This Europe: Viennese strike on a novel reading idea

By Barbara Miller in Vienna

A nervous silence fell over the small crowd at Vienna's Mitte station yesterday. But it was not a train the travellers feared missing, but a book.

Authorities feel the Viennese are not reading enough and are giving away 100,000 copies of Ewigkeitsgasse, or The Forever Street, by Frederic Morton. As the young man returned to the stand with the last batch of books for the day, it was greedily snatched up. Those arriving later were told they would have to try their luck tomorrow.

The book is also being given away at bakeries, casinos, travel agencies and on the street.

The City of Vienna's "One City, One Book" initiative is aimed at people "who are not typical visitors to bookshops or libraries". The idea is that they will discover the joy of reading and take a closer look at their city's history.

The Forever Street follows the fortunes of the Jewish blacksmith Berek Spiegelglas from the late 19th century to Austria's annexation by the Nazis.

The story is based on the life of the author's grandfather; Forever Street is a fictional name for Theleman Lane in Vienna, where the real blacksmith lived. "Unfortunately he died – actually I should say fortunately he died – in an accident in 1934, so he was spared what happened," Morton said.

Morton was born in Vienna in 1924 as Fritz Mandelbaum, but his family fled to London in 1939, moving to America a year later. He sometimes visits Theleman Lane, where his grandfather lived until his death. "He could have afforded to live on Ring Street, but he never wanted to move away. Those were his roots, that was his Jerusalem," he said.