Fiction in translation

Book Synopsis WINNER OF THE BIG BOOK AWARD, THE LEO TOLSTOY YASNAYA POLYANA AWARD AND THE BEST PROSE WORK OF THE YEAR AWARD SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2020 READ RUSSIA PRIZE RUNNER-UP FOR THE EBRD LITERATURE PRIZE, 2020 Zuleikha is the model of a dutiful wife. Biddible and meek, she has resigned herself to brutal treatment at the hands of her cruel husband and the carping of her despotic mother-in-law. While Russia reels in the aftermath of its recent revolution, life in her small Tatar village is relatively untouched. Or so it seems to Zuleikha, until the day her husband is executed by communist soldiers. Zuleikha is exiled to Siberia and forced to leave behind everything she knows. Yet in that harsh, desolate wilderness, she begins to build a new life for herself and discovers an inner strength she never knew she had. This is a supremely ambitious epic about one woman's determination, not only to survive, but to flourish in the face of the greatest adversity.Trade Review‘A powerful account of individual lives trapped in one of the greatest tragedies of the 20th century.’ * The Times *‘Yakhina’s prose can be exquisite, especially in sequences such as the one where Zuleikha watches prisoners escaping from the train… It is Zuleikha’s perspective and the way in which she adapts that capture our attention. The unexpected birth of a son.. and her transformation from a passive to a powerful protagonist is one of the joys of Yakhina’s work.’ * Financial Times *‘Written in a rich and highly visual prose... Zuleikha's story is one of injustice and pain, but also of a woman's emancipation and renewal.’ * Associated Press *‘As we watch its heroine’s existence devolve from an oppressive domestic servitude into something disastrously worse, Guzel Yakhina’s sprawling, ambitious first novel Zuleikha reminds us just how brutal the Soviet system was… Zuleikha does an admirable job of dramatizing a historical period rapidly receding into the forgotten past… Dramatic and eventful, Zuleikha sweeps us into a distant era.’ * New York Times Book Review *'Guzel Yakhina's novel hits the heart. It’s a powerful anthem for love and tenderness in hell.' * Ludmila Ulitskaya, author of The Big Green Tent * 'An intimate story of human endurance.' * The Calvert Journal *‘While many writers have attempted to comprehend Soviet history's darkest moment, Yakhina finds a way to make it new.’ * Russia Beyond the Headlines *'A forceful, award-winning and debate-sparking debut novel about life in the Gulag… The novel pulsates with tension...a big, bold and fascinating book.' * Supamodu *'It is 1930 in the Soviet Union and Josef Stalin's dekulakization programme has found its pace. Among the victims is a young Tatar family: the husband murdered, the wife exiled to Siberia. This is her story of survival and eventual triumph. Winner of the 2015 Russian Booker prize, this debut novel draws heavily on the first-person account of the author's grandmother, a Gulag survivor.' * The Millions, 'Most Anticipated Books of 2019' *‘This is a powerful Russian saga, giving an immense overview of life under communist rule... This author is a master at painting an image of the world as it was then.’ * Marjorie's World of Books, blog review *‘Zuleikha has an energy that is hard to resist.’ * Strong Words *'There’s something that Guzel Yakhina succeeds in transmitting with an amazing, sharp exactness: a woman’s attitude towards love. Not towards a subject of love, but towards love itself.' * Anna Narinskaya, literary critic *‘Yakhina's debut novel has shaken the Russian book world so deeply over its first three years of life that her second book topped the 2018 sales charts alongside international bestsellers by Dan Brown and Jojo Moyes... This tale of a woman who holds onto compassion while enduring atrocity also features cinematic narration and intricate plot construction.’ * Meduza, 2019's top Russia-Related Books *'Cinematic… The cast of characters is kaleidoscopic, from all walks of life and all drawn with a visual detail that makes them inhabit the page… Yakhina has a beautiful feel for the natural environment.' -- Rights in Russia

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Book SynopsisSunday Times Crime Book Club PickMail on Sunday Thriller of the Week''A coldly brilliant exposé of the depths of human nature'' SUNDAY TIMES''Compelling, beautifully constructed and atmospheric'' DAILY MAIL Sixty-two days after the disappearance . . .A man is arrested in the small town of Avechot. His shirt is covered in blood. Could this have anything to do with a missing girl called Anna Lou?What really happened to the girl? Detective Vogel will do anything to solve the mystery surrounding Anna Lou''s disappearance. When a media storm hits the quiet town, Vogel is sure that the suspect will be flushed out. Yet the clues are confusing, perhaps false, and following them may be a far cry from discovering the truth at the heart of a dark town. FOR FANS OF DONNA LEON AND MICHELE GIUTTARI, GET READY FOR THE CRIME THRILLER OF THE YEAR. ''Carrisi is an expert at mTrade ReviewThis mesmerising literary crime story is already a richly deserved sensation in Europe. It is so compelling, beautifully constructed and atmospheric that you'll savour each word . . . Spellbinding - Daily MailCarrisi is an expert at misdirection . . . this is a thoroughly disconcerting, addictive thriller guaranteed to freeze your soul - MetroA coldly brilliant expose of the depths of human nature - Sunday Times

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Book SynopsisWhen a depressed, alcoholic single mother disappears, everything suggests suicide, until her body is found on the lava fields. Icelandic Detective Elma and her team are thrust into a perplexing, chilling investigation in book two in the award-winning, international bestselling Forbidden Iceland series… ‘Chilling and addictive, with a twist you won't see coming. I loved it!' Shari Lapena ‘An exciting and harrowing tale’ Ragnar Jónasson ‘Complex, gripping and moving’ The Times ‘Eerie and chilling. I loved every word!’ Lesley Kara _____________ When single mother Maríanna disappears from her home, leaving an apologetic note on the kitchen table, everyone assumes that she’s taken her own life … until her body is found on the Grábrók lava fields seven months later, clearly the victim of murder. Her neglected fifteen-year-old daughter Hekla has been placed in foster care, but is her perfect new life hiding something sinister? Fifteen years earlier, a desperate new mother lies in a maternity ward, unable to look at her own child, the start of an odd and broken relationship that leads to a shocking tragedy. Police officer Elma and her colleagues take on the case, which becomes increasingly complex, as the number of suspects grows and new light is shed on Maríanna’s past – and the childhood of a girl who never was like the others… Breathtakingly chilling and tantalisingly twisty, Girls Who Lie is at once a startling, tense psychological thriller and a sophisticated police procedural, marking Eva Björg Ægisdottir as one of the most exciting new names in crime fiction. _______________Praise for Eva Björg Ægisdottir***WINNER of the CWA John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger*** ‘Fans of Nordic Noir will love this … subtle, nuanced, with a sympathetic central character and the possibilities of great stories to come’ Ann Cleeves ‘Not only a full-fat mystery, but also a chilling demonstration of how monsters are made’ The Times ‘Beautifully written, spine-tingling and disturbing … a thrilling new voice in Icelandic crime fiction’ Yrsa Sigurðardóttir ‘As chilling and atmospheric as an Icelandic winter’ Lisa Gray ‘Elma is a fantastic heroine’ Sunday Times ‘Eva Björg Aegisdóttir is definitely a born storyteller and she skilfully surprised me with some amazing plot twists’ Hilary Mortz ‘An unsettling and exciting read with a couple of neat red herrings to throw the reader off the scent’ NB Magazine ‘Chilling and troubling … reminiscent of Jorn Lier Horst‘s Norwegian procedurals. This is a book that makes an impact’ Crime Fiction Lover ‘Elma is a memorably complex character’ Financial Times ‘The twist comes out of the blue … enthralling’ Tap The Line Magazine For fans of Ragnar Jonasson, Camilla Lackberg, Ruth Rendell, Gillian McAllister and Shari Lapena

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Book Synopsis''Pavese''s novels are works of an extraordinary depth where one never stops finding new levels, new meanings'' Italo CalvinoJune, 1943. Allied aircraft are bombing Turin; fascist Italy is on its knees. Every evening, after a day''s teaching in the city, Corrado returns to the safety of the hills and the care of his two doting landladies. He has no attachments, no obligations. Yet against his better judgement he is drawn to the easy warmth of a circle of anti-fascists who congregate at a nearby tavern, and confronted with a painful choice: emotional and political commitment, with all its dangers - or devastating retreat. Pavese''s extraordinary semi-autobiographical novel is a lucid portrayal of missed opportunities and human weakness, set against the seductive intensity of the Italian countryside.Translated with an introduction by Tim ParksShortlisted for The Society of Authors Translation Award 2022Trade ReviewPavese is one of the few essential novelists of the mid-twentieth century -- Susan SontagPavese's nine short novels make up the most dense, dramatic, and homogeneous narrative cycle of modern Italy ... But above all they are works of an extraordinary depth where one never stops finding new levels, new meanings -- Italo CalvinoCesare Pavese's cool, contemplative voice was the most important among postwar Italian writers -- W. S. DiPieroInsinuating, haunting and lyrically pervasive * The New York Times Book Review *

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Book SynopsisDistinguished literary critic Bodour is trapped in a loveless marriage and carries with her a dark secret. She fell in love in her youth and gave birth to an illegitimate daughter, Zeina, whom she abandoned on the streets of Cairo. Bodour doesn''t know that Zeina has blossomed into one of Egypt''s most beloved entertainers. Pining for her estranged daughter, she writes a fictional account of her life in an attempt to find solace. But as the revolution in Cairo begins to gain fire, the novel goes missing and Bodour must find who has stolen it. Will her hunt for the thief bring mother and daughter together? Or is Bodour destined to lose her daughter to Cairo forever?Trade Review`The leading spokeswoman on the status of women in the Arab world' Guardian; 'At a time when nobody else was talking, [El Saadawi] spoke the unspeakable.' Margaret Atwood, BBC Imagine; `El Saadawi writes with directness and passion' New York Times; `A poignant and brave writer' Marie Claire; `El Saadawi has come to embody the trials of Arab feminism' San Francisco Chronicle

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Book SynopsisTolstoy's epic masterpiece intertwines the lives of private and public individuals during the time of the Napoleonic wars and the French invasion of Russia. In this definitive Maude translation, Tolstoy's genius and the power of his prose are made newly available to the contemporary reader.

