Danubia
11 April 2024Imprint: Picador
Synopsis
Longlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction
'Funny, erudite, frequently irritating . . . and never boring' – Sarah Bakewell, Financial Times
'An excellent, rich and amusing read' – The Times, Book of the Week
For centuries much of Europe was in the hands of the very peculiar Habsburg family. An unstable mixture of wizards, obsessives, melancholics, bores, musicians and warriors,...
Details
11 April 20241327 minutes
Peter Noble
9781035024032Imprint: Picador
Reviews
'It combines history, travelogue and digressive personal essay. Winder is a puppyishly enthusiastic companion: funny, erudite, frequently irritating, always more in control of his material than he pretends to be, and never for a moment boring . . . Danubia is a moving book, and also a sensuous one . . . Miniaturist in its eye for detail, grand in its scope, it skips beats and keeps our attention all the way'Sarah Bakewell, Financial Times
'A fresh look at a region and a dynasty of which most of us in the English-speaking world are quite ignorant' Guardian
‘Memorably funny . . . wonderfully readable and entertaining’ Sunday Times
Danubia is 500 years of Habsburg imperial history told in the style of a bumbling English detective, the kind of sleuth who appears to skirt around a knotty case and then disarmingly poses a penetrating question . . . It all makes for an excellent, rich and amusing read’The Times, Book of the Week
