The Tavern at the End of History

by Morris Collins

Over a span of five days, two strangers find themselves in a sea-rocked sanitarium on the coast of Maine where, as they gather at an auction for a piece of art stolen in the Second World War, they must reckon with the wounds of inheritance: shame, displacement, and the longing of exiles.

Jacob, grandson of a Holocaust survivor, son of refugees, has lived his life overshadowed by the grief of others. His mistakes have cost him his job and his marriage. So when he meets Baer, an impoverished Holocaust survivor looking for help, Jacob sees an opportunity to redeem himself.

But what Baer wants won’t be easy. A piece of art given to him as a boy—and that disappeared during the war—has resurfaced and is about to go up for auction in a secluded sanitarium for Holocaust survivors and their families on an island off the coast of Maine. The head of the sanitarium is Alex Baruch, a disgraced writer and Kabbalist whose memoir about surviving the Holocaust has been denounced as fraudulent. Baer asks Jacob to go to the auction with his niece, Rachel, and steal back the piece.

Rachel carries grief of her own. She’s mourning her husband, a young Jew trying to separate himself from his ultra-orthodox community, and instead of living the artist's life she dreamed, she’s working in a museum basement answering questions on the phone about paintings she can’t see. Grieving and guilty, she’s eager for an impossible quest.

Together, Rachel and Jacob head to the sanitarium, where they find Baruch and his community of odd and broken souls. But two nights before the auction, in the midst of a storm, a stranger appears—an old man, a ghost or a dybbuk, or just a survivor of the European catastrophe—bearing a secret. As the line between forgery and authenticity blurs, Rachel and Jacob, Baruch and his followers must face the claims the dead make on the living, in a surreal reckoning with the past where no one is who they say they are, but everyone may be telling the truth.

Recalling the warmth and humor of Nicole Krauss and Joshua Cohen, and the wild collage of history and fantasy of Bruno Schulz and Olga Tokarczuk, The Tavern at the End of History is a deeply felt exploration of grief, love, and identity in the long shadow of twentieth-century calamity.

Genres: Jewish, Fiction, 21st Century

326 pages, Hardcover

Published February 10, 2026

About the author

Morris Collins lives in Boston, MA and teaches at The College of the Holy Cross.

He is the author of The Tavern at the End of History (forthcoming Feb, 2026) and Horse Latitudes.

Reviews

[W.D. Clarke]

A damn near miraculous feat of imaginative exploration, buttressed by a deep sense of respect for learning, and by an immense capacity for our quest to find meaning in a world which denies that very possibility (my hunch = its locus is on the terrain of that agon or struggle/contest between what the Third Earl of Shaftsbury called the “natural” and “unnatural” “affections” of the soul... there is a scene involving a sick cat at the novel's very end which suggests something to me as to where our author's own wager on that contest is placed...)

Not the easiest read, structurally (actually read this twice just to get my mind round its...Gestalt), although on a sentence by sentence level— just...Wow! Something to highlight on pretty well every page, no exaggeration.

If I have it in me to do this book justice, and I'm not sure that I do, I will try to actually write something about it. We'll see. But one thing is certain: this is one of the most important novels published this decade. (There, I said it) And one that needs way more readers, folks.

[Caleb Michael Sarvis]

Thanks to Dzanc Books for the promotional copy.

I started reading and found myself filled with an ache, but the ache turned out to be a kind of hunger because relief only came when I would pick the book up again.

Morris's prose is a rare earth metal. I am crushed and invigorated when I behold it.

I will also be thinking about the angels in Jonah's tavern for a long time. Usually, I'd be pissed I didn't come up with this device myself, but alas, I could not have invented something so specifically haunting and uncanny.

Dawg, you gotta read this book.

[Mimi Schweid]

Noticed this at work today, may have to remember this exists in the near-ish future.

[Mark Cooper]

“But what good had saying anything ever done?”