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Book SynopsisA wealthy Icelandic family gathers for a reunion in a remote hotel on the isolated lava fields, but when someone goes missing, dark secrets are exposed and everyone is a suspect … the chilling, gripping prequel to the addictive, award-winning Forbidden Iceland series… ‘A country house mystery worthy of Agatha Christie’ The Times Crime Book of the Month ‘As storms rage, people fall prey to a sinister figure. A canny synthesis of modern Nordic Noir and Golden Age mystery’ Financial Times 'In a Forbidden Iceland novel, there's no terrain more treacherous than the mind … a deep-dark thriller to read with the lights on' A J Finn 'Riveting, exciting, entertaining and packed with intrigue … like Succession on ice' Liz Nugent **WINNER of the STORYTEL AWARD for Crime Book of the Year*** –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– The wealthy, powerful Snæberg clan has gathered for a family reunion at a futuristic hotel set amongst the dark lava flows of Iceland's remote Snæfellsnes peninsula. Petra Snæberg, a successful interior designer, is anxious about the event, and her troubled teenage daughter, Lea, whose social-media presence has attracted the wrong kind of followers. Ageing carpenter Tryggvi is an outsider, only tolerated because he's the boyfriend of Petra's aunt, but he's struggling to avoid alcohol because he knows what happens when he drinks … Humble hotel employee, Irma, is excited to meet this rich and famous family and observe them at close quarters … perhaps too close… As the weather deteriorates and the alcohol flows, one of the guests disappears, and it becomes clear that there is a prowler lurking in the dark. But is the real danger inside … within the family itself? Masterfully cranking up the suspense, Eva Björg Ægisdóttir draws us into an isolated, frozen setting, where nothing is as it seems and no one can be trusted, as the dark secrets and painful pasts of the Snæberg family are uncovered … and the shocking truth revealed. Succession meets And Then There Were None … A Golden Age mystery for the 21st Century, with a shocking twist. –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– 'A tense, twisty page-turner that you'll have serious trouble putting down' Catherine Ryan Howard 'Your new Nordic Noir obsession' Vogue 'Confirms Eva Bjorg Aegisdottir as a leading light of Icelandic noir … a master of misdirection' The Times Praise for the Forbidden Iceland series **Winner of the CWA John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger** **Shortlisted for the Petrona Award for Best Scandinavian Crime** **Shortlisted for the CWA Crime in Translation Dagger** **Shortlisted for the Capital Crime Award for Best Thriller** 'Chilling and addictive, with a completely unexpected twist … I loved it' Shari Lapena 'Beautifully written … one of the rising stars of Nordic Noir'Victoria Selman 'Fans of Nordic Noir will love this' Ann Cleeves 'Eerie and chilling. I loved every word!' Lesley Kara 'Creepily compelling' Heidi Amsinck 'Elma is a memorably complex character' Financial Times 'Exciting and harrowing' Ragnar Jónasson 'Fantastic' Sunday Times 'So atmospheric' Heat

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Book SynopsisNew Year's Eve, 1975. Two hunted men leave Mexico City in a borrowed white Impala.Their quest: to track down the mythical, vanished poet Cesárea Tinajero. But, twenty years later, they are still on the run. The Savage Detectives is their remarkable journey through our darkening universe. Told, shared and mythologised by a generation of lovers, rebels and readers, their testimonies are woven together into one of the most dazzling Latin American novels of all time.TRANSLATED BY NATASHA WIMMERRoberto Bolaño was a game changer: his field was politics, poetry and melancholia. He could be funny, he could be literate, he could be devastating. And his writing was always unparalleled' Mariana Enríquez, author of Our Share of NightBolaño makes you feel changed for having read him; he adjusts your angle of view on the world' Guardian

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"The Three Kingdoms is considered the ultimate book on strategy, offering keen insights into Chinese culture. Ron Iverson's effort is a great contribution to the understanding of Chinese culture and history." --Xinmin Wang, former Consul for Cultural Affairs for the PRC and advisor to the President of China"This translation faithfully conveys a native Chinese-speaking person's understanding of this most influential and famous Chinese book. To translate this Chinese classic into modern English is a challenging and difficult job for any language translator. However, this joint effort by Yu Sumei and Ronald Iverson has met the challenge." --Hua Xin, former advisor and translator for IBM China"One of the greatest and best-loved works of popular literature." --Dictionary of Oriental Literatures

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Book SynopsisIn this frightening and surprising novel, the eccentric, wayward genius of Commissaire Adamsberg is pitted against the deep-rooted mysteries of one Alpine village's history and a very present problem: wolves. Disturbing things have been happening up in the French mountains;Trade ReviewCommissaire Adamsberg must be the most engaging French detective since Maigret * Scotland on Sunday *Poetic, offbeat and gently addictive. Her prose has an unusual deftness, a wry humour. A unique voice * Guardian *An intriguing, idiosyncratic voice * Time Out *An absolute masterwork. One of the best books of the year * Toronto Globe & Mail *A work of real class - its characters sharp, multi-faceted and original, and its style crisply intelligent * Herald *

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Book SynopsisHisham Matar, GuardianDeath Is Hard Work is a tale of three people embarking on an absurd quest - an unforgettable journey into a contemporary heart of darkness.At a hospital in Damascus, Syria, Abdel Latif's final wish is to be buried in the family plot near Aleppo - just a two-hour drive away.

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Book SynopsisFrom the author of Thirteen Hours - A Sunday Times ''100 best crime novels and thrillers since 1945'' pickMilla has finally escaped her abusive husband, only to find herself at the heart of an anti-terrorist operation.Lemmer has agreed to protect a pair of smuggled rhinos on a thousand-kilometre journey - his strangest job yet will also be his most dangerous.And former policeman Mat already wants to quit his new job as a private investigator. But he has promised a young woman he will find her missing husband . . . wherever the trail may lead.From the vibrant streets of Cape Town to the wilds of Zimbabwe, from luxurious gated communities to the ganglands of the Cape Flats, different paths begin to cross in a novel of ever-increasing suspense.Trade ReviewSmuggling, missing persons and an edgy post-apartheid South Africa interlace in a riveting crime novel . . . This is the author's most accomplished novel to date. Following the thrilling plot of his best­selling Thirteen Hours was always going to be a challenge but he's visibly gained confidence, showing his technical skill and handling the different sections of the new book with effortless ease. It's a mesmerising read, and a ­startling revelation at the very end suggests that we haven't heard the last of these engaging characters. * The Sunday Times *How fulfilling the rewards are for those seeking crime fiction with real texture and intelligence . . . The author presents an unsparing picture of social divisions in post-apartheid South Africa . . . But perhaps his key achievement is the astutely drawn trio: the conflicted bodyguard, streetwise but falling for a major deception; the young woman fleeing a desperately unhappy marriage and discovering something that changes her perception of herself; and the ex-cop, finding that the incendiary reserves of violence in his personality are nearer to the surface than he thought. TRACKERS is a sprawling, invigorating and socially committed crime novel. * Independent *An ambitious, multi-threaded tale . . . comprehensively pulling the reader into the melee of modern South Africa . . . this is a book that tells a cracking story and captures the criminal kaleidoscope of a nation. * Times Literary Supplement *Meyer is the leading chronicler of South Africa, and his latest novel shows off his technical skill... a dazzling performance. * Sunday Times Books of the Year 2011 *This year's great discovery: classy, edgy writing, subtly plotted and beautifully balanced between fast-paced action, pungent social comment and the process of investigation. * Weekend Australian *The Thriller Shot of the Year title goes to South African Deon Meyer for his superb tour-de-force TRACKERS which combines a spy plot worthy of Le Carre ("spy the beloved country") with several tense and violent criminal sub-plots and a complex and stunningly impressive narrative structure. All in all, a masterpiece of South African crime writing; which is rapidly proving to be the bench-mark of international crime fiction.' * Shots *This South African kind of crime is going global fast. TRACKERS shows why: three deftly-braided plot strands join political sophistication, strongly-drawn characters and a passionate concern with the Rainbow Nation's fate. * i *An unusually intriguing story about modern South Africa. * Literary Review *The book that stayed with me most from this year is Deon Meyer's TRACKERS . . . a dazzling performance. * Joan Smith, Sunday Times books of the year 2011 *Critics were struggling to come up with new adjectives to praise the South African writer Deon Meyer's TRACKERS, a menacing tale of smuggling and disappearances on a sprawling canvas of post-apartheid South Africa. * Independent Books of the Year *The author is proclaimed to be "South Africa's answer to Stieg Larsson" in a banner headline on the cover. I wouldn't disagree with that. He is certainly as powerful a writer, although his style is slightly different, and considerably more complex . . . this is one of the most absorbing crime stories you are ever likely to read. * Shots *Meyer's ambition matches his execution in this brilliantly complex standalone thriller set in his native South Africa . . . Few readers will anticipate exactly how the separate plot strands will be resolved. This powerhouse read, which captures the many facets of modern South Africa, should be the American breakthrough book this talented author deserves. * Publishers Weekly Starred Review *Award-winning crime fiction author Meyer demonstrates his superb gift for bringing together several disparate plots, striking characters, and vividly drawn scenes of contemporary South Africa, all roaring towards a climax with more than one surprise . . . With a fine eye for detail, an unflattering image of South African culture, and clear sympathy for the downtrodden, Meyer still never loses his focus on page-turning suspense and riveting mystery. Highly recommended. * Library Journal Starred Review *Publishers and booksellers trumpet that "South Africa is the new Scandinavia" when it comes to crime writing and that Deon Meyer is "South Africa's Answer to Stieg Larsson". He's not; he's far better . . . With TRACKERS I would suggest he has moved into the John le Carré class, and not simply because one of the plot lines is about the workings of a South African security department and the political in-fighting involved, but mainly because this is a book which is a great thriller and a fine novel of characterisation. Indeed, the cast of characters is diverse (morally as well as ethnically) but every single one is fully-formed and three-dimensional and they all play their parts in a complex triple-stranded plot. * Shots *Without doubt one of the brightest stars to emerge from the Southern African crime scene is Deon Meyer. A big, complex novel, it skilfully weaves together three separate storylines, and three different forms of crime-writing, into a cohesive and fascinating whole . . . The result is a very powerful thriller that sweeps the reader up in its gritty portrayal of modern South Africa . . . Meyer's mixture of compelling, believable characters, tense plotting and fascinating insights into the texture of everyday South Africa make TRACKERS one of the year's better crime novels. * Canberra Times *Being hailed as the finest novel yet from an author whose reputation is growing around the world. Deon Meyer, is building a steady collection of awards for his books and an international fan base. * Hobart Mercury *It's like three complex, gripping an absorbing books in one, so you're getting your money's worth * Adelaide Advertiser *Deon Meyer writes a cracking good adventure. * Manly Daily (Australia) *Meyer is a very good storyteller. A very good read. * Sun Herald *One of the sharpest and most perceptive thriller writers around * Peter Millar, The Times, on DEVIL'S PEAK *Far and away the best crime writer in South Africa * Guardian on BLOOD SAFARI *This guy is really good. Deon Meyer hooked me with this one right from the start. * Michael Connelly on HEART OF THE HUNTER *For reasons which I do not pretend to understand, Deon Meyer's absolutely brilliant thriller TRACKERS failed to win any of the British crime writing awards last year, which makes me think that there must be something fundamentally wrong in the Ministry of Mystery Prizes. * Shots magazine *

