It is 1908 and Max Brod is the rising star of Prague's literary world. Everything he desires - fame, respect, love - is finally within his reach. But when a rival appears on the scene, Max discovers how quickly he can lose everything he has worked so hard to attain. He knows that newcomer, Franz Kafka, has the power to eclipse him for good, and he must decide what lengths he will go to hold onto his success.
The Lost Pages is a richly imagined story of the friendship, fraud, jealously and betrayal within an extraordinary literary rivalry. As one judge noted, the author really understands how tension works. It never lets up. From the very beginning, the strain between Kafka and Brod is hugely entertaining. Brod is anti-social and prefers his own company, just like the best of Kafkas characters. He is drawn with remarkable clarity.
Marija Pericic (Pron: Maria Peri-shitch) grew up in Perth, Western Australia, the child of German and Croatian immigrants. She now lives in Melbourne where she teaches English as a foreign language. The Lost Pages is her first novel.
