'I wanted to rub the human race in its own vomit, and force it to look in the mirror'

The Emperor Waltz Paperback

The Emperor Waltz

Philip Hensher

The most ambitious and daring novel novel yet from Booker Prize-shortlisted Philip Hensher.

‘A novel that’s almost fizzy to the touch … A performance of extraordinary flair and majesty from a writer who seems capable of anything’ Guardian

‘The Emperor Waltz’ is a single novel with three narrative strands: fourth-century Rome, 1920s Germany, and 1980s London. In each place, a small coterie is closely connected and separated from the larger world. In each story, the larger world regards the small coterie and its passionately-held beliefs and secrets with suspicion and hostility.

It is the story of eccentricity, its struggle, its triumph, its influence – but also its defeat.

Reviews of The Emperor Waltz

    • ‘A novel that is always a joy to read … Read it and allow yourself to become a better person’ Independent
    • ‘Important … Glorious … He might have the iconoclastic temperament of a Kandinsky, but he is an old master when he glimpses the cat asleep under the table or the curve of a woman’s neck’ The Times
    • ‘A glittering performance … “The Emperor Waltz” has the depth and pleasurable density of a 19th-century fiction; I loved it’ Ian Thomson, Evening Standard
    • ‘Splendidly thought out and extraordinarily readable’ A S Byatt, Guardian
    • ‘A generous, courageous firework of a novel – a Roman candle, alive and fizzing in the hand’ New Statesman
    • ‘A book as joyful as its musical source … “The Emperor Waltz” is a beautiful book, both profound and funny. It is a powerful invocation to live a life of joy, surrounded by true friends’ Telegraph

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