The Glass Pearls (Faber Editions)

The Glass Pearls is a thrilling and morally complex novel by Emeric Pressburger, best known as a celebrated filmmaker. Set in London in 1965, it follows Karl Braun, a cultured German piano tuner and ex-Nazi surgeon hiding in plain sight among émigrés, as the hunt for Nazi war criminals intensifies. The novel explores themes of guilt, identity, and the haunting shadows of the past, rendered with a Hitchcockian noir atmosphere and psychological depth. Pressburger, a Jewish émigré who fled Germany in 1933, imbues the story with personal resonance and nuanced portrayals of German characters, avoiding simplistic stereotypes. The book has been praised by notable authors and critics for its gripping narrative, tense mood, and darkly unsettling tone, making it a rediscovered gem of 20th-century London fiction and a compelling act of imagination that challenges readers' perceptions of morality and history.