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Book SynopsisA highly contagious book virus, a literary society and a Snow Queen-like disappearing author 'She came to realise that under one reality there's always another. And another one under that.' Only very special people are chosen by children's author Laura White to join 'The Society', an elite group of writers in the small town of Rabbit Back. Now a tenth member has been selected: Ella, literature teacher and possessor of beautifully curving lips. But soon Ella discovers that the Society is not what it seems. What is its mysterious ritual, 'The Game'? What explains the strange disappearance that occurs at Laura's winter party, in a whirlwind of snow? Why are the words inside books starting to rearrange themselves? Was there once another tenth member, before her? Slowly, disturbing secrets that had been buried come to light... In this chilling, darkly funny novel, the uncanny brushes up against the everyday in the most beguiling and unexpected of ways.Trade ReviewWonderfully knotty... a very grown-up fantasy masquerading as quirky fable. Unexpected, thrilling and absurd -- Catherine Taylor Sunday Telegraph Unnerving, enigmatic... Hints of Let the Right One In and Haruki Murakami's elliptical early science fiction novels flavour a creepy tale about mutating books, buried secrets and ghostly encounters -- James Lovegrove Financial Times The Rabbit Back Literature Society is a lobster pot of a book... an exquisite balance of suspense, precision-engineered structure and darkly playful humour... fascinating. And fun. -- 5-star review SFX Charming and intriguing, switching from playful to creepy to heartfelt and back again... good fun Bookbag Mixes the small-town surrealism of Twin Peaks with the clandestine-society theme of Donna Tartt's The Secret History The List Charming, chilling and gripping from its very first page Bizarre A novel about big questions ... wonderful characters... amazing TQR Stories Sly wit... characterises The Rabbit Back Literature Society Metro A witty Finnish novel Observer I can't even begin to try to describe this book. Nor... to do justice to its eerie nuttiness. But if, like me, you're still a little bit obsessed with who killed Laura Palmer, you'll love it Harper's Bazaar A playful fantasy... [Jaaskelainen] deftly plumbs the neuroses of artistic vanity and obsession... I felt the slow pulse that guided the book; it skirts genres and stays refreshingly weird Quadrapheme Veering between infectious comedy and dark thriller, this is a beguiling read The Lady Is Jaaskelainen the new Murakami? Answers to the editor Glasgow Herald Thrilling Shortlist Lola Rogers' admirable translation catches both the darkness and playful wit of Jaaskelainen's original Tablet It's all rather brilliant Worm Hole Deliciously dark metafiction Sydney Morning Herald A very odd but engaging book by a Finnish author with an extraordinary imagination The Westmorland Gazette

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Book SynopsisPurposefully imitating Voltaire's classic Candide, another dark comedy which derives its humour from life's tragedies, Habiby's The Secret of Saeed the Pessoptimist is a classic of Arab literature. The story of Saeed, a Palestinian who becomes a citizen of Israel, is a story of fact and fantasy, tragedy and comedy. At once a comic hero and luckless fool, his life is full of terror, aggression, resistence and heroism. As an informer for the Zionist state, Saeed's stupidity, candour and cowardice make him more the victim than a villain; but in a series of tragicomic episodes, blundering from disaster to disaster, he is slowly transformed from gullible collaborator into a Palestinian intent on survival. The novel, informed by the author's own experience in Israeli politics, is both biting and funny. The Secret Life of Saeed the Pessoptimist was named in the top ten novels set in the Arab world by The Guardian in 2010, won the Al-Quds Prize in Palestine in 1992 and The Israel Prize for Literature, awarded by the State of Israel. It is the only novel to have the top literary award in both countries.Trade ReviewAmazing story from a most unconventional perspective. An entertaining and thought-provoking classic.A" Kirkus Review

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Book SynopsisThe hair-raising mash-up of feminist X-Men, gothic fairy tale, family saga and biting social criticism that is taking Europe by storm.When Anita Naakka jumps in front of an oncoming train, her daughter, Norma, is left alone with the secret they have spent their lives hiding: Norma has supernatural hair, sensitive to the slightest changes in her mood--and the moods of those around her--moving of its own accord, corkscrewing when danger is near. And so it is her hair that alerts her, while she talks with a strange man at her mother's funeral, that her mother may not have taken her own life. Setting out to reconstruct Anita's final months--sifting through puzzling cell phone records, bank statements, video files--Norma begins to realise that her mother knew more about her hair's powers than she let on: a sinister truth beyond Norma's imagining.Trade ReviewAmazing * Le Figaro *A Toni Morrison from the far North. * Le Monde *Sofi Oksanen is one of the brightest shining stars in Nordic literature. I want to devour Norma whole. * Norrköpings Tidningar (Sweden) *Addictive, lucid, breathtakingly suspenseful, and on top of this it is stunningly observant, eerily well-researched, critical, with feminist overtones and very, very relatable * Affärsmagasinet Forum (Finland) *A phenomenon * The Times on PURGE *Powerful, passionately wrought, emotionally shattering, extraordinary * Independent on PURGE *Purge stands out. Murder, sexual violence and political history combine to place Oksanen in the front rank of crime novelists. * Sunday Times on PURGE *Finland's hottest crime writer will soon be as well-known as Stieg Larsson * The Times on PURGE *Essential reading: Purge is not a book to read last thing at night. * Economist on PURGE *

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Book SynopsisA Guardian Science Fiction Book of the Year. Mimi is drowning in the world's trash. She's a 'waste girl', a scavenger picking through towering heaps of hazardous electronic detritus. Along with thousands of other migrant workers, she was lured to Silicon Isle, off the southern coast of China, by the promise of steady work and a better life. But Silicon Isle is where the rotten fruits of capitalism and consumer culture come to their toxic end. The land is hopelessly polluted, the workers utterly at the mercy of those in power. And now a storm is gathering, as ruthless local gangs skirmish for control, eco-terrorists conspire, investors hunger for profit, and a Chinese-American interpreter searches for his roots. As these forces collide, conflict erupts – a war between rich and poor, a battle between past and future. Mimi must decide if she will remain a pawn... or change the rules of the game altogether. 'An accomplished eco-techno-thriller with heart and soul' DAVID MITCHELL. 'Waste Tide is a work of spoiled and toxic beauty... It's more than a timely eco-thriller; it's a dark mirror held up to our selves' SIMON INGS. Trade ReviewAn accomplished eco-techno-thriller with heart and soul as well as brain. Chen Qiufan is an astute observer, both of the present world and of the future that the next generation is in danger of inheriting -- David MitchellThe pinnacle of near-future SF writing -- Cixin LiuSomething startlingly new... an action-packed story that's full of moral complexity' -- Charlie Jane AndersA hard-hitting, uncompromising look at the near future -- Adrian TchaikovskyA stunning tale of greed [that] deftly exposes all the hidden contours of the human heart -- Maggie Shen KingA work of spoiled and toxic beauty... It's more than a timely eco-thriller; it's a dark mirror held up to our selves' -- Simon IngsChinese author Chen Quifan's debut novel Waste Tide is all too true to life * SFX *A cracking science fiction novel by Chen Qiufan suggests humanity's future may be even stranger than its past * New Scientist *Chen's portrait of industry and society alike is caustically bleak – life is short and cheap – and the cultural impact of his future tech well thought through * SFX. *A crop of younger writers are now emerging in the duo's wake [Cixin Liu and Han Song]. Waste Tide takes place on an island devoted to electronics refuse in a fictionalised South China Sea... The setting is not too far divorced from parts of real-life China, in which the by-products of the electronics industry create uninhabitably toxic environments' * Economist. *This chilling eco-techno tale, well translated by Ken Liu, illustrates that the eternal conflict of good and evil remains alive in our "brave new world" * The Tablet *There's an old school cyberpunk quality to the book, a compelling reflection on a world defined by its waste * Guardian *

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Book SynopsisAmid ethnic violence, political corruption, and petty professional intrigue, an artist tries to live free of lies. Set during the last years of the Soviet Union, Stone Dreams tells the story of Azerbaijani actor Sadai Sadygly, who lands in a Baku hospital while trying to protect an elderly Armenian man from a gang of young Azerbaijanis. Something of a modern-day Don Quixote, Sadai has long battled the hatred and corruption he observes in contemporary Azerbaijani society. Wandering in and out of consciousness, he revisits his hometown, the ancient village of Aylis, where Christian Armenians and Muslim Azeris once lived peacefully together, and dreams of making a pilgrimage of atonement to Armenia. Stone Dreams is a searing, painful meditation on the ability of art and artists—of individual human beings—to make change in the world.

