Albert Cohen, a Bulgarian exile in Israel, returns to Bulgaria for a few days for a conference, and the encounter with his hometown and the people he hasn't seen for years reminds him of a world long gone. His most intense memory is of his grandfather, the unforgettable Abraham the Drunk--master tinsmith, genius storyteller, and witness to the end of an era--, whose figure will allow him to remember some of the most important episodes from his childhood. However, his reveries will be interrupted by some unavoidable events in the present: a dark attempt at land speculation, an encounter with a former lover, and the conflict in the Middle East. This new novel by Angel Wagenstein--author of "Isaac's Torah" and "Farewell, Shanghai"--is a no-holds-barred portrayal of contemporary Bulgaria and an ode to a rich past. "Albert Cohen, un bulgaro exiliado en Israel, regresa por unos dias a Bulgaria para un congreso, y el reencuentro con su ciudad natal y con la gente que lleva anos sin ver le hace recordar un mundo desaparecido. El recuerdo mas intenso es el de su abuelo, el inolvidable Abraham el Borrachon--maestro hojalatero, fabulador genial y testigo del final de una epoca--, cuya figura le permitira revivir algunos de los episodios mas importantes de su infancia. Sin embargo, su ensonacion se vera interrumpida por algunos ineludibles reclamos del presente: un oscuro intento de especulacion inmobiliaria, el encuentro con un antiguo amor y el conflicto de Oriente Proximo. Esta nueva novela de Angel Wagenstein--autor de "El Pentateuco de Isaac" y de "Adios, Shanghai"--es un retrato sin concesiones de la Bulgaria contemporanea y un canto a su riquisimo pasado."

In the midst of World War II, the open city of Shanghai was one of the few places in the world where Jews trying to escape Nazi Germany could find refuge. Elisabeth and Theodore Weissberg, world-famous musicians; Hilde Braun, a promising actress; rabbi Leo Levin and his wife Esther; pickpocket Schlomo Kinfelstein, are some of the characters who seek refuge in this Asian city. The Shanghai of the late 1930s, under Japanese occupation, was a city of extremes: an international financial center with more than 300 banks and luxury hotels, but also a port city plagued by brothels and opium dens; a city in which the wretched neighborhoods such as Hongkou, which would later turn into a Jewish ghetto, contrasted sharply with the opulent international trade centers. Part historical account and part fictional thriller, Angel Wagenstein's novel is a reconstruction of one of the lesser known aspects of World War II, weaving a tale of love and death that is, above all, a tribute to all the women and women who thought they had found their salvation in Shanghai. "En los albores de la segunda guerra mundial, la ciudad abierta de Shanghai era uno de los pocos lugares del mundo en el que se podian refugiar los judios que huian de la Alemania nazi. Elisabeth y Theodor Weissberg, musicos de fama mundial; Hilde Braun, una prometedora actriz; el rabino Leo Levin y su esposa Ester; el carterista Schlomo Finkelstein, son algunos de los personajes que buscan amparo en esta ciudad asiatica. El Shanghai de finales de los anos treinta, bajo ocupacion japonesa, era una ciudad de extremos: un centro financiero internacional con mas de trescientos bancos y lujosos hoteles, pero tambien una ciudad portuaria plagada de prostibulos y fumaderos de opio; una ciudad en la que los miseros barrios como el de Hongkou, que terminaria convertido en gueto judio, contrastaban con las opulentas concesiones internacionales. Entre el relato historico y la novela de intriga, Angel Wagenstein reconstruye en esta novela uno de los episodios menos conocidos de la segunda guerra mundial, narrando una historia de amor y muerte que es, sobre todo, un homenaje a todos aquellos hombres y mujeres que creyeron encontrar su salvacion en Shanghai."

Due to the political circumstances in Europe at the time, a Jewish tailor from Galizia named Isaac Jacob Blumenfeld, who is born as a subject of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, ends up being Austrian, but not without first being a citizen of Poland, the USSR, and the Third Reich. Sheltered from the whims of history by his humor, Isaac discusses the time he spent with the imperial army and in different concentration camps with humor and irony, diluting the obvious tragic backdrop of his story and transforming it into an entertaining and lucid tale of the convulsions that shook Europe during the 20th century. "Debido a los avatares politicos acaecidos en la Europa de la epoca, un sastre judio de Galizia llamado Isaac Jacob Blumenfeld, que nace siendo subdito del Imperio Austrohungaro, termina siendo austriaco, no sin antes haber sido ciudadano de Polonia, la URSS y el Tercer Reich. Protegido de los caprichos de la historia por su humor, Isaac cuenta su paso por el ejercito imperial y distintos campos de concentracion con humor e ironia, diluyendo el evidente fondo tragico de su historia y convirtiendola en un relato divertido y lucido de las convulsiones que sacudieron Europa durante el siglo XX. "