"Here you have Szerb in miniature revealing his multi-faceted genius" - Nicholas Lezard, Guardian. This selection of Antal Szerb's stories and novellas, set first in a quasi-mythical past and then in the London and Paris of the Thirties, provides an exhilarating guide to the writer'sdevelopment, from precocious beginnings to a masterful maturity. In these unforgettable tales, two of which are new to this edition, Szerb displays his irrepressible love of life and the gentle irony that became his hallmark.

ANTAL SZERB was born in 1901 into a cultivated Budapest family of Jewish descent. Graduating in German and English, he rapidly established himself as a prolific scholar, publishing books on drama and poetry, studies of Ibsen and Blake, and histories of English, Hungarian, and world literature. His first novel, The Pendragon Legend, 1934, is set in London and Wales. Journey by MoonlightThe Queen's Necklace and various volumes of novellas. He died in the forced-labour camp at Balf in January 1945.