author
Leo Perutz
1882–1957
A master of strange, suspenseful historical fiction, this Prague-born writer blended mystery, irony, and the uncanny in novels that later won admirers such as Borges and Calvino. His life carried him from Vienna to exile in Palestine after the Nazi takeover of Austria.
1 Audiobook
Zwischen neun und neun
by Leo Perutz
About the author
Born in Prague on November 2, 1882, Leo Perutz grew up in the Austro-Hungarian world and later made his life in Vienna. Alongside his literary work, he trained in mathematics and worked in insurance, a background that helped shape the precision and clever construction readers often notice in his fiction.
Perutz became known for compact, inventive novels that mix history with psychological tension, mystery, and hints of the fantastic. Rather than writing straightforward historical adventures, he liked uncertainty, unreliable appearances, and plots that feel both elegant and unsettling.
In 1938, after the Nazi Anschluss, he emigrated to Palestine, where he lived for much of the rest of his life. He died on August 25, 1957, and is still remembered as a distinctive voice in German-language literature whose books feel at once classic, eerie, and surprisingly modern.