A NUMBER ONE INTERNATIONAL BEST-SELLER A NEW YORK TIMES EDITORS’ CHOICE A vibrant tale of love, companionship, and renewal set against the transformations of 1960s Vienna. “How I loved this book! Filled with truth after truth, poignantly rendered and given to us with tender open-handedness.”—Elizabeth Strout, author of Olive Kitteridge Summer 1966. Robert Simon is in his early thirties and has a dream. Raised in a home for war orphans, Robert has nonetheless grown into a warm-hearted, hard-working, and determined man. When the former owners of the corner café in the Carmelite market square shutter the business, Robert sees that the chance to realize his dream has arrived. The place, dark and dilapidated, is in a poor neighborhood of the Austrian capital, but for some time now a new wind has been blowing, and the air is filled with an inexplicable energy and a desire for renewal. In the newspapers with which fishmongers wrap the char and trout from the Danube, one can read about great things to come, a bright future beginning to rise from the quagmire of the past. Enlivened by these promises, Robert refurbishes the café and, rewarding him for his efforts and search of a congenial place to gather, talk, read, or just sit and be, customers arrive, bringing their stories of passions, friendships, abandonments, and bereavements. Some are in search of company, others long for love, or just a place where they can feel understood. As the city is transformed, Robert’s café becomes at once a place of refuge and one from which to observe, mourn, and rejoice. Combining the enchantment of warm prose with tender humor, Robert Seethaler has written a charming parable of human existence animated by unforgettable characters and a kaleidoscope of human stories. ★ “A gem of a novel, whimsical and bittersweet but never sentimental, with indelible characters and a powerful sense of place.”— Kirkus Reviews (starred review) “A gallery of vibrant characters presented with an appealing blend of understated honesty and unsentimental warmth.”— Alida Becker, The New York Times Book Review “Mr. Seethaler’s quietly beguiling eighth novel, The Café With No Name , is his most uplifting to date... The sense of community that emerges in the nameless coffee house recalls the connections forged between quirky, lonely people in Haruki Murakami’s stories and in Satoshi Yagisawa’s novel, Days at the Morisaki Bookshop . At one point, Robert attempts to articulate what the cafe means to his patrons: ‘The world's turning faster and faster, and now and then it throws people off course whose lives are heavy enough as it is. Isn’t it a good thing if there’s a place for them to hold onto?’ Mr. Seethaler’s sensitive, compassionate novel provides such a toehold.”— Heller McAlpin,  Wall Street Journal ★ “A gem of a novel, whimsical and bittersweet but never sentimental, with indelible characters and a powerful sense of place.”— Kirkus Reviews (starred review) ★ “Beautiful... Seethaler’s story bursts with empathy in its portrayal of a found family. This is a winner.”— Publishers Weekly (starred review) “Evocative and aching, Seethaler's tale is as true as life itself." —Toronto Star “ The Café with No Name is a slender novel about the everyday lives of the kinds of simple people who are usually overlooked, scorned or forgotten, and not just in fiction... Robert Seethaler’s story is warm, sympathetic and real. He makes these people’s lives matter.”— Winnipeg Free Press “A humble café in post-World War II Vienna serves as backdrop for all the large and small dramas of everyday life in this subtly scintillating novel... While Seethaler's characters face significant difficulties, the story never feels grim, but rather steadfast and even hopeful. Katy Derbyshire translates Seethaler’s prose from the German with calm delivery, charming descriptions, and understated humor. This lovely novel sweetly and simply emphasizes built family, resilience, and rebirth.”— Julia Kastner,  Shelf Awareness “Seethaler’s subtly understated voice remains warmly welcome in a literary culture that often displays its intentions too obviously. Many will love this calming, gentle and unsentimental story. Certainly, Seethaler remains admirably true to his creative vision. A poet of the small, the random and the event without consequence, his is a world we can all enjoy.”— Alice Jolly, The Guardian “Seethaler’s literary preoccupations [can be placed] alongside writers such as Claire Keegan, John Berger or John Williams… Modest ambitions, when precisely executed, make lasting impressions…and his latest fable-like miniature invites quiet wonder into the ordinary.”— Matthew Janney, Financial Times “Call it a mosaic. Here it all is—the pathos of a botched first date, a birth, a death, a feud, a stumble into love. The Café with No Name deals with the small dramas of everyday life... The prose has the stillness of a Vermeer... you see beyond the moment. In a world of action movie