“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 Post

Zugzwang—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.

A brilliant, Booker Prize-nominated historical thriller from the author of Zugzwang and The Catastrophist.

In turbulent seventeenth-century England, John Brigge is a governor. Having stayed away from intrigues to work on his farm and be with his wife, he is now expecting his first child. He is also—secretly—a Catholic.

When he is called to settle the murder of a new-born child, Brigge finds himself drawn into matters he wants to avoid. Katherine Shay, an Irishwoman, is accused of killing her baby. Brigge wants to wait for more evidence. The ascendant Puritan faction, however, demands her immediate hanging. Brigge suspects their haste has little to do with their talk of justice. What are they hiding? And does he really want to know?

In the background, a rebellion is brewing. Only Brigge—and his investigation—can change the tide. Torn between home and the world, haunted by the mystery of Katharine Shay, he must finally make a stand.