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Book SynopsisA chilling new case for Thora Gudmundsdottir, from Iceland''s answer to Stieg Larsson.When all contact is lost with two Icelanders working in a harsh and sparsely populated area on the northeast coast of Greenland, Thora is hired to investigate. Is there any connection with the woman who vanished from the site some months earlier? Why are the locals so hostile? And could one of the team staying at the site with Thora be responsible for the disappearances?Already an international bestseller, this fourth book to feature Thora Gudmundsdottir (''a delight'' - Guardian) is chilling, unsettling and compulsively readable.Trade ReviewYrsa is one of the most exciting new voices in the crime thriller world. -- Peter JamesHenning Mankell and Stieg Larsson have helped to make Scandinavian crime fiction a global phenomenon, but if you're looking for something a bit different try this Icelandic writer and her feisty lawyer heroine, Thora. * Mail on Sunday *A gripping thriller with enough mystery and horror to keep you sitting on the edge of your seat while you try to work out what happened. -- Peter RobinsonPut simply, it's terrifying. And brilliant. * Stylist *

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Book SynopsisSamuel Bjork (Author) Samuel Bjork is the pen name of Norwegian novelist, playwright and singer/songwriter Frode Sander Øien. The Munch and Krüger series features five books: the Richard & Judy Bookclub bestseller I'm Travelling Alone, The Owl Always Hunts At Night, The Boy in the Headlights, The Wolf and Dead Island.Charlotte Barslund (Translator) Charlotte Barslund translates Scandinavian novels and plays. Her recent work includes Calling Out For You by Karin Fossum, Machine by Peter Adolphsen and The Pelican by August Strindberg.

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Book SynopsisA fairy tale run amok, The Taiga Syndrome follows an unnamed Ex-Detective as she searches for a couple that has fled to the far reaches of the Earth. A betrayed husband is convinced by a brief telegram that his second ex-wife wants him to track her down - that she wants to be found. He hires the Ex-Detective, who sets out with a translator into a snowy, hostile forest where strange things happen and translation serves to betray both sense and the senses. The stories of Hansel and Gretel and Little Red Riding Hood haunt the Ex-Detective's quest. As she enters a territory overrun with the primitive excesses of capitalism - accumulation and expulsion, corruption and cruelty -the lessons of her journey unfold: that sometimes leaving everything behind is the only thing left to do.Trade Review`One of Mexico's greatest living writers, and we are just barely beginning to catch up to what she has to offer... I'm excited.' Jonathan Lethem----`The Taiga Syndrome by Cristina Rivera Garza is a dark, daring contemporary fable with echoes from the past. Small, short, covered in gray, it sparkles on the page and dazzles the mind.' Sjon----'A suspenseful fable [that] defies traditional narrative.' Anna Aslanyan, The Guardian ----'Through her powerful command of language, she eases the reader into her nightmarish Fairytale.' Sarah Gilmartin, Irish Times ----`An explosive writer yet to be fully accounted for in English.' Lina Meruane----`Cristina Rivera Garza does not respect what is expected of a writer, of a novel, of language. She is an agitator.' Yuri Herrera----`The contemporary Latin American detective novel is a form that uses the individual's rollicking quest as a means of resistance against repressive structures and the violences they engender. Cristina Rivera Garza's The Taiga Syndrome, in this stellar translation by Suzanne Jill Levine and Aviva Kana, gives English-language readers a lyrically luminous take on the genre while not skimping on its adventurous antics. If The Taiga Syndrome is a book of illness, it's also about exile, disappearance, borders, love, language and translation, desire, capitalism and its discontents, fairy tales, and what it means to be possessed by the madness of others and the madness of ourselves. The murmurs that haunt the detective in the novel evoke the history of Mexican fiction, most notably Juan Rulfo. But this is not a religious state of purgatory. It's more like Apocalypse Now fused with the worlds of Clarice Lispector and Jorge Luis Borges. In other words, there is no one writing novels as phantasmagorically exquisite as Cristina Rivera Garza's. The Taiga Syndrome, which is both quietly poetic and narratively unhinged, is a crucial addition to her distinguished oeuvre.' Daniel Borzutzky----`Innovative Mexican author Rivera Garza's dazzling speculative noir novel is narrated by a woman hired to find a man's missing second wife... As she tracks the mysterious couple over snow-covered trails in the boreal forest, the universe becomes eerie and unpredictable. She encounters a feral boy, a ferocious wolf, earthy villagers and wild lumberjacks. Rivera Garza invokes Hansel and Gretel as she spins her marvellous, atmospheric tale.' Jane Ciabattari, BBC.com, `The 10 Best Books of 2018'----`This novel, in a translation by Levine and Kana, is taut, lyrical, and strange, and it fits right in with Dorothy, A Publishing Project's commitment to work that challenges what genres and forms can do. Like the best speculative fiction, it follows the sinuous paths of its own logic but gives the reader plenty of room to play. Fans of fairy tales and detective stories, Kathryn Davis and Idra Novey, will all find something to love. An eerie, slippery gem of a book.' Kirkus Reviews, starred review----`As lyrical as a poem ("Look at this: your knees. They are used for kneeling upon reality, also for crawling, terrified. You use them to sit on a lotus flower and say goodbye to the immensity") and as fantastic as a fairy tale, Rivera Garza's gorgeous, propulsive novel will haunt readers long after it's finished.' Publishers Weekly, starred review----`A Lynchian noir from one of Mexico's best novelists tracks a missing couple in a ravaged no-man's-land, weaving a mystery out of fairy tales, disaster capitalism, and shadowy afflictions.' Vulture ----`Readers of this book will encounter one of the most fiercely original literary voices from Latin America.' Ignacio M. Sanchez Prado, Los Angeles Review of Books----`Mystery, sci-fi, Socratic dialogue, retelling of `Hansel and Gretel': The Taiga Syndrome is a delightful shape-shifter of a novel.' Jonathan Woollen, Politics & Prose----`This insanely creepy & brilliant book by the incomparable Cristina Rivera Garza will keep you awake at night. Garza is a master of atmosphere. A detective novel directed by David Lynch & narrated by Bolano.' Mark Haber, Brazos Bookstore---- `Wood, snow, blood: old stories. The witch in the forest, the breadcrumb trail, the grandmother-skinned wolf - everybody's here, in this wild little book, breath steaming humid in the cold air.' Sarah McCarry, Tor.com----`Rivera Garza belongs to the tradition of iconoclastic writers who question why our world has to be the way it is. This is the sort of powerful inquiry that often brings art to its most immersive, rewarding, and generative place. Read her books and explore your own taiga.' Veronica Scott Esposito, Literary Hub----`In plain, lyrical language, [Rivera] Garza drapes a poetic hush over the narrative, creating an unsettling fable-like world. It's a mystery that creeps, with careful, steady steps.' Laura Adamczyk, The A.V. Club ---- `So far so noir, except that this summary, along with every other summary I've seen in reviews and copy for The Taiga Syndrome, fails to give an accurate impression of the experience of reading the book. First, the story is nonlinear, not in a Memento kind of way but in a You-realize-time-is-an-illusion-don't-you? one. What there is in the way of plot - and there is plot here - is dominated by an obsession with language.' Ploughshares----`Diaphanously translated by Suzanne Jill Levine and Aviva Kana, this deceivingly spare, noir fairy tale can be read (devoured) at a sitting, but the subconscious wounds it (in)exacts may fester in one's non-fiction ever after.' Minor Literature(s)----`Come for the satisfying sense of utter disorientation, stay for the gangly homunculus that bursts out of the woman's mouth in the middle of the night.' Literary Hub, `Four Haunting Books for the Halloween Season'----`[Rivera] Garza doesn't stop with fairy tales, however; she inverts traditional tropes from any number of genres to great effect. The subject of the mystery is not the crime or even the victim, but the detective. The unreliable narrator reports on her own unreliability.' Shelf Awareness

