The Emperor Waltz

The Emperor Waltz Synopsis

The new novel from Booker Prize-shortlisted Philip Hensher - his most ambitious and daring novel yet. In this astonishing novel, various narrative strands are drawn together into a compelling symphonic whole. In a third-century desert settlement on the fringes of the Roman Empire, a new wife becomes fascinated by a cult being persecuted by the Emperor Diocletian.

In 1922, Christian, a young artist, travels to Weimar to begin his studies at the Bauhaus, the avant-garde confronting conservative elements around it. With postwar Germany in turmoil, while the Bauhaus attempt to explore radical ways of thinking and living, Christian finds that love will change him forever. And in 1970s London Duncan uses his inheritance to establish the country's first gay bookshop, whatever the neighbours think and despite persecution from the police.

Delving deep into the human spirit to explore connections between love, sanctity, commitment and virtue, Philip Hensher takes as his subject small groups of men and women, tightly bound together, trying to change the world through the example of their lives. 'The Emperor Waltz' is an absorbing echo-chamber of a novel, innovative and compelling, that explores what it means for us to belong to each other.