Overview

Graham Anders is the very model of a Main Line Philadelphian, a graduate of Episcopal Academy and Penn Law with a well-born wife, a couple of kids, and a vacation house on Nantucket. But none of it seems to make him happy, including his work fending off a hostile takeover for a faltering locomotive company. So when a chance arises to return to the scene of his youthful passion, he jumps at it. As a young American soldier in Austria after the war, Anders fell in love with a countess. Years later, the schloss that was once the venue for romance has become the ""American Academy,"" where Europeans learn about the American legal system (and one another). But things aren't quite as they appear-and Graham must decide whether to risk all to expose the sinister doings beneath the mantle of virtue. Alexander's Feast is an irresistible tale of love, business and the Cold War, culminating in a mock trial that turns deadly serious. The book is one of four fine novels about the fictional Philadelphia law firm of Conyers & Dean by the late Arthur Solmssen, who was himself a prominent Philadelphia attorney. His family left Germany in flight from Hitler. As a young soldier he was stationed in his native land. And as a lawyer he took part in the real-life version of Anders' ""American Academy."" Tivoli Books is proud to reissue all four of these works, which speak to modern readers about love, money, power and human nature in ways that few contemporary novels seem able to do.

Full Product Details

9781966218067

Table of Contents

Reviews

""What Marquand did for Boston and Auchincloss for New York, Arthur Solmssen is doing for Philadelphia."" Louis B. Schwartz, The Philadelphia Bulletin ""Alexander's Feast is a neatly constructed fiction, with a fast-moving story line and a credible cast."" The Philadelphia Inquirer ""Sets a fascinating stage . . . Solmssen's eye for Main Line activities has 20-20 vision and his ear for native sounds reflects perfect pitch."" Martin Levin, The New York Times ""A surrogate mystery/spy novel, with a protagonist who wanders from the ennui of a law office into a circle of espionage and intrigue."" Bestsellers ""A sleek piece of storytelling . . ."" John Barkham, The New York Post ""Travels fast with the comfortable assurance of an unlimited expense account."" Kirkus

Author Information

Arthur R. G. Solmssen (1928-2018) was born in New York City to Marguerite and Kurt Solmssen, both of prominent German banking families. Two months later they took their new baby home to Berlin, but by 1936 Germany was firmly in the grip of Adolf Hitler, and Arthur's family, which had Jewish ancestry, left to settle in the Philadelphia area. There, starting at the age of eight, he learned English at the Miquon School and Lower Merion High School.At Harvard he reviewed films for the Crimson but took time out for Army service at the end of the Second World War, finally graduating in 1950. After law school at the University of Pennsylvania, he spent his working life at the firm now known as Saul Ewing. Despite his demanding career as a securities lawyer, he made time to write novels, book reviews and op-ed pieces. ""I don't play golf, tennis or squash,"" he explained to the New York Times in 1982, ""and I don't play bridge or mow the lawn.""Arthur Solmssen's psychological acuity and broad knowledge of the world-gifts of value to attorneys and storytellers alike-were on display in all of his books. But he was at or near the peak of his novelistic powers in Alexander's Feast.

Tab Content 6

Countries Available