Pebbles on the Stone

About the Book

Through a series of bizarre events, Igor and Sabine, musicians at the Antwerp Opera, become entangled in a web of intrigue, beginning with a brutal murder in New York. While a famous conductor guides the musicians towards a new production of Tristan und Isolde, the Opera becomes the background for international espionage. Humor and irony underline the action, which moves through Flensburg, Brussels and Zürich to New York and Washington, D.C. When will it all end? Perhaps not until the source of coded signals emanating from the opera building is found. Perhaps not until Igor can place a pebble on the stone.

About the Author

Herbert L. Kaufman’s multi-faceted career has included positions as professor of German language and literature at Queens College (New York), visiting professor of American Studies at Kiel University (Germany), violinist with the Alabama Symphony, and adjunct professor of music history in Antwerp University’s European Studies Program (Belgium). From 1980 to 1997, he was a violinist with the Flemish Opera in Antwerp and Ghent. In 1994, Kaufman’s play Pals won First Prize in the 25th Anniversary Playwriting Competition of the American Theatre Company in Brussels, and was produced by the ATC that same year. In 1995, Kaufman’s radio play Last Supper received the BBC’s Best Play from Europe award, and was produced and broadcast by BBC World Service Drama. Last Supper has also been published by the BBC in its anthology Radio Plays for the World. More recent works include Pebbles on the Stone, an espionage novel published in 2002 by Xlibris; and Lifelines, a Holocaust drama that was produced in Antwerp, Belgium in October 2002 by the British American Theatrical Society.