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Book SynopsisA dazzling novella from a rising star of Indonesian literature that explores what it means to be a woman — whoever you are, wherever you are, and whenever it is in history and time. In today’s Jakarta, an unnamed man tells the story of his lifelong friend Nastiti, and what happened on the day she vanished. In the Dutch East Indies’ Semarang, a young Indo-Dutch girl, Rukmini, is captured by the Japanese military and is forced into prostitution. Years later, Arini travels to the Netherlands to share her mother’s dark past with a researcher. After the American occupation of Japan in WWII ends, a former war photographer revisits his memories of Hanako, the wife of a traumatised ex-Imperial soldier, but can’t escape his own darkness. And in present-day Osaka, a young Indonesian woman, Dara, haunted by her past and struggling to conceive, becomes obsessed with a Japanese porn star. Through these interconnected narratives, in stunning prose, Dias Novita Wuri explores generational legacies, lost loves, the damage that war does to men, and the damage that men do to women.Trade Review‘The ground beneath the reader is constantly shifting … Birth Canal jumps in time and moves between places of security and insecurity, hiding and transit, literal and metaphorical light and dark … In the end, this extraordinarily accomplished and profound novel, translated from Indonesian by the author, is about how difficult love can be, and how precious.’ -- Linda Jaivin * The Saturday Paper *‘Indonesian author Dias Novita Wuri is a rising literary star. Her novella Birth Canal writhes with talent compressed into a forceful and beguiling suite of interconnected stories … Wuri’s gift for metaphor is matched by a supple and sidewinding narrative construction that follows women across time and place.’ * The Sydney Morning Herald *‘Birth Canal was written with a dripping golden pen. Captivating and devastating, the stories of these women are told with truth and love.’ -- Laura McPhee-Browne, author of Cherry Beach and Little Plum‘[Dias Novita Wuri] confronts the reader with the realisation that often it’s too easy for us to simply look away. [Birth Canal] consists of expertly and beautifully crafted interconnected stories, its narrative jumping back and forward in time as echoes in a chamber where no trauma ever goes away entirely, but rather returns in another configuration … the spare dialogue allows stillness and solidarity to seep in through the violence.’ -- Angelique Kasmara * Listener *‘Impressive.’ * Tony's Reading List *‘[N]othing short of genius … For such a short work, it contains multitudes. Expertly translated by the author Birth Canal reveals the triumphs and tribulations of several generations of Indonesian women, each dealing with their own personal struggles with their lovers, humanity, and the course of world events.’ * Driftless Area Review *‘Crossing multiple timelines and cities in Indonesia and Japan to establish the links among its six female protagonists, this compact yet far-reaching novel endeavours to make visible both the female body and the structure of storytelling by using the idea of the birth canal as a site of conflicts and thwarted possibilities. Failed conception — stillbirth, miscarriage, filicide, abortion and suicide — thus represents both an acknowledgment of female trauma and a form of political protest. In exploring women’s sexuality, mental health, reproductive choice, and domestic violence, this gifted Indonesian author deftly explores topics that impact women in a Muslim-majority country.’ -- Thúy Ðinh, book critic and editor-at-large of Asymptote

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Book SynopsisA sweeping tale of life and death, set in the Syrian capital at the turn of the twentieth century from the International prize winning author of Death is Hard Work and In Praise of Hatred.A soulful and perfectly unsentimental writer. Hisham MatarDecember, 1907: one morning after a night of drunken carousing in the city, Hanna and his friend Zakariya return home to their village near Aleppoonly to discover a scene of tragedy. A devastating flood has levelled their homes, shops and places of worship, and their neighbours, families and children are nearly all dead. Their lives will never be the same.Tracing Hanna's life before and after the floodwhen he embarks on a search for the meaning of lifeNo One Prayed Over Their Graves is a portrait of a wider society on the verge of great change; from the provincial village to the burgeoning modernity of the city, where Christians, Muslims, and Jews live and work

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Book SynopsisTurgenev’s final novel, Virgin Soil traces the destinies of several middle-class revolutionaries who seek to “go to the people” by working on the land and instilling democratic ideas in the countryside’s locals. They include the daydreaming impoverished young tutor Nezhdanov – employed by the liberal councillor Sipyagin and his vain and beautiful wife Valentina – the naive young radical Maryanna and the progressive factory manager Solomin. Their liaisons, intrigues and conspiracies, set against the backdrop of Tsarist Russia, form the matter of Turgenev’s most ambitious and elaborate work, which cemented the author’s place in the West as Russia’s foremost novelist while at the same time proving controversial at home – culminating in the arrest of fifty-two real-life revolutionaries barely a month after it was published.Trade ReviewTurgenev to me is the greatest writer there ever was. -- Ernest Hemingway

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Book SynopsisIn the Twilight, the third collection of short stories compiled by Anton Chekhov himself, was his first major success and won him the prestigious Pushkin Prize when it was published in 1888. This volume represents a clear milestone in the writer’s passage from the youthful Antosha Chekhonte, author of slight comic sketches, to the mature master of the short-story genre. This edition presents the sixteen tales of the original collection – ranging from well-known and acknowledged gems such as ‘Agafya’ and ‘On the Road’ to others which will be fresh even to many seasoned readers of Chekhov – in a brand-new translation by Hugh Aplin, providing an invaluable glimpse into a pivotal moment in the writer’s literary career.Trade ReviewWhat writers influenced me as a young man? Chekhov! As a dramatist? Chekhov! As a story writer? Chekhov! -- Tennessee WilliamsTable of ContentsContains: In the Twilight, Dreams, A Trivial Occurrence, A Bad Business, At Home, The Witch, Verochka, In Court, A Restless Guest, The Requiem, On the Road, Misfortune, An Event, Agafya, Enemies, A Nightmare, On Easter Eve

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Book SynopsisIt's the early part of the nineteenth century and the Arabian Peninsula and the waters surrounding it are ablaze. Piracy in the Gulf threatens global maritime trade routes while the Wahabbi strain of Islam is conquering followers town by town across the region. Britain, eager to reinforce its presence in the Middle East and protect the East India Company's ships, has a plan: send a man-of-war from England to quash the pirates while persuading Egypt to join an international alliance with Oman and Persia to fight the Wahabbis. At the center of it all lies a priceless Indian sword, a gift from the British monarch to the Egyptian Pasha. But Erhama bin Jaber, a historical figure and one of the most notorious pirates in the Gulf, has his own agenda and his own vendettas. When the Arabian corsair and his gang attack a ship carrying the sword, Britain's complex strategy goes terribly awry. As the pirates and British officials shuttle between ports throughout the region, plans and alliances are made and unmade as quickly as a rainstorm in the desert. In a grueling trudge across Arabia, an unlikely friendship is forged between Erhama's rebellious son and a British army major. This story of high-seas piracy and political intrigue, of unexpected kinship and personal betrayal, portrays the conflicting interests and human drama of these historic events in the Arabian Peninsula.Trade ReviewA fine talent in the world of novel writing... Al Qursan succeeds in taking us back to the past... and herein lies the value and importance of the novel. -- Ibrahim Darwish Al Qods Al Arabi Engaging and entertaining Al Dostoor This is a remarkable debut novel and one that captures the spirit of an age with delicate mastery and great skills QF Telegraph Abdul Aziz Al Mahmoud's Al Qursan reminded me of Yousef Zedan's Azazeel, which won the International Prize for Arabic Fiction in 2009... I believe that Al Qursan should be awarded the same prize Al Arab Qatari writer Abdul Aziz Al Mahmoud exquisitely relates an era of Gulf history in an outstanding and creative historical novel -- Yasser Al Zaater Al Arab (Al Qursan is a) formal and systematic analysis of the past by means of a narrative arc that is rich in characters and events as well as documents... all composed in a dramatic formula with rich vocabulary, an abundance of images and a wealth of meaning Al Nahaar What is remarkable about Al Qursan is that the author has brilliantly established a dramatic structure with great political awareness and an excellent historical mind without being spoiled by the intrusion of the narrator Aljazeera .net Abdul Aziz Al Mahmoud's Al Qursan takes us to worlds bustling with action and excitement; amongst peninsulas, deserts and harbours where you can inhale the scents of people, spices from the eastern India company and the wine of the officers of the British navy. Al Arab '...the author has brilliantly established a dramatic structure with great political awareness and an excellent historical mind without being spoiled by the intrusion of the narrator' Aljazeera.net Aljazeera.net '...the author has brilliantly established a dramatic structure with great political awareness and an excellent historical mind without being spoiled by the intrusion of the narrator' Aljazeera.net Aljazeera.net the author has brilliantly established a dramatic structure with great political awareness and an excellent historical mind without being spoiled by the intrusion of the narrator Aljazeera.net

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Book SynopsisIt is four years since the virus came, killing every adult in its path. Not long after that the electricity failed. Food and water started running out. Fires raged across the country. Now Anna cares for her brother alone in a house hidden in the woods, keeping him safe from 'the Outside'. But, when the time comes, Anna knows they must leave their world and find another. By turns luminous and tender, gripping and horrifying, Anna is a haunting parable of love and loneliness; of the stories we tell to sustain us, and the lengths we will go to in order to stay alive.Trade ReviewAmmaniti sets a new standard in post-apocalyptic fiction . . . This story of children running wild in Sicily brilliantly manipulates the usual models even as it transcends their limits . . . In the midst of wonderfully detailed disorder, one girl named Anna struggles to survive, fighting off feral dogs and crazed children and enduring one of recent literature's most nightmarish visions of hell on earth as she tries to feed and protect her young brother, Astor -- John Burnside * * Guardian * *From The Lord of the Flies to The Road, we do love a dystopian tale of survival. And it's apt that in these uncertain modern times, here comes arguably the best one yet . . . Complex, moving and scary, this one will stay with you long after the last page * * Sunday Telegraph * *Ammaniti's Italian bestseller has been compared to . . . Lord Of The Flies and The Road . . . It's a powerfully disturbing and thought-provoking read * * Daily Mail * *One of Italy's foremost literary talents . . . Combines the wayward fantasy of J.G. Ballard with comic-strip adventure . . . Ammaniti has lost none of his gift for landscape description -- Ian Thomson * * Times Literary Supplement * *Brave and uncompromising writing . . . A brutal but moving post-apocalyptic tale set in a world where adults have all been wiped out . . . reminiscent of Lord of the Flies or Cormac McCarthy's The Road . . . written with such heart and compassion for the plight of the characters that you can't help but get sucked in and root for them. Compelling and moving writing -- Doug Johnstone * * Big Issue * *Unbeatable storytelling - an immediate and engaging study of humanity at its best and worst * * Financial Times * *A gripping tale of resilience, friendship and sibling love in a brutal and dangerous world. I loved it! -- MEGAN BRADBURY, author of EVERYONE IS WATCHINGAmmaniti won the Italian Strega Prize for I'm Not Scared, and Anna has the same taut narrative, with straight-from-the-bow suspense, but its mark is philosophical . . . concerned not only with the will to live but also with what makes us alive * * Irish Times * *Ammaniti has an enviable ability to keep readers thoroughly absorbed * * The Herald * *Anna has pretty much everything you could hope for from a post-apocalyptic picaresque adventure story * * London Review of Books * *

