The Vienna Writers Circle, J. C. Maetis
The Vienna Writers Circle, J. C. Maetis
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The Vienna Writers Circle

Author: J. C. Maetis

Narrator: Charles Constant, Michael Crouch

Unabridged: 12 hr 24 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 02/14/2023


Synopsis

A gripping and powerful tale of resilience and courage set in Vienna on the brink of WWII, as two members of Freud’s Circle try to keep themselves and their loved ones safe as the SS closes in.

Spring, 1938: Café Mozart in the heart of Vienna is beloved by its clientele, including cousins Mathias Kraemer and Johannes Namal. The two writers are as close as brothers. They are also members of Freud’s Circle—a unique group of the famed psychiatrist’s friends and acquaintances who once gathered regularly at the bright and airy café to talk about books and ideas over coffee and pastries. But dark days are looming.

With Hitler’s annexation of Austria, Nazi edicts governing daily life become stricter and more punitive. Now Hitler has demanded that the “hidden Jews” of Vienna be tracked down, and Freud’s Circle has been targeted. The SS aims to use old group photos to identify Jewish intellectuals and subversives. With the vise tightening around them, Mathias and Johannes’s only option appears to be hiding in plain sight, using assumed names and identities to evade detection, aware that discovery would mean consignment to a camp or execution.

Faced with stark and desperate choices, Mathias, Johannes, their families and friends all find their loyalties and courage tested in unimaginable ways. But despite betrayal, heartache and imprisonment, hope remains, and with it, the determination to keep those they love alive, and Mathias and Johannes at the same time discovering that what originally condemned them—their writing—might also be their salvation.


About J. C. Maetis

J.C. Maetis is better known as British thriller writer John Matthews whose books have sold over 1.6 million copies and been translated in 14 languages. Maetis is his father’s original Jewish family name, which he felt was more fitting for this novel. His father's family left Lithuania for London in 1919 in the wake of Jewish pogroms there, but many of his extended family perished when Hitler invaded Lithuania in 1941. Maetis lives in Surrey, UK.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Karren

Café Mozart is the middle of Vienna, here cousins Mathias Kraemer and Johannes Namal meet their literary agent Julian Reisner, they write crime thrillers, the men discuss the book market and what’s happening in the war. The three men are members of Freud’s Circle, a group of scientists, philosophers......more

Goodreads review by "Avonna

Check out all my reviews at: [URL not allowed] THE VIENNA WRITERS CIRCLE by J.C. Maetis is an incredibly intense historical fiction that kept me unnerved and on the edge of my seat through most of the book. This book is not for the faint of heart and describes scenes of man’s inhumani......more

When I first found this book at the library, I was so excited to read and I was not disappointed. The story of Sigmund Freud’s experience during the Second World War is a lesser known story; all anyone really knows is that he was able to flee to Switzerland, safe from Nazi persecution. What’s even m......more

Писателят пише, за да оцелее: [URL not allowed]-review/p... В къси и динамични глави, започващи или с цитати от големия психоаналитик за тъмните страни на човешката природа, или с откъси от Нюрнбергските закони, Маетис проследява съдбата на двамина писатели, при това братовчеди: Матиас и Й......more