Vienna, 1910. The hunt for a killer begins in the darkness of a hot August night, when an eighteen-year-old girl named Dora (loosely inspired by Freud's famous patient) is found brutally murdered near the Imperial Palace. . . .

At once a page-turning tale of murder, sleuthing, and sexual secrets and a rich, glittering evocation of a city and a culture in fateful transition, The Fig Eater is one of the most talked-about literary debuts of recent years.