A legacy / Sybille Bedford ; introduction by Brenda Wineapple.

A tale of two very different families. The Merzes are members of the Jewish upper bourgeoisie of Berlin and direct descendants of Henriette Merz, friend of Goethe and Mirabeau. But this imposing legacy has long since ceased to mean much of anything in the Merzes' huge town house, where the family devotes itself to little more than enjoying its comfort and ensuring its wealth. The Feldens are landed Catholic aristocracy, well off but not rich, from the Catholic south of Germany. When Julius von Felden marries Melanie Merz, the fortunes of the two families become strangely, and sometimes fatally, entwined. Told from the point of view of a precociously observant child and set against the background of Germany before the First Word War, this book is at once captivating, magnificently funny, and profound, an unforgettable image of a doomed way of life.--Adaptation of publisher information.