title: Kafka's Fedora
author: Adler, A.J.
description: In a time when winning and losing was a matter of hundredths of a second, and success was determined by the size of your paycheck, Karl Schwarz stood out as a man who had no intention of settling for conventional mediocrity. But Karl has problems. A former Olympic skier knocked out of competition a month before his chance for glory, he suffers each day with a limp and the anguish that he had missed his chance for greatness. Now an expatriate living in Munich, he spends his days as a tour guide and his nights writing the great American novel. He also thinks he loves Angelique, a Belgian tour guide he works with. Problem is, she's set to marry a man she's ambivalent toward. When a family tragedy strikes, Karl must travel home to Minnesota in the dead of winter, where he is forced to confront a family as frigid as the air. Will he travel back to his life in Munich? Will he and Angelique finally realize that they are right for each other? A compelling tale of love, life, and redemption.