Stefan Zweig (1881-1942) was born into a wealthy Austrian-Jewish family. The most widely translated writer of the 1920s and 1930s, he was closely identified with the humanitarian and tolerant values of pre-war Vienna. With the rise of Nazism he was forced into exile, first in London, then New York and finally Brazil, where he committed suicide in a pact with his wife. The manuscript for The Post Office Girl, his second novel, was found among his papers. This is the first time it has been translated into English. Zweig’s other celebrated works are the novel Beware of Pityand the novella, Chess Story.