Johannes Mario Simmel is one of the best-selling contemporary authors in German-speaking countries. According to the Allensbach Opinion Poll of September 1983, he is almost as well known as Heinrich Böll and better known than Günter Grass; eighty-five percent of the West German population has heard of Simmel. His ouvre includes nineteen novels, three children's books, and a play. More than sixty million copies of his books have been sold worldwide, and translations of his novels have appeared in twenty-six languages in twenty-eight countries. Films based on his literary output have enjoyed the same success as his books, not only in the German-speaking countries but also in Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, South America, Thailand, and the West Indies.

Simmel was born in Vienna in 1924 to Walter Simmel, a chemist, and Lisa Schneider Simmel. He studied chemistry during World War II and worked as a chemist...