Beware of Pity

'Zweig's fictional masterpiece'

GUARDIAN

'An intoxicating, morally shaking read… A real reminder of what fiction can do best' Ali Smith

The only novel written by one of the most popular writers of the twentieth century

In 1913, young second lieutenant Hofmiller discovers the terrible danger of pity. He had no idea the girl was lame when he asked her to dance—so begins a series of visits, motivated by pity, which relieve his guilt but give her a dangerous glimmer of hope.

Stefan Zweig's unforgettable novel is a devastating depiction of the betrayal of both honour and love, amid the disintegration of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Part of the Pushkin Press Classics series: timeless storytelling by icons of literature, hand-picked from around the globe.

Translated by Anthea Bell

Stefan Zweig (1881–1942) was born in Vienna, into a wealthy Austrian-Jewish family. He studied in Berlin and Vienna and was first known as a poet and translator, then as a biographer. Zweig travelled widely, living in Salzburg between the wars, and was an international bestseller with a string of hugely popular novellas including

Letter from an Unknown Woman,

Amok and

Fear. In 1934, with the rise of Nazism, he moved to London, where he wrote his only novel,

Beware of Pity. He later moved on to Bath, taking British citizenship after the outbreak of the Second World War. After a short period in New York, Zweig settled in Brazil, where in 1942 he and his wife were found dead in an apparent double suicide. Much of his work is available from Pushkin Press.