Felix Hoffman’s hunger is both physical and emotional.
A Dutch diplomat with a checkered career
behind him, he is now Ambassador in Prague in the
late 1980s; his final posting. In Kafka’s haunted city,
Hoffman desperately feeds his bulimia and spends
his insomniac nights studying Spinoza and revisiting
the traumas of his past.
A child survivor of the Holocaust, Hoffman married
and had beloved twin daughters, but a double
tragedy has befallen his family; one daughter died
as a young girl of leukemia, the other, who became
a heroin addict, has committed suicide. This has
wrecked Hoffman’s marriage and his life; he has
not had one decent night’s sleep since the death of
his daughter over twenty years ago, and his constant
physical hunger reflects his emotional hunger
for truth and understanding. When Carla, a Czech
double agent, gets into Hoffman’s bed, political and
emotional mayhem ensues.
Hoffman’s past and his present predicament are
inextricably bound up with the tormented history of
Europe over the fifty years since the Second World
War. Like Europe, he is at a crossroads, and the signs
point to an uncertain future. With this spellbinding
philosophical thriller, a bestseller in Germany, Leon
de Winter charts a search for identity which is both
personal and political.
Translated from the Dutch by Arnold and Erica
Pomerans.
About the Author
 LEON DE WINTER is a prize
winning Dutch novelist, born in
1954. He is also an internationally
recognized film writer and
director. This is his first book to
be translated into English.
Author's Website
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