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Book SynopsisA fascinating study in sexual psychology and sexual politics, the novel focuses on Hélène Grandjean, a widow, and her shifting emotional states. This is the eighth novel in Zola's Rougon-Macquart series, and the first modern translation for more than fifty years.Trade ReviewA Love Story was such a joy to read... This is the type of book I would like to leisurely read while sitting in a Paris café, maybe that is how I will re-read A Love Story. * Michael Kitto, Knowledge Lost *There's so much to love and admire about this novel, which has rarely appeared in an English translation. * Harriet Devine, Shiny New Books *

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Book SynopsisDmitry Rudin, a high-minded gentleman of reduced means, arrives at the estate of Darya Mikhailovna, where his intelligence, eloquence and conviction immediately make a powerful impression. As he stys on longer than intended, Rudin exerts a strong influence on the younger generation, and Darya's daughter, Natalya, falls in love with him. But circumstances soon will show whether Rudin has the courage to act on his beliefs, and whether he can live ip to the image he has created for himself.Trade ReviewThese two translations of Ivan Turgenev's earliest long fiction [Faust and Rudin] are a welcome sign of renewed interest in Russia's least-appreciated great nineteenth century novelist. * TLS *Rudin enters the familiar Turgenevan landscape of rustic tranquillity and well-bred, private contumely like a thunderbolt. * TLS *Turgenev’s little-known first novel Rudin, written in 1856, centres on an excessively self-indulgent man and his doomed relationship with the daughter of his aristocratic hostess. It’s an impressive debut, with complex psychology and subtle characterisation. * The Telegraph *Turgenev to me is the greatest writer there ever was. -- Ernest Hemingway

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Book SynopsisThe Story of the Stone (c. 1760), also known by the title of The Dream of the Red Chamber, is the great novel of manners in Chinese literature.Divided into five volumes, of which The Debt of Tears is the fourth, it charts the glory and decline of the illustrious Jia family (a story which closely accords with the fortunes of the author''s own family). The two main characters, Bao-yu and Dai-yu, are set against a rich tapestry of humour, realistic detail and delicate poetry, which accurately reflects the ritualized hurly-burly of Chinese family life. But over and above the novel hangs the constant reminder that there is another plane of existence - a theme which affirms the Buddhist belief in a supernatural scheme of things.Trade Review“Filled with classical allusions, multilayered wordplay, and delightful poetry, Cao’s novel is a testament to what Chinese literature was capable of. Readers of English are fortunate to have David Hawkes and John Minford’s The Story of the Stone, which distills a lifetime of scholarship and reading into what is probably the finest work of Chinese-to-English literary translation yet produced. You will be rewarded every bit of attention you give it, many times over.” —SupChina, “The 100 China Books You Have to Read, Ranked” (#1)Table of ContentsThe Story of the Stone: Volume 4Note on SpellingPrefaceChapter 81:Four young ladies go fishing and divine the future; Bao-yu receives a homily and is re-enrolled in the Family SchoolChapter 82:An old pedant tries to instil some Moral Philosophy into his incorrigible pupil; And the ailing Naiad, in a nightmare, confronts the spectres of her fevered mind.Chapter 83:An Indisposition in the Imperial Bedchamber calls for a Family Visitation; While insubordination in the inner apartments reveals Bao-chai's long-suffering natureChapter 84:Bao-yu is given an impromptu examination, and his betrothal is discussed for the first time; Jia Huan visits a convulsive child, and old hostilites are resumedChapter 85:It is announced that Jia Zheng has been promoted to the rank of Permanent Secretary; And it is discovered that Xue Pan has once more brought upon himself the threat of exileChapter 86:Bribery induces an old mandarin to tamper with the course of justice; And a discourse on the Qin provides a young lady with a vehicle for romantic feelingsChapter 87:Autumnal sounds combine with sad remembrances to inspire a composition on the Qin; And a flood of passion allows evil spirits to disturb the serenity of ZenChapter 88:Bao-yu gratifies his grandmother by praising a fatherless child; Cousin Zhen rectifies family discipline by chastising two unruly servantsChapter 89:Our hero sees the handiwork of a departed love, and is moved to write and ode; Frowner falls prey to hysterical fear and resolves to starve to deathChapter 90:A poor girl loses a padded jacket and puts up with some obstreperous behaviour; A young man accepts a tray of sweetmeats and is put out by some devious goings-onChapter 91:In the pursuance of lust, Moonbeam evolves an artful strategem; In a flight of Zen, Bao-yu makes an enigmatic confessionChapter 92:Qiao-jie studies the Lives of Noble Women and shows a precocious enthusiasm for Virtue; Jia Zheng admires a Mother Pearl and reflect on the vicissitudes of LifeChapter 93:A Zhen retainer seeks shelter in the Jia household; And shady activities are revealed behind the Iron ThresholdChapter 94:Grandmother Jia gives a crab-blossom party - a celebration of the ominous; Bao-yu loses his Magic Jade - a strange disappearance of the numinousChapter 95:A rumour comes true and the Imperial Consort passes away; A counterfeit is deceptively like the real thing, and Bao-yu loses his witsChapter 96:Xi-feng conceives an ingenious plan of deception; And Frowner is deranged by an inadvertent disclosureChapter 97:Lin Dai-yu burns her poems to signal the end of her heart's folly; And Xue Bao-chai leaves home to take part in a solemn riteChapter 98:Crimson Pearl's suffering spirit returns to the Realm of Separation; And the convalescent Stone-in-waiting weeps at the scene of past affectionAppendix I:Prefaces to the first Cheng-Gao edition Joint Foreword to the subsequent Cheng-Gao editionAppendix II:The Octopartite Composition or 'bagu wenzhang'Appendix III:The Qin or Chinese Lute, and Knowing the SoundAppendix IV:Iron Threshold Temple and Water-moon PrioryCharacters in Volume 4Genealogical Tables

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Book SynopsisNow bankrupt after some failed gambles, Aristide Saccard, the former kingpin of the Paris Stock Exchange, desperately wants to get back to the top of the financial pile. When his powerful brother, the government minister Eugène Rougon, refuses to help him, he forms a partnership with the engineer Hamelin and founds the Banque Universelle, which speculates on public works in the Middle East. But as his greed and desire to outplay his rivals gets the better of him, the dashing and ruthless Saccard perilously begins to inflate the value of his enterprise using rumour, intrigue, financial manipulation and all the other tricks in the book. Inspired by real events and meticulously researched by Zola, Money is, in the wake of recent financial scandals, an all-too-topical exploration of the dynamics of greed, the excesses of capitalism and its dangerous relationship with politics and the press.Trade ReviewI consider Zola’s books among the very best of the present time. -- Vincent Van Gogh

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Book SynopsisWalking the streets of Moscow, indistinguishable from the rest of its population, are The Others. Possessors of supernatural powers and capable of entering the Twilight, a shadowy world that exists in parallel to our own, each owes allegiance either to The Dark or The Light.In The Day Watch, second book of the Night Watch trilogy, Alice, a young but powerful Dark Other, attends a planning meeting with her comrades in the Day Watch. The team is on a mission to apprehend an uninitiated Other, a practicing Dark witch who has so far eluded the bureaux responsible for finding and initiating unlicensed practitioners of magic. It seems a routine operation. But when they arrive, the Night Watch team has already made the arrest. A fierce battle ensues, during which Alice almost dies. Drained of her powers, she is sent to recuperate at a youth camp near the Black Sea. There she meets Igor; the chemistry between them is instant and irresistible. But then comes a sTrade ReviewPraise for The Night Watch:This modern day mythical fantasy is Anne Rice on an epic scale, a hugely imagined world. A chiller thriller from cold of Russia, this one's been selling like hot cakes around the world. * Sunday Sport *So good that the film feels like a trailer for it * Time Out *JK Rowling, Russian style... Arguably Russia's richest and most famous literary talent of the moment. [a] cracking read, owing more to Rowling or Philip Pullman than it does to the horror genre... Surprisingly readable and addictive... It relies on suspense and psychological drama and a good dose of humour - rather than blood and guts. * Daily Telegraph *When a particular kind of story, heavily based in one culture, gets transferred into a culture distinctly different, something magical happens. Something modern, new and distinctly creepy... The magic is rooted in the realities of modern Russia. Inventive, sardonic, and imbued with a surprising the sense that, for this author and his audience, much of this stuff is new-minted. * Independent *

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Book SynopsisWritten over a period of more than half a century, Tolstoy’s enchanting short stories and novellas reflect every aspect of his developing art and outlook. Volume 1 of the Everyman Collected Shorter Fiction is dominated by the characteristic experiences of his early life as soldier, land-owner, husband and father, the life which shaped Anna Karenina and War and Peace. It also includes several short fables which point to his later preoccupation with the religious life. Volume 2 reveals how these spiritual intimations flowered into a series of extraordinary late masterpieces which equal anything in the earlier novels for intensity and power. Readers of The Death of Ivan Ilych, The Kreutzer Sonata, Father Sergius, Master and Man and Hadji Murad will recognize the brilliant younger novelist, now transfigured by his passionate quest for salvation and forgiveness.

