A century, a family, a marriage. And nothing more than lies.

When Henriette Stanley dies, the family standing at her grave is no longer large: There is Harry, her “mentally disturbed” son, on whom the shipowner family from Antwerp had once placed all their hopes. There is her daughter Ann with her German husband, whose marriage Henriette was unable to prevent even though it cost her Belgian inheritance after the War. And then there is the sister of her husband, who disappeared under suspicious circumstances many years before. Nobody speaks to her, even though she is the only one to know what happened to her brother and what the Antwerpian will really said. And she also knows that every attempt to forget is futile. This novel is a magnificent painting and Evelyn Gill proves her mastery with it. She recounts the story of a marriage, a novel about a family full of cracks, which reveal the chasms of an entire century.

A unique collection of sayings by the enfant terrible of classical music – taken from rehearsals and recording sessions

One of Nikolaus Harnoncourt's great secrets is his talent for language, probably unparalleled within his fraternity – his ability to translate musical images into basic, humorous, precise verbal images. Sabine M. Gruber, a member of the Schoenberg Chorus since the early 1980s, has – as both participant and observer – kept a record of Harnoncourt's inspired linguistic innovations over the years. Linking these with comments of her own, she examines the personality of Harnoncourt, artist and man, and the nature of the musical and artistic process. Reflections and remarks on works by Bach, Beer, Beethoven, Handel, Haydn, Mendelssohn, Monteverdi, Mozart, Purcell, Schubert, Schumann and Strauss combine in this book, which affords a fascinating glimpse through the keyhole of rehearsal-rooms and concert-halls. These are exceptional and authentic insights into the working methods and the personality of one of the most unconventional musicians of our time – full of humour, musical truth and wisdom.

An extensive biography honoring the 100th birthday of the legendary Austrian politician!

Creativity, the willingness to change things – and the grouchy humor he was known for: Kreisky’s multifaceted personality was reflected in his unusual life. The open-minded intellectual was a key figure in the political and economic rise of postwar Austria. As Federal Chancellor (1970-1983), he implemented fundamental reforms as well as long overdue modernizations, thus helping the SPÖ (Social Democratic Party of Austria) become one of the most successful social democratic parties in Western Europe. Willy Brandt was a close friend. Kreisky was a mediator between East and West, a global political player. A smart analyst who also had the talent of connecting with everyday people. This biography is based on the author’s decade-long engagement with the Kreisky phenomenon, including information from hitherto unknown sources. Wolfgang Petritsch held numerous interviews with international contemporaries as well as private friends to complete the dazzling image of this impressive personality.

The readers’ edition of Fritz von Herzmanovsky’s main work.

A dream path behind a cabinet door leads the unmarried orphan Cyriak de Pizzicolli, who has never traveled beyond Graz and its vicinity, to “Tarockei”, the “only neighboring country to the world”. The fantastical land inhabited by magical beings is an Austrian-Byzantine utopia, where the constitution is based on the card game tarot. What adventures he experiences after encountering the breathtakingly beautiful Cyparis and why he ends up wearing stag antlers on his head can be told by none less than Fritz Herzmanovsky-Orlando. “Masquerade of the Genii” is not only his main work, but also one of the main works of 20th century Austrian literature – the fantastical sister of Robert Musil’s “Man Without Qualities”, like Alice in Wonderland stumbling into Kafka’s Castle, a wonderful nightmare bubbling with ideas and humor!

Wie Thomas Bernhard Thomas Bernhard wurde

The causes were catastrophic: the boarding school was a prison, the town a terminal disease. There was war and there was his grandfather, who only talked to him about the masters, Mozart, Rembrandt and Beethoven. The causes were destructive, and they left indelible traces in Thomas Bernhard’s life and work.

Lehrjahre unter Erniedrigten

One morning, the pupil decides to withdraw from his life. In the cellar, on the fringes of the detested town, in the ghetto of the have-nots and criminals, Thomas Bernhard finds himself an apprenticeship in a grocery store. There he gets to know those who have been cast aside by society, and he gets to understand himself.

Nachrichten von der Lebensgrenze

Severe pulmonary disease tore Thomas Bernhard away from his daily life before he was even eighteen. His body forced him into the isolation of hospital wards, into the company of the barely alive. His final stop was the bathroom from which only the dead returned. There he suddenly knew that he mustn’t stop breathing, that he wanted to live.

Die Schule der Auflehnung

His admission into the lung sanatorium Grafenhof heralded the start of a new chapter in the young Thomas Bernhard’s tale of suffering. In the isolation of the sanatorium he was at the mercy of the doctors, the nursing staff, his fellow patients and above all, himself and his will. In this hopelessness he practised revolt.

Die Geschichte einer Erziehung ohne Erzieher

Thomas Bernhard’s childhood years, the beginning at the end, a martyrdom commences. The shame of being born out of wedlock and the mother’s accusation: You have ruined my life! These were years of fear and war. It was a time far removed from joy, although not entirely without its moments of elation.

Anachronistic subjects revisited

Thomas Macho leads us through a fascinating philosophical discourse on the boundaries of fairness. On one hand it is said that “all humans are equal”, but on the other, “life is unfair”. Illnesses, disabilities, shortened life spans and causes of death constantly challenge the sociopolitical ideal of equality. What use are comp time, governmental child support and pensions, insurances and building loan agreements if some people die as children while others live to be one hundred years – perhaps even wealthy and full of happiness? The well-known philosopher investigates this and further questions in a world that may be familiar with the term “justice”, but faces a different reality. He questions the solidarity of humans, the base of democracy, and embarks on a search for answers and new paths.