"He looked long and deep into her eyes.
"I'll go first," he said. "You'll follow me... if that's
what you want." On the 22nd February 1942
Stefan Zweig, one of the most popular authors of his
generation, committed suicide with his wife Lotte. The
final, desperate gesture of this great writer has
fascinated ever since. Zweig was an exile, driven
from his home in Austria by the Nazis. Fleeing first to
London, then New York, trying always to escape both
those who demonised him and those who acclaimed him, he
eventually took his young bride to Brazil, where they
were haunted by the life they'd been forced to abandon
and by accounts of the violence in Europe. Blending
reality and fiction this novel tells the story of the
great writer's final months. Laurent Seksik uncovers the
man's hidden passions, his private suffering, and how he
and his wife came to end their lives one peaceful
February afternoon.
"Mesmerising … Seksik's
portrait of Zweig's final months is dignified and tender
… [a] very fine novel."-- Financial
Times
"A novel of a staggering beauty.
We see into the inconsolable soul of the great humanist,
become a pariah."-- Le Nouvel Observateur "A
marvel, which will enchant all lovers of Zweig."--
Le Figaro This tragedy-Racine transplanted
to the twentieth century-is told with talent by Laurent
Seksik. -- Livres Hebdo "Laurent Seksik
recounts this tragedy with a stunning gentleness" Le
Point
Laurent Seksik
trained as a doctor, was a radiologist in a Paris
hospital and continues to practise medicine alongside
his work as a writer. Before The Last Days (2010) he
published Les Mauvaises Pensées (1999, translated into
ten languages), La Folle Histoire (2004, awarded the
Littré Prize) and several other books, including a
biography of Albert Einstein. The Last Days was a
bestseller in France and has been translated into ten
languages. The novel has been adapted for the stage into
a very successful play, and a film version is currently
in production. Seksik lives and works in
Paris.
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