Beautifully told...a compelling portrait of a highly civilized society as it approached one of history's great upheavals. Shows us that] there are moments when the tides of history will not be denied.--Washington PostZugzwang--A chess term used to describe a position in which a player is reduced to utter helplessless: he is obliged to move, but every move serves to m Beautifully told...a compelling portrait of a highly civilized society as it approached one of history's great upheavals. Shows us that] there are moments when the tides of history will not be denied.--Washington PostZugzwang--A chess term used to describe a position in which a player is reduced to utter helplessless: he is obliged to move, but every move serves to make his position even worse.Ronan Bennett's new masterpiece of literary suspense unfolds in a city on the verge of revolution. On a blustery April day, a respected St. Petersburg newspaper editor is murdered in front of a shocked crowd. Five days later, Dr. Otto Spethmann, the celebrated psychoanalyst, receives a visit from the police. There has been another murder in the city--and somehow he is implicated. The doctor is mystified and deeply worried, as much for his young, spirited daughter as for himself.Meanwhile, he finds himself preoccupied by two new patients: Anna Petrovna, a society beauty plagued with nightmares with whom he is inappropriately falling in love, and the troubled genius Rozental, a brilliant but fragile chess master on the verge of a complete breakdown. As Dr. Spethmann is drawn deeper into the murderous intrigue, he finds that he, his patients, and his daughter may all be pawns in a game larger in scope than anything he could have imagined.Punctuated with board-by-board illustrations of a chess match that plays out through the book, Zugzwang is a masterfully written novel packed with cliffhangers, romance, unforgettable characters, and a plot that keeps readers guessing to the very end.

Beautifully told...a compelling portrait of a highly civilized society as it approached one of history's great upheavals. Shows us that] there are moments when the tides of history will not be denied.--Washington PostZugzwang--A chess term used to describe a position in which a player is reduced to utter helplessless: he is obliged to move, but every move serves to m Beautifully told...a compelling portrait of a highly civilized society as it approached one of history's great upheavals. Shows us that] there are moments when the tides of history will not be denied.--Washington PostZugzwang--A chess term used to describe a position...  Read More