand von Schirach Thorough and fascinating * Time Out * An absolute gem of a book. His snapshot approach to the year, recorded month by month, is the most original historical account I've come across ... Illies's genius turn of phrase, beautifully retained by Shaun Whiteside and Jamie Lee Searle's elegant translation, can be found throughout ... The entries read like history's footnotes, but as anyone who's read Freud knows, the footnotes always tell the best story. -- Lucy Scholes * Observer *

Florian Illies was born in 1971. He has worked as literary editor for major German newspapers and magazines, and co-founded art magazine Monopol. His previous four books have sold over one million copies.