Sister Europe, Nell Zink
Sister Europe, Nell Zink
List: $18.00 | Sale: $12.60
Club: $9.00

Sister Europe

Author: Nell Zink

Narrator: Lisa Flanagan

Unabridged: 6 hr 21 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 03/25/2025

Synopsis

An irresistible and poignant novel about the upper echelons of Berlin society, a grand literary celebration, and the after-party that upends the night and carries a group of guests deeper into the city

Naema, an elderly princess dedicated to her pet causes, is in a bind: struck by a malady that maroons her in Montreux, she’s unable to host an exclusive gala dinner in Berlin to honor the author Masud al-Huzeil for his lifetime achievement in Arabic literature. Not only is she unable to attend, RSVPs have been slow to materialize, and she’s reduced to begging the ancient award winner to find some attendees at the last minute. Masud invites his old friend Demian, a native Berliner, who in turn invites his two best friends: the troubled innocent Livia and an American publisher, Toto, who will do anything for a free meal.

But Toto doesn’t come alone. In tow are his younger Internet date—she’s stood him up often enough to be nicknamed “the Flake”—and Demian’s fifteen-year-old daughter, Nicole. Not to mention the cop who’s been trailing Nicole since she left the red-light district. Presiding over the affair is Naema’s infinitely rich, endlessly disaffected grandson, Prince Radi, whose pass at Nicole culminates in an epic midnight food run that changes all their lives.

With sophistication and tenderness, Nell Zink weaves a vividly colored tapestry of a milieu at odds with itself, taking her trademark ambiguity, daring, and humor to new heights.

About The Author

NELL ZINK grew up in the Tidewater region of Virginia. She did a variety of service and administrative jobs before becoming a professional novelist at age fifty. Before then, her publications were confined to an indie rock fanzine and short-lived blog, both titled Animal Review. Her books to date include The Wallcreeper, Mislaid, Private Novelist (two novellas written for her friend Avner Shats), Nicotine, Doxology, and Avalon. Three of her books became New York Times Notable Books, and one was longlisted for the National Book Award. Her writing has appeared in n+1, Granta, and Harper’s Magazine. In 2022, she served as the Friedrich Dürrenmatt Guest Professor for World Literature at the University of Bern, Switzerland. She lives near Berlin.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Doug on May 06, 2025

I've often heard tales of books that people 'literally could not put down' but had never really experienced that myself - until now. Oddly enough, I started this novel around 4 pm and finished it sometime after 2 AM - which is pretty much the time frame within which the book itself takes place! Anot......more

Goodreads review by herdarklibrary on February 19, 2025

This book just wasn’t for me. I’ll start by saying it’s well written and interesting. Objectively I can fully understand what the author was doing and I imagine a lot of people will enjoy it! However something just didn’t click for me. I found the characters all unlikable but not in the usual way I en......more

Goodreads review by Spiros on September 21, 2024

So, after the best part of the past two weeks leisurely gehen Spazieren mit Franz Hessel in Walking in Berlin: A Flaneur in the Capital, I immediately find myself right back in Berlin, treading the same streets and parks that Hessel limned a century ago. Tonally, these two books share a commonality,......more

Goodreads review by Kaleigh on March 27, 2025

Soooo good! Exactly like a Whit Stillman in terms of theme and composition. A bunch of out of touch, shallow and vapid but articulate and somewhat intelligent rich people pontificating and judging each other. I ate it up.......more

Goodreads review by Madison on April 08, 2025

They would make a great white lotus cast......more

Quotes

“To stay out late in Zink’s world, loitering, is a pleasure. . . . Her voice is cool and fastidious, but she has a screwball quality—a comic sensibility rooted in pain. She grinds her own sophisticated colors as a writer; her ironies are finely tuned; she is uniquely alert to the absurdities of human conduct.”
—Dwight Garner, The New York Times Book Review

“This sly, sprightly novel provides a distraction from the news while the news is all over it. . . . One of the pleasures of Sister Europe is that it’s thoroughly up-to-date but still shaped in the timeless way of Wodehousian comedy of errors.”
—Sam Sacks, The Wall Street Journal

“Picaresque, amusing, and brisk, this is a worldly hangout novel of 21st-century manners.”
—Vogue, “The Best Books of 2025—A Preview”

“Zink is one of the most humane writers we’ve got, and one of the best. . . . As ever, Zink is funny in a way that requires careful observation and precision. . . . The night narrated here feels like the kind of time outside of time in which classical comedies take place—a liminal space in which characters experience transformations impossible in the everyday world. Here, some characters find each other, some find their way home, and some get a bit closer to finding themselves.”
—Kirkus Review, starred

“Zink cleverly and expertly combines hilarious scenes with razor-sharp observations on culture, Americans in Europe, literature in the Middle East, sexuality, and the heavy hand of history.”
—Library Journal, starred

Add to Cart
Add to Wish List