The Animals Waltz Book

Sheila Hersh is spending her early thirties leading a double life. She hangs out at the cool Firenze Bar at night, has a closetful of black clothes, and is even the reluctant star of an underground film. By day she writes ad copy for her father's store, Hersh's House of Mattresses (where she is instructed to use a lot of exclamation points), and manages to keep the rest of the employees - her outspoken, ambitious aunt and her stylish but ineffectual uncle — on an even keel.

The only thing that really keeps her interest is a mysterious book of poems that belonged to her dead mother. Sheila feels that if she could find out more about the obscure Viennese poet who died at the age of twenty-three in 1938, it might lead her to a greater understanding of her mother - and even of herself.

Sheila travels to Vienna, where the city's ancient streets, aromatic coffee houses, and glorious music work an unexpected magic on her. As this literary mystery unravels, Sheila's familial bonds become more palpable. Surprising discoveries and chance meetings make this a delightful novel, funny, moving, and romantic.

Library Journal

Sheila Hersh leads a humdrum life writing copy for her widowed father's business (Abe's House of Mattresses) while mired in a dreary, unfulfilling relationship with an experimental filmmaker in the underground world of Toronto. She finds The Animals' Waltz, a small book of poems by an unknown Austrian writer, among her mother's effects. Intrigued by the obscure poetess and the fact that her mother even owned such a book, her curiosity becomes an excuse to escape to Vienna along with her father. The charm of Fagan's writing is in his descriptions of this ancient, romantic city and in the growing understanding between father and daughter. Beautifully drawn characters enliven this charming first novel. Funny, surprising, and highly recommended.-Marion Hanscom, SUNY at Binghamton Lib.