Prague Summer: A Novel

by Jeffrey Condran

Overview

Stefanie and Henry are Americans living in Prague; she works for the State Department, he is a rare books dealer. They live the life of a comfortably married couple--morning coffee at the same café every day, social events with the same small group of friends, a little too much to drink in the evenings and a single episode of Poirot every night before bed. Until one day their world is turned upside down by the arrival from the States of Stefanie's old friend, Selma Al-Khateeb whose husband has been mysteriously arrested and indefinitely imprisoned. At first it appears that Selma has come to escape her problems, but soon her reasons for coming to Prague grow sinister and murky. Stefanie and Henry's placid existence is turned upside down in ways they couldn't have imagined.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781619025523
Publisher:	Catapult
Publication date:	08/11/2015
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	272
Product dimensions:	5.60(w) x 8.70(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Jeffrey Condran is the author of the forthcoming story collection from Press 53, A Fingerprint Repeated. His work has been honored with several awards, including The Missouri Review's 2010 William Peden Prize and Pushcart Prize nominations.

Read an Excerpt

“Maybe I don’t care what you believe,” she says. “I just need your help.”

Ah, my help. Selma has mentioned in at least one email that while she’s here she wants to see literary Prague. This is about the only thing I’ve been allowed to know. She wants to see the house where Kafka lived, the Café Slavia where all the sixties writers and intellectuals drank their coffee and slivovitz, and perhaps even make a foray or two into the contemporary scene. Selma’s bachelor’s degree was in English Literature, so as they say, she has an interest. And I suppose this is what I had in mind when I said that we should find something for her to do.

Editorial Reviews

"Like the city itself, Prague Summer is romantic and mysterious, with a refined literary bent. "One can meet everybody here," our expatriate narrator says, before his quiet life implodes. Jeffrey Condran's debut novel is at once civilized and insidious." -- Stewart O'Nan, author of A Prayer for the Dyingand Last Night at the Lobster

"Jeffrey Condran's Prague Summer is both tense and atmospheric, with characters every bit as compelling as the plot. Mysterious on many different levels, it heralds the arrival of an important new novelist. I couldn't put it down, and you won't be able to either." -- Steve Yarbrough, author of Safe from the Neighbors

"Jeffrey Condran's debut novel is both highly literary and compulsively readable. Condran - and his characters! - are smart, sharp and witty. On top of all that, there's Prague, haunting, beautiful Prague."--Ellen Sussman, author of the New York Times bestselling novel, French Lessons

"Jeffrey Condran deliberately addresses the tensions and promise of our post-9/11 world with courage, intelligence, and empathy. His characters are often world-weary, but they remain open to the possibilities of love, connection, or even transformative ruin. Condran writes in a voice that radiates self-assurance and knowledge of the hopes and regrets that unite us all." -- Caitlin Horrocks, author of This is Not Your City

From the Publisher

2014-07-03
A couple's world is turned upsidedown when a friend visits in this Kafkaesque literary thriller by debutnovelist Condran.Married for a decade, AmericansHenry and Stephanie have settled into a comfortable life in Prague, where sheworks for the State Department and he owns a shop specializing in rare books.Condran channels his love of literature and the city of Prague through Henry'smany allusions to literary works and Czech landmarks. When Stephanie's oldcollege friend Selma Al-Khateeb plans a visit, she immediately jumps intoprotective mode. Stephanie and her former roommates always considered Selmaspecial, the best among them, but lately, Selma's life has been nothing shortof surreal. Her husband, Mansour, arrested under the Patriot Act, has been heldin federal custody for more than a year without being charged, and Selma'sexhausted all avenues of help. Stephanie and Henry view Selma's visit as achance for her to catch her breath and have a diversion from these disturbingevents, but for Selma, her visit holds a deeper purpose. She's damaged andfrightened, and Henry's strong reaction to her presence results inunanticipated feelings and actions that threaten to overpower his life. On theone hand, he continues to conduct business, while on the other, he takes Selmaon a routine literary tour of Prague that ends with a frantic plea. Unwillingto cross certain boundaries, Henry tries to help but knows his attempt is morean empty gesture than an effective solution. Eventually, a business trip to evaluateand catalog a rare-book collection changes his entire perspective. Fluctuating between wry observationand solemn introspection, this is an expressive, tantalizing and ingeniouslyconstructed study of human character.

Kirkus Reviews