Leo Perutz’s novel Nachts unter der steinernen Brücke [By Night under the Stone Bridge] was first published by the Frankfurter Verlagsanstalt in 1953. The story of its origins stretches back to the period before Perutz’ exile. The writer began the project as early as 1924 under the title of Meisls Gut, working on the novel between 1936 and 1937 and then, with a series of significant interruptions, from 1943 to 1951. He also penned additional chapters while on a return trip to Tel Aviv after his first post-War spell in Austria - apparently in a fit of “working fury”, as a friend of Perutz’ once noted. The creative process was thus spread across a period of 25 years.

The work consists of 14 novellas and an epilogue and as such, is reminiscent of Giovanni Boccaccio’s The Decameron. With the end of the 16th century looming, the plague sweeps through Prague’s Jewish quarter. The events that take place revolve around the lives of the rabbi Loew, the financier Mordecai Meisl and the latter’s wife, Esther. The story unfolds gradually to reveal that all the book’s characters and events are interrelated as part of one carefully conceived plot.

With these novellas, Perutz constructed a European culture of remembrance based on sayings and legends, while at the same time dealing with his own experiences of displacement and exile. He later recounted that what he lacked above all else as an exile was a connection with people to whom he could tell his stories. The book suffered one failed publishing attempt before its first print in 1953. From the 1980s onwards, foreign language versions began to be published achieving some success along the way.