The Initials: A Story of Modern Life

Hamilton, a restless young Englishman lodging at a prestigious Munich hotel, has grown weary of continental travel, each city blurring into the last, each day devoid of genuine adventure. Then comes a letter, unsigned but bearing two cryptic initials: A.Z. The invitation to visit Seon promises something at last: a mystery, a purpose, a door swinging open into the unknown. What Hamilton finds there is the Rosenberg family, their household humming with German tradition and two sisters whose presence complicates everything. As he unravels the truth behind A.Z., he discovers that the deepest adventures are not geographic at all, but emotional, and that the most dangerous territory is the human heart. A witty, observant novel of manners and mystery, where a stranger's letter becomes a passport into someone else's world.