“Although World War II ended two decades earlier, the working-class patrons of the cafe run by a 30-ish war orphan named Robert Simon don’t seem to have emerged from its shadows. In fact, they’re content merely to have a place where ‘you can talk if you need to, or shut up if you’d rather.’
But in Katy Derbyshire’s translation from the German, this bare-bones establishment becomes a good deal more: a gallery of vibrant characters presented with an appealing blend of understated honesty and unsentimental warmth.”
Read the full article in The New York Times Book Review.
