Flight Without End
Jun 2025 · Pushkin Press Classics
Ebook
144
Pages
family_home
Eligible
info
About this ebook
“An almost perfect novel” — Rolling Stone
A soldier travels through Europe on a doomed mission to track down his fiancée in this masterful and vivid evocation of life between the wars
Franz Tunda, an officer in the Austro-Hungarian army, is captured by the Russians in World War I. Imprisoned in Siberia, he escapes to a remote farm, hiding out in such deep cover that he only learns of the end of the war months after the final shots have been fired. When peace is at last declared, Tunda pulls out a crumpled photo of a fiancée he doesn’t know—Irene is simply a beautiful face who represents the world before—and sets off in search of home.
But the old order has vanished, and Tunda finds himself swept along in the current of this new, terrifying world, surrendering to an impassioned love affair with a Russian revolutionary before drifting phantom-like through Europe's cities.
Meanwhile, Irene has made her own accommodation with the course of events, and grows ever more distant from the young woman in that photograph—that photograph carried next to Tunda’s breast across a decade and a continent, heading inexorably toward a confrontation with its original in interwar Paris.
One of the most personal novels by the great eulogist of the Austro-Hungarian empire, this story melds wry humour and the experience of exile to reflect on the predicament of a man who can find no role for himself in a changed world.
A soldier travels through Europe on a doomed mission to track down his fiancée in this masterful and vivid evocation of life between the wars
Franz Tunda, an officer in the Austro-Hungarian army, is captured by the Russians in World War I. Imprisoned in Siberia, he escapes to a remote farm, hiding out in such deep cover that he only learns of the end of the war months after the final shots have been fired. When peace is at last declared, Tunda pulls out a crumpled photo of a fiancée he doesn’t know—Irene is simply a beautiful face who represents the world before—and sets off in search of home.
But the old order has vanished, and Tunda finds himself swept along in the current of this new, terrifying world, surrendering to an impassioned love affair with a Russian revolutionary before drifting phantom-like through Europe's cities.
Meanwhile, Irene has made her own accommodation with the course of events, and grows ever more distant from the young woman in that photograph—that photograph carried next to Tunda’s breast across a decade and a continent, heading inexorably toward a confrontation with its original in interwar Paris.
One of the most personal novels by the great eulogist of the Austro-Hungarian empire, this story melds wry humour and the experience of exile to reflect on the predicament of a man who can find no role for himself in a changed world.
“An almost perfect novel” — Rolling Stone
A soldier travels through Europe on a doomed mission to track down his fiancée in this masterful and vivid evocation of life between the wars
Franz Tunda, an officer in the Austro-Hungarian army, is captured by the Russians in World War I. Imprisoned in...
Discover more
About the author
Joseph Roth (1894-1939) was born into a Jewish family in the former Austro-Hungarian Empire. He served in the Austrian army during World War I, and later worked as a journalist in Vienna and Berlin, travelling widely, staying in hotels and living out of suitcases, while also becoming a prolific writer of fiction. Roth left Germany when Hitler came to power in 1933 and settled in Paris, where he died just before the outbreak of World War II. As well as his masterpiece The Radetzky March, he was the author of over two dozen works of fiction and non-fiction, including On the End of the World, The Coral Merchant and Flight Without End, all published by or forthcoming from Pushkin Press.
David Le Vay (1915-2001) was a consultant surgeon in the NHS for over thirty years, as well as translating works from French, German, Spanish and Latin.
David Le Vay (1915-2001) was a consultant surgeon in the NHS for over thirty years, as well as translating works from French, German, Spanish and Latin.
Joseph Roth (1894-1939) was born into a Jewish family in the former Austro-Hungarian Empire. He served in the Austrian army during World War I, and later worked as a journalist in Vienna and Berlin, travelling widely, staying in hotels and living out of suitcases, while also becoming a prolific w...
Rate this ebook
Tell us what you think.
Reading information
Smartphones and tablets
Install the Google Play Books app for Android and iPad/iPhone. It syncs automatically with your account and allows you to read online or offline wherever you are.
Laptops and computers
You can listen to audiobooks purchased on Google Play using your computer's web browser.
eReaders and other devices
To read on e-ink devices like Kobo eReaders, you'll need to download a file and transfer it to your device. Follow the detailed Help Center instructions to transfer the files to supported eReaders.
