“On the face of it, Robert Seethaler’s new book might seem twee. The novel – an instant hit upon its German publication in 2023 – is set in Vienna in 1966. It tells of Robert Simon, who follows a long-held dream when he gives up doing odd jobs around the market to set up a cafe, which becomes a hub of community.
But Seethaler’s prose is unexpected, taking the novel, far from being an easy-sailing story of the simple joys of community-building, somewhere knottier...
The Café with No Name is a moving, charming novel about to what extent we must change as the world around us hurtles into the unknown.”
Read the full review in The Observer.