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Book SynopsisA woman finds herself filling a pit in the forest in the middle of the night; a family lock each other in their bedrooms to battle a strange plague; a wizard punishes two beautiful ballerinas by turning them into one hugely fat circus performer; a colonel is warned not to lift the veil from his dead wife''s face; and a distraught father brings his daughter back to life by eating human hearts in his dreams. In these blackly comic tales of revenge, disturbing deaths and haunting melancholy, Ludmilla Petrushevskaya blends miracles and madness in the darkest of modern fairy tales.Trade Review'Gave me nightmares ... These stories work the boundary states of consciousness like a tongue works an aching tooth' * Elle *'A revelation - like reading late-Tolstoy fables set in an alternative reality' * New Yorker *this short and rather extraordinary book of "Scary Fairy Tales" [...] succeed - in many cases quite hauntingly. -- Theo Tate * Sunday Times *An entrancing collection of tales, as humane and unsentimental as Chekhov, as grim and funny as Beckett, as dark and unsettling as Poe. -- Brandon Robshaw * Independent on Sunday *Penguin has given this book instant promotion to 'modern classic' status and it's easy to see why. It is an extraordinary collection of jet-black tales by one of Russian's foremost writers, which has understandably inspired comparisons with Tolstoy. Beat that. * Daily Mail *

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Book SynopsisFrom the writer adored by the likes of García Marquez, Calvino, and Francine Prose comes a collection of Hernández's classic talesTrade Review"Poetry that transforms the ordinary into the uncanny." -- Bookforum"Excellent … miraculously alive … wonderful." -- Michael Pye - The New York Times Book Review"A vision of such startling beauty that it flares up like an old-fashioned phosphorous match and illuminates our whole lives." -- Francine Prose"If I hadn't read the stories of Felisberto Hernandez in 1950, I wouldn't be the writer I am today." -- Gabriel Garcia Marquez

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Book Synopsis

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Book Synopsis A beautiful tribute to the international bestseller The Little Prince, with specially commissioned illustrations by the award-winning artist Pietari Posti Few stories are as widely read and as universally cherished by children and adults alike as The Little Prince. But even princes from faraway planets eventually grow up. No longer content with his tiny planet, the young prince sets off once again to explore the universe. And so begins another remarkable journey into the secrets and joys of living a meaningful life. A charming fable for all ages, this wonderful follow-up to the beloved classic overflows with love and wisdom, a true celebration of life as it should be lived in all its beauty and joy.Trade Review'This book reminds us of the values we should never have abandoned: the importance of friendship, family, community and compassion – the pillars of every civilized society.' * Bruno d’Agay *

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewOne of the greatest writers of the twentieth century...Simenon was unequalled at making us look inside, though the ability was masked by the brilliance at absorbing us obsessively in his stories. * Guardian *Fierce, bleak and compellingly written . . . with pitiless landscapes of hopeless longing, random cruelty and galloping fate warmed only by the twilit lyricism of doomed desire. These are novels of eye-opening, spine-tingling control and intensity. -- Boyd Tonkin * The Independent *The romans durs are extraordinary: tough, bleak, offhandedly violent, suffused with guilt and bitterness, redolent of place . . . utterly unsentimental, frightening in the pitilessness of their gaze, yet wonderfully entertaining. -- John BanvilleA supreme writer . . . unforgettable vividness. * Independent *One of the greatest writers of the twentieth century . . . Simenon was unequaled at making us look inside, though the ability was masked by his brilliance at absorbing us obsessively in his stories * Guardian *Fierce, bleak and compellingly written . . . with pitiless landscapes of hopeless longing, random cruelty and galloping fate warmed only by the twilit lyricism of doomed desire. These are novels of eye-opening, spine-tingling control and intensity. -- Boyd Tonkin * The Independent *The romans durs are extraordinary: tough, bleak, offhandedly violent, suffused with guilt and bitterness, redolent of place . . . utterly unsentimental, frightening in the pitilessness of their gaze, yet wonderfully entertaining * John Banville *A supreme writer . . . unforgettable vividness * Independent *

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Book SynopsisA landmark event, the complete stories of Machado de Assis appear in English for the first time in this extraordinary new translation.Trade Review"To Machado, your identity and the contours of your world are formed not just by your circumstances but by what you think about habitually. You are what you contemplate, so choose wisely. These stories are a spectacular place to start." -- The New York Times"These are ambitious stories, serious and unflinching, willing to court discomfort—not least in their author. Machado, after all, was the child who made it. While some critics have seen these late stories in isolation, the hurt they express—so clearly born of experience—radiates out through all the work here." -- Times Literary Supplement"This gorgeously-produced landmark English-language edition of the complete stories of the great Brazilian miniaturist brings together all of the author's short fiction, including some never before translated into English. The translating duo here wonderfully convey the author's dry, deadpan wit and dogged low-key happiness – it's the English version this author has always deserved." -- The Best Books of 2018: Works in Translation! - Open Books Review

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Book Synopsis Selected by the Sunday Times as one of the 40 best crime novels published 2015-2020The first in an exciting new series from ''Iceland''s outstanding crime novelist'' (Daily Express) Yrsa Sigurdardottir.THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLERTHE INTERNATIONAL PRIZEWINNER''Believe all the hype - this is crime at its best.'' HeatDetective Huldar is out of his depth. His first murder case is like nothing he''s seen before - a bizarre attack on a seemingly blameless woman.The only evidence is a list of numbers found at the scene, and the testimony of the victim''s eleven-year-old daughter, who isn''t talking.While his team attempt to crack the code, Huldar turns to child psychologist Freyja for her expertise with traumatised young people. Because time is running out...and the one thing they know for certain is that the murderer will strike again.Trade ReviewThe queen of Nordic crime shows her considerable chops with an introductory murder that hikes the tensionto cardiac-arrest levels, then introduces a new detective, the baggy-eyed Huldar, to sort it out. Icelandic noirat its reliably gripping best * The Sunday Times *Iceland's outstanding crime novelist * Daily Express *The Legacy takes us into a world where secrets are buried deep, only to reappear decades later and inflict harm on people who have no idea that they're connected by past horrors. Yrsa is a magnificent writer who envelops her stories with atmosphere so thick that only care and a bit of luck can see through it. Her characters spring vividly to life as they try their best to do just that, knowing that any mistake could be deadly for another innocent person. Impossible to put down.The Legacy is the start of an exciting new direction for Yrsa Sigurdardottir. The horror of a decades-old family separation provides the catalyst for dark crimes and a complex investigation. The Children's House promises to be an outstanding series.We have always been able to rely on Yrsa Sigurdardóttir for a good story well told, and The Legacy is no exception. A strong sense of place, interesting characters and a chilling plot make The Legacy a novel to savour.Yrsa remains the queen of Icelandic thriller writers * Guardian on THE LEGACY *5*s - Believe all the hype - this is crime at its best. * Heat Magazine on THE LEGACY *If you like your crime fiction dark and engaging, look no further. THE LEGACY is as brutal as it gets. A cracking start to a new series by Yrsa Sigurdardottir.Another tour de force from Sigurdardottir that cements her reputation as the queen of Nordic noir * i Paper in THE LEGACY *The conclusion is even more astounding, thanks to her white-hot plotting. * CrimeFiction Lover on THE LEGACY *The connecting thread in all the writer's work is her astuteness in observing human relations, the everyday mixed with the dark and devious. * The ArtsDesk on THE LEGACY *A tale of elegant twists and turns, which surprised me at least three times in the last fifty pagesNo one does crime fiction quite like Icelandic author Yrsa Sigurdardottir... THE LEGACY is a masterful procedural infused with the author's dark imagination. * Criminal Element *The deeper Sigurdardottir delves into the dark corners of her imagination, the more her creative talents thrive.This is a compelling read for anyone with an appetite for the macabre and the cryptic. * Daily Express *Solid characters and great complex plot...If you haven't already met the Queen of Icelandic Crime fiction start here, because this is her best novel to date * Globe and Mail *

