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The Seventh Gate

Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
1 of 1 copy available

By the author of the critically acclaimed international hits The Last Kabbalist of Lisbon and The Warsaw Anagrams, this novel proves Richard Zimler's mastery of the "riveting literary murder mystery" (Independent on Sunday).

Berlin, 1932. Sophie is a smart and sexually precocious fourteen-year-old coming of age during Hitler's rise to power. Forced to lead a double life when her father and boyfriend become Nazi collaborators, she reserves her dreams of becoming an actress for her beloved elderly neighbor, Isaac Zarco, and his friends, most of whom are Jews working against the government in a secret group called the Ring. When a member is sent to Dachau, she realizes there must be a Nazi traitor in the group—but who?

Through successive mysteries, reversals, surprises, and a race against time, The Seventh Gate builds to a shattering end. In its chilling but sensuous evocation of the time and place, Richard Zimler's novel is at once a love story and a tragedy—and a tale of ferocious heroism.

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    • Publisher's Weekly

      Starred review from April 2, 2012
      Zimler (The Last Kabbalist of Lisbon) surpasses himself with this coming-of-age epic set in Berlin at the start of the Nazi era. In 1932, precocious 14-year-old Sophie Riedesel is adjusting to her changing body and desires, but she soon has other concerns as Hitler consolidates his power in 1933. Although Sophie herself isn’t Jewish, she’s alarmed by the uptick in anti-Semitism and the threats posed to her Jewish friends. She develops a special affinity for Isaac Zarco, a neighbor who instructs her on kabbalistic theology and who years earlier founded the Ring, a group that originally helped retired circus performers find other work. The Ring now focuses on improving the working conditions in breweries, a pursuit that the Nazis view as threatening. When the Ring’s head, Georg Hirsch, is strangled, Sophie devotes herself to solving the crime amid indications that a colleague may have betrayed Hirsch. The whodunit is captivating enough, but the book’s power lies in its stark and unflinching portrayal of the impact of Hitler’s eugenic policies on the infirm and disabled. Agent: Cynthia Cannell, Cynthia Cannell Literary Agency.

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  • English

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