Despite this being basically my personal ethos (and one of my favorite lines from the story), I’m gonna say something: this is a great book. I promise it will get you thinking (or re-thinking) history’s impact on our current lives, the cost-benefit of faith, and the optimal temperature for aquavit.

The writing is witty, insightful, and relatable, with some true all-timers. This book will stick with me for a long time.

[Courtney]

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to Dzanc Books for this opportunity!

The Tavern at the End of History is a complex novel that shows how the events of the Holocaust continue to affect survivors and their families. The story follows Jacob, a disgraced professor. His life changes when he meets Baer, an old man who owned a piece of artwork stolen by the Nazis in the war. Jacob and Rachel, Baer's niece, go to recover the artwork when it surfaces at an auction. Their journey takes them to a mysterious tavern, and to a sanatorium, where they meet a group of Holocaust survivors.

I really enjoyed the storyline. There are so many interesting branches to the story that intertwine at the end. The angels, the abandoned tavern, the missing artwork, the big orange cat, and so many memories...you'll have to read it to find out how they all come together. The author does a fantastic job bringing the story together.

I was lost at times in the discussions of Jewish philosophy. However, that is probably due to my unfamiliarity with the subject than with the book’s descriptions. I also expected there to be a heavier emphasis on finding the lost piece of artwork. It felt more like a subplot by the end of the book. Overall, The Tavern at the End of History is an enjoyable read. The story is intriguing, and the theme of memory, both fading and vivid, is incredibly relevant.

[Paula ꩜]

la primera mitad del libro es brillante, no solo por las descripciones, las metáforas y la imaginería, que están muy bien escritas, sino porque explora las cosas que durante tanto tiempo me han obsesionado: la historia, la memoria y el trauma generacional (podemos conocer pero nunca comprender, que decía primo levi, pero ¿acaso conocemos?). una síntesis elocuente de los temas fascinantes de the books of jacob (la filosofía y el misticismo judíos de la kabbalah como un intento desesperado de encontrar sentido en un mundo apocalíptico y terrible) y de the memory monster (el holocausto como teología fundacional del delirio colectivo israelí actual).
este es un libro complejo, lleno de contradicciones y discusiones (la correspondencia entre gershom scholem y walter benjamin como marco estructural temático y simbólico, como explica collins en su nota de autor), un libro sobre la búsqueda de una explicación, sobre la presencia o ausencia de dios en el mundo. también es cierto que en la segunda mitad pierde muchísimo fuelle, y que después de todo esto los paralelismos con la política estadounidense de 2017 son inesperadamente cheap y americano-céntricos en comparación, y el final doesn’t stick the landing. a pesar de todo, libro muy sólido.

[Liz]

…is this what reading Philip Roth is supposed to feel like? Is this why people appreciate it?
I have absolutely no idea what this book is like when you aren’t already deeply embedded in this conversation, in part because I am and I’m still almost incapable of talking about it.
It’s a book interrogating memory and the dangerous necessary stories we tell to survive. And who they turn us into and what happens when only the lies feel like they can save you but when only the truth will do.

[Sara]

Holy HOLY FUCK.

[Sean Kinch]

Rachel: “A poet, a professor, a therapist, and a doctor who doesn’t practice … It sounds like a Jewish joke where no one’s mother is happy.”

[Jacob Scott]

A beautiful, strange, compelling book. What a treat Morris Collins has offered us.

[Gadabyte]

I read this a few months ago, and I keep finding myself thinking about it periodically. I still can't put into words what reading it was like (the "Holy HOLY FUCK" review by another reader is about as close as it gets), so suffice it to say that it is strange and beautiful, and has become one of my all-time favorites.

This line from the acknowledgements felt like a branding iron when I read it: "The depictions of the Shoah presented here have been altered to fit the novel, but I derived the atrocities—both their horror and idiosyncrasy—from the accounts of survivors; ultimately, I have chosen not to invent what shouldn’t have been imagined."