Love in a Time of Hate (Hardback)

Art and Passion in the Shadow of War, 1929-39

Florian Illies

The love lives of famous Europeans, as war approaches - from the bestselling author of 1913

A Financial Times 'Book to Read in 2023'

1930s Europe - as the Roaring Twenties wind down and the world rumbles towards war, the great minds of the time have other concerns.

Jean-Paul Sartre waits anxiously in a Parisian café for his first date with no-show Simone de Beauvoir. Marlene Dietrich slips from her loveless marriage into the dive bars of Berlin. Father and son Thomas and Klaus Mann clash over each other's homosexuality. And Vladimir Nabokov lovingly places a fresh-caught butterfly at the end of Verá's bed. Little do they all know, the book burning will soon begin.

Love in a Time of Hate skilfully interweaves some of the greatest love stories of the 1930s with the darkening backdrop of fascism in Europe, in an irresistible journey into the past that brings history and its actors to vivid life.

Publication date: 01/06/2023

£20.00

ISBN: 9781800811140

Imprint: Profile Books

Subject: History & Classics

Translator: Simon Pare

Love in a Time of Hate (Ebook)

Art and Passion in the Shadow of War, 1929-39

Florian Illies

Preorder from

The love lives of famous Europeans, as war approaches - from the bestselling author of 1913

A Financial Times 'Book to Read in 2023'

1930s Europe - as the Roaring Twenties wind down and the world rumbles towards war, the great minds of the time have other concerns.

Jean-Paul Sartre waits anxiously in a Parisian café for his first date with no-show Simone de Beauvoir. Marlene Dietrich slips from her loveless marriage into the dive bars of Berlin. Father and son Thomas and Klaus Mann clash over each other's homosexuality. And Vladimir Nabokov lovingly places a fresh-caught butterfly at the end of Verá's bed. Little do they all know, the book burning will soon begin.

Love in a Time of Hate skilfully interweaves some of the greatest love stories of the 1930s with the darkening backdrop of fascism in Europe, in an irresistible journey into the past that brings history and its actors to vivid life.

Publication date: 01/06/2023

£17.99

ISBN: 9781800811157

ISBN 10 / ASIN: B09DTM1QLV

Imprint: Profile Books

Subject: History & Classics

Translator: Simon Pare

Reviews for Love in a Time of Hate

'A brilliantly conceived and uniquely different cultural history of the 1930s, written with confident, alluring poise. Fascinating and revelatory'

William Boyd, author Trio

'Set against the relentless rise of Nazi terror, this ingenious narrative evokes the 1930s through the loves, foibles and tragedies of the cultural elite. Strikingly original, utterly absorbing.'

Julia Boyd, author Travellers in the Third Reich

'Please do read this book - it is gorgeous. I learned so many new things about love, art and the horror of history'

Ferdinand von Schirach, author The Collini Case

'This is candid, unsparing and gripping social history viewed through the prism of two- and three-person relationships - simultaneously disenchanting and endearing. A bravura performance'

Harald Jähner, author Aftermath

'Praise for Florian Illies: 'Illies is as astute a researcher as he is an observer of the zeitgeist'

 Guardian

'A vivid, richly textured book that chronicles a world crackling with talent, energy and foreboding'

 Financial Times

'An absolute gem of a book'

 Observer

'Thorough and fascinating'

 Time Out

Florian Illies

Florian Illies

Florian Illies was born in 1971. He has worked as literary editor for major German newspapers and magazines, and co-founded art magazine Monopol. His previous four books have sold over one million copies.