Parting: A Novel

A long-lost novel set over the course of one day in Paris in 1932, as a young man must bid farewell to his lover and to a way of life before he returns home to Germany.

It’s Paris in 1932, and Raimund still hasn’t told Teddy he loves her. The young German has spent the week visiting his expat friends, among them this fragile woman w ho has a strong hold on his heart. His train to Berlin leaves at 10 p.m.

Raimund and Teddy try to make the most of this last day in Paris. First, lunch at their favorite Chinese spot with their collection of friends—artists, intellectuals, ne’er-do-wells. Then, a walk down the Seine. 2:30: the Louvre. 4:30: the Eiffel Tower. The Rotunda at 6:00, maybe, if there’s still time. There won’t be. As the clock ticks, the tension grows. They dance around the question of their romance—avoiding, interrupted, at a loss for words, until the train’s due in an hour and the taxi’s been called and Europe is about to be forever changed, though no one know s that yet— or not exactly. Someone has called for his gun. But just for now, they are two lovers, standing on a train platform, parting.

Haunting, romantic, and ever-so-slightly gimlet-eyed, Sebastian Haffner’s Parting is an insistent reminder that a way of life can be as fleeting as a love. An immediate bestseller when published in Germany in 2025, Parting is a wistful glimpse into a cosmopolitan Europe and a budding romance, both on the very edge of ruin.