Guided Tours of Hell

An irresistibly readable pair of novellas skewering Americans abroadby the New York Timesbestselling author and National Book Award finalist(The New York Times Book Review). In a style that is bold, witty, richly detailed, and suffused with a wry subtlety, Francine Prose offers penetrating portraits of Americans in Europe who have brought all their baggageego, ambition, sexual desirewith them (Elle). Guided Tours of Hell When the insecure (and rightfully so) playwright Landau travels from New York to Prague to read at the first annual Kafka conference, hes certain this is his chance to prove himselfand his work. But he quickly finds himself upstaged by Jiri Krakauer, a charismatic Holocaust survivor whose claim to fame is a long-ago death-camp love affair with Kafkas sister. On a group tour to the camp-turned-tourist-attraction, Landau sets out to prove that Krakauer is lyingwith unexpected results. Three Pigs in Five Days Ambitious young journalist Nina has been stranded in Paris by her editor and sometimes boyfriend, Leo. When he finally shows up, playfully suggesting a romantic tour of the catacombs, prisons, and shadows of the City of Light, the bloom begins to come off the rose for the infatuated Ninawho must ask herself how much of herself she is willing to sacrifice for love.