The bestselling novel of love and sacrifice under fascist rule, and "a treat for the mind. One of the best books I have read in a long time" (Isabel Allende).Raimund Gregorius, a professor of dead languages at a Swiss secondary school, lives a life governed by routine. Then, an enigmatic Portuguese woman stirs his interest in an obscure, and mind-expanding book of philosophy that opens the possibility of changing Raimund's existence. That same night, he takes the t...

From the author of Night Train to Lisbon: a father's story about his daughter unravels "[a] tale of grief, fraud, guilt and madness . . . Revelatory" ( The New York Times Book Review).Pascal Mercier's international bestseller Night Train to Lisbon mesmerized readers around the world, and was adapted into a film starring Jeremy Irons. Now, in Lea, Mercier returns with a mysterious tale of a father's love and a daughter's ambition ...

A huge international bestseller, with over 2 million copies sold worldwide, Night Train to Lisbon is an utterly compelling novel about one man's escape from a humdrum life in search of passion and spontaneity.Night Train to Lisbon tells the story of mild-mannered, middle-aged Classics scholar Raimund Gregorius. When, one afternoon, he walks out of his class while in the middle of giving a lesson, his uncharacteristic impulsiveness surprises him as...

From the internationally bestselling author of Night Train to Lisbon comes a compelling novel about one man's attempt to extricate himself from his featureless existence and find a life of passion and danger.LONGLISTED FOR THE 2013 IMPAC AWARDIn a quiet seaside town near Genoa, experts are gathering for a linguistics conference. One speaker, Philipp Perlmann is recently widowed and, struggling to contend with his ...

An academic finds himself contemplating the unthinkable in a "tour de force" psychological thriller by the philosopher and author of Night Train to Lisbon ( De Volkskrant, Netherlands).Pascal Mercier's critically acclaimed debut novel, Night Train to Lisbon, became an international bestseller and the basis for a film starring Jeremy Irons. Now, in Perlmann's Silence, Mercier delivers a deft psychological portrait of a man strivin...

From the author of the giant bestseller, Night Train to Lisbon, comes a finely calibrated heartbreaker of a novel about fathers and daughters, great rises and sudden falls.It all starts with the death of Martijn van Vliet's wife. His grief-stricken young daughter, Lea, cuts herself off from the world, right up until the day that she hears a snatch of Bach being played on a violin by a busker. Transfixed by the sweet melody, she emerges from her mourning, v...

It all starts with the death of Martijn van Vliet's wife. His grief-stricken young daughter, Lea, cuts herself off from the world, lost in the darkness of grief. Then she hears the unfamiliar sound of a violin playing in the hall of a train station, and she is brought back to life. Transfixed by a busker playing Bach, Lea emerges from her mourning, vowing to learn the instrument. And her father, witnessing this delicate spark, promises to do everything and anything in his power to keep her...

Raimund Gregorious - Mundus, as his students affectionately call him - is a predictable character. A bookish Latin professor, well-respected but perhaps a little boring. One stormy morning, he encounters a beautiful, distraught Portuguese woman in a red leather coat... Later that day Raimund will realise: that moment changed everything. All of a sudden, nothing in his life feels right. His restlessness is further fuelled when he finds a book by a little-known Portuguese writer, Amadeo de P...