The Marquis de Bolibar

Winter 1812, the Spanish campaign: In the Andalusian town of La Bisbal, two German regiments supporting Napoleon are destroyed by the Spanish insurgents. Only Lieutenant von Jochberg survives the massacre and is able to report its mysterious circumstances in his memoirs. In this novel, written after the First World War, Leo Perutz, "the outcome of a literary romance between Franz Kafka and Agatha Christie" (Friedrich Torberg), relates the story of the versatile Marquis of Bolibar. The mastermind of the Spanish resistance falls into the hands of German officers who fail to identify him. He makes them promise, before his execution, to carry out his plans, and they, dazzled by the beauty of 17-year-old Monjita and insanely jealous of each other, seal their own destruction.

"It is wonderful to witness the dangers the dead Marquis of Bolibar conjures up… The veracity of the historical details hardly matters – as long as they appear to be true. And they certainly do!" (Kurt Tucholsky)