Letter from an Unknown Woman and Other Stories Paperback by Stefan Zweig

Product Details

• Publisher: Pushkin Press Classics (2026-07-28)
• Language: English
• Paperback: 160 pages
• ISBN-13: 9781782697633
• Item Weight: 147.42 grams
• Dimensions: 19.81 x 12.95 x 1.27 cm

You loved him for decades and he doesn't even know your name...

A DEVASTATING PORTRAIT OF SILENT OBSESSION: Yearning, heartbreak, and tragedy unfold in this haunting autopsy of a broken heart.

“In … Zweig's most famous story, an obsessive passion lays bare the truth about a hypocritical society civilized to the point of inhumanity.” —Salman Rushdie, The New York Times

Translated by the award-winning Anthea Bell, these 4 pieces of Stefan Zweig’s short fiction are among his most celebrated and compelling work.

The titular tale offers a devastating depiction of unrequited love. Returning home to Vienna, an author in midlife opens a letter from a woman he has no memory of, but who has loved him her whole life. From a youthful crush to a night of shared passion, she has shaped her entire existence around the quiet pursuit of his attention. Yet, despite their intimacy and a child born of their union, she remains a ghost in his biography.

Elsewhere in the collection, Zweig explores the fragile architecture of the heart:

• A young man mistakes his beloved for her sister.
• Two former lovers reunite after a lifetime of silence.
• A married woman repays a haunting debt of gratitude to a childhood sweetheart.

Expertly paced, laced with the acutely accurate psychological detail and empathy that are Zweig's trademarks, this is a powerful addition to Pushkin's unequalled collection of his work.

About the Author

Stefan Zweig (1881-1942) was born in Vienna, into a wealthy Austrian-Jewish family. He studied in Berlin and Vienna and was first known as a poet and translator, then as a biographer. Zweig was an international bestseller in his day, particularly with novellas like Letter from an Unknown Woman, Amok and Fear. In 1934, with the rise of Nazism, he moved to London, where he wrote his only novel, Beware of Pity. After a short period in New York, Zweig settled in Brazil, where in 1942 he and his wife were found dead in an apparent double suicide. Much of his work is available from Pushkin Press.

Anthea Belle Obe (1936–2018) was among the leading literary translators of the 20th and 21st centuries. Her work from German, French and Danish into English encompassed Kafka, Freud, the Brothers Grimm, Hans Christian Andersen, Georges Simenon, W.G. Sebald, René Goscinny and many others.