Books set in Vienna or about Vienna

[JeromeKJerome]

I've just booked a trip to Vienna for October half term and would read some books set in or about Vienna in preparation.

Looking for either historical fiction or non fiction.

Does anyone have any recommendations?

Eva Ibbotson is your woman - Madensky Square as a light romance, A Glove Shop In Vienna as short stories, The Morning Gift starts there and traces Ibbotson's own escape from the Nazis to London. Star Of Kazan is a great children's adventure novel.

A friend recommended The Only Woman In The Room about Hedy Lamar, who started her career in Vienna, but I haven't read it myself.

Persepolis (books one and two) by Marjan Satrapi are really good graphic novels - a memoir of her life escaping Iran and her time in Vienna. It's more Iran than Austria, but it's an exceptional book and I think just about qualifies.

viennabookandtravel.com/my-favorite-books-set-in-about-vienna/

Hare with Amber eyes

Yes, I immediately thought of Eva Ibbotson!

Thank you. Some really helpful suggestions and a great webink.

I read this years ago : https://www.amazon.co.uk/Painted-Kiss-Elizabeth-Hickey/dp/0743492617?dplnkId=585be46d-aed4-495e-9ee3-d8a8c6f70e9e&nodl=1

It’s about the woman Klimt painted in one of his famous portraits. Great to read especially if you’re going to see any of the Klimt paintings there.

The Liebermann novels by Frank Tallis (televised as Vienna Blood)

Oh yes, definitely Hare with the Amber Eyes...

Looks like it’s out of print but available second-hand - Last Waltz in Vienna, by George Clare.
The true story of the author’s well-to-do Jewish family and the Holocaust.

John Irving lived in Vienna for a while and quite a few of his books are set/ partially set there. Setting Free the Bears, Hotel New Hampshire, The World According to Garp etc.

Do either watch or read Vienna Blood. Love the tv show for Vienna pre war tensions.

'Waiting for Sunshine' by William Boyd is set in Vienna. Enjoyed it, but not the best book I've ever read. You might enjoy it if you have a particular interest in psychology as it features prominently.

Snow Country - Sebastian Faulks.
A beautiful book...

What??? Really? I feel I grew up on John Irving and can't remember a thing about Vienna in his books - time to re-read them I guess.

Ooops sorry OP, Graham Greene's The Third Man; A Perfect Spy by John Le Carré.

The Flames (I think) is about Egon Schiele and his various exploits in Vienna.

The Third Man is a spy movie set in post war Vienna, written/ produced by Graham Greene and Orson Welles. It is of the film noir genre.There are tours related to the movie in Vienna.

Many years ago I read a book called 'Vienna 1900'. Also 'Beware of Pity'. Both very good books but not a larf a minute

Yep, enjoy re-reading!

Bit late but I enjoyed Vienna Passion by Lilian Faschinger and The Fig Eater by Jody Shields.

My favourite about the Hapsburg Empire though is The Radetzky March by Joseph Roth.

I was also thinking Joseph Roth, though couldn’t remember which, if any, of the books focuses specifically on Vienna. But for a good wallow in 19th-century Austria-Hungary, he can’t be beaten.

Highly recommend Danubia by Simon Winder. I read it on the train from Zurich to Vienna and learned so much about the history of that whole area and then when we got to Vienna it all made much more sense! (And he's such a funny writer.)

Another recommendation for The Flames, by Sophie Haydock. based on the women in the life of Egon Schiele, mostly set in Vienna.

You should definitely also watch The Third Man.

Other modern classics set in Vienna are Auto da Fé by Elias Canetti, and The Man Without Qualities, by Robert Musil (in three volumes, unfinished) but they are both pretty dense and heavy-going, so possibly not ideal pre-holiday reading.

Jonathan Carroll loves Vienna and reading his novels based there always made me want to go. The first one I read was Sleeping in Flame, I think. It's magic realism, fairy tale, I liked it a lot. I think he still lives in Vienna.

I love his work, he evokes the end of days (for the empire) melancholy so well.