Robert Seethaler follows up last year’s bestselling A Whole Life with this ominous tale about growing up fast in pre-war Austria. It’s 1937, and 17-year-old Franz Huchel leaves the calm shores of the Attersee for an apprenticeship with a Viennese tobacconist. The city is heavy with threat: there are bombs in the park and Nazis on the Ringstrasse. However, with its newspapers and customers such as Sigmund Freud, the shop remains a citadel of reason. There is a sharp quirkiness to the story. Suffering from homesickness and girl trouble, Franz turns to Freud, who dispenses wisdom (“Even the best of us are dashed to pieces on the rocks of the Feminine”) in return for hand-rolled cheroots. Seethaler blends tragedy and whimsy to create a bittersweet picture of youthful ideals getting clobbered by external forces. The result is a little like Great Expectations, only with dachshunds and strudel.
The Tobacconist is published by Picador (£12.99). Click here to buy it for £10.65
