Joseph Roth's sensibility - both clear-eyed and nostalgic, harshly realistic and tenderly humane - produced some of the most distinctive fiction of the twentieth century. This selection of his finest shorter work, in exquisite new translations by Ruth Martin, showcases Roth's peerless skill as an ob...

Joseph Roth's sensibility - both clear-eyed and nostalgic, harshly realistic and tenderly humane - produced some of the most distinctive fiction of the twentieth century. This selection of his finest shorter work, in exquisite new translations by Ruth Martin, showcases Roth's peerless skill as an observer of social discord and individual frailty.

A coral merchant, longing for the sea, chooses to adulterate his wares with false corla, with catastrophic results; young Fini, just entering the haze of early sexuality, falls into an unsatisfying relationship with an older musician. In prose of fluid beauty and wry precision, Roth shows us isolated souls pursuing lost ideals in the Austro-Hungarian empire's dying days.