Conspirators A Novel

"Beautifully written, intricate and entrancing."--Jaroslaw Anders,Los Angeles Times Book Review Galicia, Austria-Hungary, 1913. In the castle of a frontier town, on the border between Europe and the East, the corrupt Count-Governor Wiladowski watches helplessly while a wave of assassinations sweeps the empire, and his province. When a member of his own family is murdered, the count gives broad police powers to his spymaster, Jakob Tausk: a brilliant young Jew whose ruthless war on terror extends into every corner of the province and beyond, enlisting union organizers, financiers, aristocrats and their servants, and a young novelist and playwright, newly arrived in the Vienna of Franz Josef and Freud, hungry for literary success. Michael Andre Bernsteinis a frequent contributor toThe Times Literary Supplement, theLos Angeles Times Book Review, andThe New Republic. He is a Professor of English and Comparative Literature at UC Berkeley. Galicia, Austria-Hungry, 1913. In the Castle of a frontier town, on the border between Europe and the East, the worldly, corrupt Count-Governor Wiladowski watches helplessly while a wave of assassinations sweeps the Empire, and his province. When a member of his own family is murdered, the Count gives broad police powers to his spymaster, Jakob Tausk, a brilliant young Jew whose ruthless war on terror extends into every corner of the province and beyond, enlisting union organizers, financiers, aristocrats and their servants, and a young novelist and playwright newly arrived in the Vienna of Franz Josef and Freud, hungry for literary success. In the wake of new terrorist attacks, a mysterious preacher appears in the provincial capital--one of the so-called wonder rabbis from the shtetls of the Eas--trailing a band of fanatical disciples who proclaim him the Messiah. Word of the charismatic leader spreads quickly from the Jewish quarter to the Castle, and soon Tausk finds himself serving two masters: the Count and the richest man in the province, Moritz Rotenberg, who has a private interest in the wonder rabbi and whose only son has retuned from his studies burning for revolution, ready to gather disciples of his own. Moving from underground meetings and makeshift synagogues to the bedroom of country estates and the secret high councils of the ailing Habsburg Empire, Michael Andre Bernstein's compelling first novel evokes a densely believable world on the edge of collapse, full of the haunting suggestiveness of a fable or nightmare and the erotic, mystical, and apocalyptic passions of an age. "Beautifully written, intricate, and entrancing."--Jaroslaw Anders,Los Angeles Times Book Review "Bernstein creates a vivid cast of characters and does a superb job of evoking the feverish intellectual atmosphere of Middle Europe . . . A pleasure to read."--Jamie James,The Wall Street Journal "Bernstein gets it all right.Conspiratorsemotionally compelling and intellectually exhilarating, splendidly re-creates a forgotten world."--Dan Cryer,Newsday "Precision, imagination, and acute psychological insights are the hallmarks ofConspirators, an extraordinarily satisfying historical novel . . . An unusually assured and captivating debut."--Carlo Wolff,MilwaukeeJournal Sentinel "Grandly old-fashioned . . . Bernstein maintains firm control of his plot, and painstakingly re-creates the historical landscape."--The New Yorker "[An] excellent debut novel . . . This is historical fiction at its most convincing."--Regina Marler,TheNew YorkObserver "The elegance and wit of Bernstein's prose complement his large histo

Michael André Bernstein is a frequent contributor to The Times Literary Supplement, the Los Angeles Times Book Review, and The New Republic. He is a Professor of English and Comparative Literature at UC Berkeley.

"Beautifully written, intricate and entrancing."--Jaroslaw Anders, Los Angeles Times Book Review

Galicia, Austria-Hungary, 1913. In the castle of a frontier town, on the border between Europe and the East, the corrupt Count-Governor Wiladowski watches helplessly while a wave of assassinations sweeps the empire, and his province. When a member of his own family is murdered, the count gives broad police powers to his spymaster, Jakob Tausk: a brilliant young Jew whose ruthless war on terror extends into every corner of the province and beyond, enlisting union organizers, financiers, aristocrats and their servants, and a young novelist and playwright, newly arrived in the Vienna of Franz Josef and Freud, hungry for literary success.

"Bernstein creates a vivid cast of characters and does a superb job of evoking the feverish intellectual atmosphere of Middle Europe.... A pleasure to read." --Jamie James, The Wall Street Journal

"Bernstein gets it all right. Conspirators emotionally compelling and intellectually exhilarating, splendidly re-creates a forgotten world."--Dan Cryer, Newsday

"Grandly old-fashioned...Bernstein maintains firm control of his plot, and painstakingly re-creates the historical landscape."--The New Yorker

Michael André Bernstein is a frequent contributor to The Times Literary Supplement, the Los Angeles Times Book Review, and The New Republic. He is a Professor of English and Comparative Literature at UC Berkeley.