Richard Stern

Cultures and egos clash in this hilarious tale of two American men trying to start over again in Europe

For Max Schreiber, World War II was an idyll. It is the return home to Connecticut that feels like entering a combat zone. Ridiculed by his wife and daughter, bored by his legal practice, Schreiber spends his evenings drinking and eating alone, hoping that when he goes to sleep he will dream of France and Micheline, the beautiful young woman who may have broken his heart but at least made him feel alive. When at last he works up the courage to end his stultifying marriage and set out on his own, Schreiber knows exactly where he wants to go: across the Atlantic.

Theodore Baggish has spent years planning and saving for his escape from New England. When the time is finally right, he gleefully gets himself fired from his job as a dry goods clerk and sets sail for postwar Europe, the land of opportunity. Nothing will stand in the way of his success, and he will use anyone who can help him achieve his goals, whether they like it or not. Naive, amoral, and unrelentingly eager, Baggish may have been too young to storm the beaches of Normandy, but he is bound and determined to conquer the Continent all by himself.

When Schreiber and Baggish meet at an awkward dinner party in the university town of Heidelberg, one them is on the way up, the other on the way down. Are their futures set in stone, or is there still time to change course? Stylish, witty, and profound, Europe is an insightful examination of the intersection of character and circumstance and a laugh-out-loud portrayal of the conflict between the Old World and the New.

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