Full name: The Two Hotel Francforts: A Novel

Author: David Leavitt Year: 2013 Rank: Rating: Original Rating: Pop Rating: Genres/categories: Fiction, Historical fiction, War/Military Purchase/reserch links: LibraryThing Goodreads Amazon ISBNs: 9781596910423 9781596910430 1596910429 1596910437

It is the summer of 1940, and Lisbon, Portugal, is the only neutral port left in Europe--a city filled with spies, crowned heads, and refugees of every nationality, tipping back absinthe to while away the time until their escape. Awaiting safe passage to New York on the SS Manhattan, two couples meet: Pete and Julia Winters, expatriate Americans fleeing their sedate life in Paris; and Edward and Iris Freleng, sophisticated, independently wealthy, bohemian, and beset by the social and sexual anxieties of their class. As Portugal's neutrality, and the world's future, hang in the balance, the hidden threads in the lives of these four characters--Julia's status as a Jew, Pete and Edward's improbable affair, Iris's increasingly desperate efforts to save her tenuous marriage--begin to come loose. This journey will change their lives irrevocably, as Europe sinks into war. Gorgeously written, sexually and politically charged, David Leavitt's long-awaited new novel is an extraordinary work. Similar books: The Dressmaker's Gift by Fiona Valpy Battle Cry by Leon Uris War and Remembrance by Herman Wouk The Truth of the Matter by Robb Forman Dew The Charioteer by Mary Renault Whistle by James Jones Gone to Soldiers by Marge Piercy Four Freedoms by John Crowley The Winds of War by Herman Wouk The Emperor's General by James Webb The Angry Hills by Leon Uris Beside a Burning Sea by John Shors Blue Man Falling by Frank Barnard Ordinary Heroes by Scott Turow The Indian Clerk by David Leavitt The Alice Network by Kate Quinn A Fire Sparkling by Julianne MacLean White Rose, Black Forest by Eoin Dempsey The Girl from Krakow by Alex Rosenberg