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Book Synopsis"Highly recommended" Sunday Times"Utterly captivating" Woman and Home"Sympathetic and clear-eyed" Financial Times Summer Reads of 2021"Unfailingly impressive" Irish Times"Sparse and precise" Telegraph"A beautiful novel of what it is to be a women in modern Europe" New European"An intelligent study of female desire, ambition and frailty" ObserverBookseller Paula has lost a child, and a husband. Where will she find her happiness? Fiercely independent Judith thinks more of horses than men, but that doesn't stop her looking for love online. Brida is a writer with no time to write, until she faces a choice between her work and her family. Abandoned by the "perfect" man, Malika struggles for recognition from her parents. Her sister Jorinde, an actor, is pregnant for a third time, but how can she provide for her family alone? Love in Five Acts explores what is left to five women when they have fulfilled their roles as wives, mothers, friends, lovers, sisters and daughters. As teenagers they experienced the fall of the Berlin Wall, but freedom brings with it another form of pressure: the pressure of choice. Punchy and entirely of the moment, Love in Five Acts engages head-on with what it is to be a woman in the twenty-first century.Translated from the German by Jamie BullochTrade ReviewKrien excels in the detail on which a life turns and she uses understated humour to great effect...Krien is unfailingly impressive in her depiction of the lives of these five very different women. -- Michael Cronin * Irish Times *Love in Five Acts is written - and translated - sparsely, five disparate voices cramming a world of nuance into a rare and elegant conciseness. -- Charlie Connelly * New European *This exquisite portrait of five middle-class women's lives is utterly captivating . . . A beautifully written masterclass in human frailty. * Woman and Home *Krien has produced a sensitive, intricate study of the connected stories of her characters. * Library Journal (USA) *Nothing in this life is for free. And this is why this book entertains and is food for thought, with remarkable women in their thirties and forties * Berliner Zeitung *The polyphony and the way in which every single voice is being led midway between the protagonist and the narrator constitute the special quality of this book * Süddeutsche Zeitung *Maybe that is the artistry, the literary concept of Daniela Krien, the familiar truthfulness of her characters, their touching intimacy * Stern *With psychological refinement Daniela Krien recounts the chaos of feelings and the short half-life of modern ways of living * Vogue (Germany) *She is a good listener, [...] Maybe this is why her novel Love in Five Acts is so entertaining * Sueddeutsche Zeitung *Krien expertly connects fortunes that only seem simple at first glance to create an altogether excellent book * Brigitte *Daniela Krien is an impressive storyteller for emergency case called love, which silences many of us. Daniela Krien gives them a strong voice * Hamburger Morgenpost *Few intelligently entertaining German novels don't ooze relevance yet are not afraid of existential seriousness. Fortunately, Krien has written one * Neue Zürcher Zeitung *It's the book of the summer * Stuttgarter Zeitung *Written in unsentimental, affecting prose, this is an intelligent study of female desire, ambition and frailty. -- Hannah Beckerman * Observer *Krien's writing (translated, excellently, by Jamie Bulloch) is sparse and precise. It hops about in time, but chronological confusion fades in teh face of the self-contained intensity of the chapters. -- Francesca Carrington * Telegraph *The writing is spare but meticulous, cutting to the heart of the matter in each of the five intimate novellas. Occasionally mordantly funny, it is all gloriously Germanic . . . All these women are children of Unification and the GDR casts a long shadow. Highly recommended. -- Patricia Nicol * Sunday Times *A multifaceted examination of female longing and loss . . . A sympathetic and clear-eyed view of modern womanhood. -- Angel Gurria-Quintana * Financial Times Summer Books of 2021 *Characterised by the way its beautifully direct and lucid prose conveys complexities, and by a fierce intelligence that shows how closely connected someone's thoughts and emotions can be to daily experience of the physical world -- Kerryn Goldsworthy * Melbourne Age & Sydney Morning Herald *A chronicle of ordinary women enduring extraordinary crises . . . These are universal problems distilled down to the particular, the domestic, the small-print of human bondage and the yearning for it, that underpins our daily lives. -- Anne Cunningham * Irish Independent *Written in pleasingly exact and unfussy prose - crisply translated by Jamie Bulloch - this German bestseller interweaves the stories of five straight women, all around 40 years of age, living in Leipzig. -- Lucy Scholes * Financial Times *Fans of Sarah Dunn, Elisabeth Egan, and Isabel Gillies will relate to the multifaceted lives of Krien's characters, brilliantly rendered in her vivid voice. * Booklist *

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Book SynopsisA time capsule is unearthed from a school playground - containing a threat of deaths to come. As Freyja and Huldar look for the writer, the murders start...Trade ReviewTHE RECKONING is another chilling, atmospheric tale from the undisputed Queen of Icelandic Noir. I loved it. -- Simon KernickThere's no waffle in The Reckoning: it is brutal, baroque and ends with a brilliant last-minute twist. * Evening Standard *One of the best books I've read for a long time: dark, creepy, and gripping from beginning to end. -- Stuart MacBride, author of the Logan McRae seriesIt's addictive, bleak, and will give you thrills and chills in equal measures. * Cosmopolitan Magazine *Yrsa Sigurdardóttir has with her large-scale and genuinely intelligent stories attempted to find the core of Iceland's distinctive society, and thus pushed the Icelandic crime novel tradition many steps forward. -- Arne DahlYrsa Sigurðardóttir's incredible gift of mixing the macabre and the poignant, together with the astute observations of the ordinary life, sprinkled with a dark sense of humour, keeps on giving in buckets. Her imagination knows no bounds, turning the most ordinary objects into deadly weapons... The nuanced writing encompasses the thriller's overwhelming sense of doom as it explores the failings of the society to protect victims. -- Crime ReviewA dark story by a brilliant author. A densely plotted, multifaceted and compelling book. Exceeds most novels in the thriller genre. -- Erik Axl SundPraise for THE LEGACY * : *Iceland's outstanding crime novelist * Daily Express *Yrsa remains the queen of Icelandic thriller writers. * Guardian *If you like your crime fiction dark and engaging, look no further. THE LEGACY is as brutal as it gets. A cracking start to a new series by Yrsa Sigurdardottir. * Mari Hannah, author of the DCI Kate Daniels series *

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Book SynopsisA Swedish crime writer as thrilling as Mankell, a detective as compelling as Wallander . . . A dark and sinister case from the past comes back to haunt Chief Inspector Van Veeteren in the final novel in the Van Veeteren series, The G File by Håkan Nesser.1987. Verlangan, a former cop turned private detective is hired by a woman to follow her husband Jaan 'G' Hennan. A few days later, his client is found dead at the bottom of an empty swimming pool.Maardam police, led by Chief Inspector Van Veeteren, investigate the case. Van Veeteren has encountered Jaan 'G' Hennan before and knows only too well the man's dark capabilities. As more information emerges about G's shadowy past, the Chief Inspector becomes more desperate than ever to convict him. But G has a solid alibi - and no one else can be found in relation to the crime.2002. Fifteen years have passed and the G File remains the one case former Chief InspectoTrade Review'Fifteen years earlier, a woman hired a detective to follow her husband, known as G to the police. Days later, she was dead. G was tried and cleared of her murder, but now, all these years later, the private detective disappears, leaving a note hinting he knows how G got away with murder. This is the final book in the series, but Nesser resists a showy finale, allowing his detective nearly to be outsmarted by an immensely clever criminal. * Sunday Times *

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Book SynopsisBeautiful Emma Bovary dreams of love and riches but her marriage to Charles, a dull country doctor, is far from satisfying. In an attempt to escape the narrow confines of her life, she embarks on a series of passionate affairs, hoping to find the romantic ideal she always dreamed about in the arms of other men, but it soon becomes clear that she is hurtling towards tragedy . . . Gustave Flaubert’s daring portrait of adultery caused a national scandal when Madame Bovary was first published, and this masterpiece of realist literature has lost none of its impact today. This beautiful Macmillan Collector’s Library edition of Madame Bovary is translated by Eleanor Marx Aveling and features an afterword by the playwright, screenwriter and actor, Peter Harness. Designed to appeal to the booklover, the Macmillan Collector’s Library is a series of beautiful gift editions of much-loved classic titles. Macmillan Collector’s Library are books to love and treasure.

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Book SynopsisIn The Things We’ve Seen, his most ambitious and accomplished novel to date, Agustín Fernández Mallo captures the strangeness and interconnectedness of human existence in the twenty-first century. A writer travels to the small uninhabited island of San Simón, used as a Franquist concentration camp during the Spanish Civil War, and witnesses events which impel him on a wild goose chase across several continents. In Miami, an ageing Kurt Montana, the fourth astronaut who secretly accompanied Neil Armstrong and co. to the moon, revisits the important chapters in his life, from serving in the Vietnam War to his memory of seeing earth from space. In Normandy, a woman embarks on a walking tour of the D-Day beaches with the goal of re-enacting, step by step, another trip taken years before. Described as the novel David Lynch and W. G. Sebald might have written had they joined forces to explore the B-side of reality, The Things We’ve Seen is a mind-bending novel for our disjointed times.Trade Review‘Mallo’s imagination never falters. To stay with him means loosening all limitations we might wish to impose on a text. The reward is an audacious adventure.... This is, indeed, a dream of a book.’ — Declan O'Driscoll, Irish Times‘There are certain writers whose work you turn to knowing you’ll find extraordinary things there. Borges is one of them, Bolaño another. Agustín Fernández Mallo has become one, too. This novel, which ranges across the world and beyond it, is hugely ambitious in scope. It’s a weird, recursive, paranoiac, funny, menacing and thrilling book.’ — Chris Power, author of A Lonely Man‘Charmingly voracious and guided by fanatical precision and wit, Mallo ties the loose threads of the world together into intricate, charismatic knots. This is the expansive, omnivorous sort of novel that threatens to show you every thought you’ve ever had in a new and effervescent light, along with so many others you couldn’t have dreamed.’ — Alexandra Kleeman, author of Intimations‘Some great works create worlds from which to look back at ourselves and recalibrate; The Things We’ve Seen takes the world as it is and plays it back through renewed laws of physics. Rarely has a novel left me with such new eyes, an X-ray view of the present.’ — DBC Pierre, author of Meanwhile in Dopamine City‘The most original and powerful author of his generation in Spain.’ — Mathias Enard, author of Compass‘The Things We’ve Seen confirms Fernández Mallo as one of the best writers in Spanish, with an absolutely unique style and fictional world.’ — Jorge Carrión, New York Times in Spanish‘A strange and original sensibility at work – one that combines a deep commitment to the possibilities of art with a gonzo spirit and a complete absence of pretention.’ — Christopher Beha, Harper’s

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Book SynopsisStill little known in the West, Persian poetry offers extraordinary riches. While celebrating the beauty of the world in poems about love, wine and poetry itself, or telling anecdotes of everyday life, Persian poetry set these themes in the wider religious and philosophical context of Islam. Omar, Rumi, Saadi, Sanai, Attar, Hafez and Jami – the great lyric and didactic poets of medieval Persia – are all represented in this selection of translations spanning almost two hundred and fifty years.

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