The Jump Artist

Book excerpt: The Jump Artist by Austin Ratner is a prize-winning novel that tells an astonishing true story of injustice, survival, reinvention and fame against all the odds. 'Panoramic, arresting, breathtaking' Anna Funder, author of Stasiland 'Bold and wondrous' A D Miller, author of Snowdrops Austria, 1928. A murder trial sends shockwaves across Europe. An unknown young man named Philippe Halsman stands unjustly accused of killing his father. Albert Einstein, Sigmund Freud and Thomas Mann are moved to speak out on his behalf. But as he fights to prove his innocence, a whole nation turns against him. So begins an extraordinary journey - from courtroom drama and prison cell to bohemian Paris at its height and Europe on the eve of war - and an extraordinary act of reinvention, involving Salvador Dali and Marilyn Monroe among many of the greatest artists of the twentieth century. From tragedy and injustice to freedom and, eventually, to fame, this is the remarkable story of The Jump Artist. 'Compelling' The Sunday Times 'Brilliantly constructed' Guardian 'A remarkable work [that] documents a triumph of the human spirit over tremendous adversity' Harper's 'A tale of passionate commitment' New Statesman 'Lucid and atmospheric' Observer 'Absorbing' Sunday Telegraph 'Truly beautiful' The Scotsman 'Tremendous resonance' Publishers Weekly 'Subtle, moving ... has the pace and excitement of a legal drama' The Forward Austin Ratner studied at the University of Iowa Writers' Workshop, having previously graduated from John Hopkins School of Medicine. The Jump Artist won the Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature in 2010. It is his first novel.