THE CLASSIC INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLERA new edition of this classic Zweig story – an epic chess match on a translatlantic liner during WW2 unearths a story of persecution and obsession On the deck of a transatlantic ocean liner, a crowd of passengers gathers to watch reigning chess world champion Mirko Czentovic take on a series of amateur challengers. The haughty grandmaster dispatches all of his opponents with ease, until one Dr B steps forward from the crowd – a passionate lover of the royal game who still bears the mental scars of imprisonment by the Nazis in his native Austria. The enigmatic genius reluctantly agrees to challenge Czentovic, but at what cost to his sanity?Written during the Second World War, The Royal Game was the great Stefan Zweig’s final work – a searing, suspenseful tale of psychological torment and the price of obsession.
Over de auteur
Alexander Starritt is the author of the novels We Germans and The Beast. His translations of The Unhappiness of Being a Single Man by Franz Kafka and Late Fame by Arthur Schnitzler are also published by Pushkin Press.