Fiction in translation

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book SynopsisIncluded in The New Yorker's Best Books of 2023Stories from a Japanese master of transformative fiction, where reality, myth, and human foibles meet shifting dimensions of gender, biology, and destiny.From the bestselling author of Strange Weather in Tokyo comes this otherworldly collection of eight stories, each a masterpiece of transformation, infused with humor, sex, and the universal search for love and beauty—in a world where the laws of time and space, and even species boundaries, don’t apply. Meet a shape-shifting con man, a goddess who uses sex to control her followers, an elderly man possessed by a fox spirit, a woman who falls in love with her 400-year-old ancestor, a kitchen god with three faces in a weasel-infested apartment block, moles who provide underground sanctuary for humans who have lost the will to live, a man nurtured through life by his seven extraordinary sisters, and a woman who is handed from husband to husband until she is finally able to return to the sea.Trade Review"Spirits, animals, and people cohabit the universe of these eight stories, which capture with quirky insight and deadpan humor the strangeness of human relationships."—The New Yorker"Hiromi Kawakami returns to a world of fluid transfiguration with supernatural strangeness and knowing humor."—Thu-Huong Ha, The Japan Times“Unsettling and provocative… prominent Japanese writer Kawakami and lauded Canadian professor-translator Goossen reprise their successful collaboration for People from My Neighborhood with another addictively strange collection.”—Terry Hong, Booklist“An absurdist take on the human psyche.” —Walter Sim, The Straits Times"Dragon Palace features eight surreal, emotionally affecting stories set in a world where the mystical and mundane rub elbows."—Jaclyn Fulwood, Shelf Awareness"A short story collection tied together by an atmosphere of legends and metamorphosis."—Richard Medhurst, Nippon.com"Dragon Palace showcases Kawakami’s knack for blending folklore and surrealism into modern day social politics and life experience."—Books and Bao"Unique and attention-grabbing, Dragon Palace is a collection of open-ended fantasy tales about thwarted love and lost opportunities." —Eileen Gonzalez, Foreword Reviews“A vivid, disturbing collection”—M.A.Orthofer, The Complete Review"Exceedingly unique... Kawakami melds the mundane and banal with the surreal and fantastic, to good effect."—Cameron Bassindale, The Japan Society Review“A fascinating collection of oddities in which some stories are humorous and accessible while others are more poetic and surreal.”—Contemporary Japanese Literature"The stories in Dragon Palace use the absurd to shine a light on the disaffected parts of ourselves, our feelings of isolation and estrangement in a world where kindness and love seem in short supply."—Ian Mond, Locus Magazine"Kawakami's stories seduce... offering tales of individuals’ interactions with shapeshifting animals, five hundred-year-old men, magical beings, and mythical Japanese deities."—JP Cavender, Necessary FictionTable of ContentsStories included in Dragon Palace by Hiromi Kawakami 1. Hokusai2. The Dragon Palace3. Fox’s Den 4. The Kitchen God 5. Mole 6. The Roar 7. Shimazaki 8. Sea Horse

Read more less

Book SynopsisTwo young men, Pájaro Tamai and Marciano Miranda, are dying in a deserted amusement park. The story begins almost at its end, just after the two main characters have faced off in a knife fight: the culmination of a rivalry that has pitted them against one another since childhood. The present in Brickmakers is a state of impending death, at moments marked by dream-like visions: Marciano is visited by the ghost of his father, who was murdered when he was a teenager, a father he had sworn to avenge, in a promise he could not keep. Pájaro is also visited, in a recurring nightmare, by his abusive father who disappeared years earlier.Narrated with fury and passion, reminiscent of William Faulkner or Katherine Anne Porter, Brickmakers is a rural tragedy in the great American tradition, a story of love, honour and violence where everything is at stake. Reprising the powerful imagery and the filmic landscape of The Wind That Lays Waste, and the threatening atmosphere of Dead Girls, Brickmakers is yet another proof of Almada’s extraordinary talent.Trade Review"A successful riff on a classic Shakespearean tale." —Publishers Weekly"Such is Almada’s command of shape and pace, and the clean-edged vigour of the style McDermott voices with such skill, that we take Brickmakers on its own uncompromising terms – as pulp, tragedy and epic all at once." —The Arts Desk"Almada is forceful in her depictions of sex, violence, and rage. I feel her prose in my body: a punch in the gut, the sharpness of glass. McDermott’s translation captures the bite of Almada’s sentences, which render both tenderness and violence with devastating clarity." —Chicago Review of Books"Almada's breathtaking multigenerational tragedy is a haunting, unforgettable examination of the lasting consequences of careless inhumanity." —Shelf Awareness, starred review"Best books of 2021" —The Financial Times"There is a tremendous carnality to Almada’s writing, vividly captured in McDermott’s translation" —LA Review of Books"A rich, confident and urgent read." —Lunate"Brickmakers is one of the best books I've read this year ... It’s a brilliant, sizzling, unmissable treat" —Translating Women**********Praise for Selva Almada"Almada combines reportage, fiction, and autobiography to explore femicide in Argentina in her acute, unflinching latest." —Publishers Weekly, starred review"Almada’s prose is sparse, but the details count. Her ear for dialogue and especially gossip is pitch perfect. Her eye for detail is hawkish."** —LA Review of Books**"Part journalism, part history, part autobiography, part relentless nightmare."** —Shelf Awareness, starred review**"Not an easy book, but it feels like an important one – a work of investigative writing about how easily women’s lives are obscured."** —The Scotsman**"An unassuming yet intensely felt narrative. (4 stars)"** —The Arts Desk**"This is a powerful read...[Almada's] effective use of fiction ensures a deep empathy in her readers which strict reportage sometimes fails to evoke."** —The Big Issue**"Genre-defying, with beautifully crafted and reflective prose."** —The F Word**"You’ll walk away from this book with a vivid memory of where you were, how you were feeling, and what the weather was like on the day that you read Dead Girls."** —Books and Bao**"The literary quality of the text shines."** —Sound and Vision**"The prose strikes a perfect tone – clinical and punchy when necessary, angry and lyrical, brutal yet humanistic."** —TN2**"Exquisite prose that vibrates with a deep, melodious rage."** —The Monthly Booking**"It’s crisp, bracing, and beautiful."** —White Review**"It is a profound novel and call to action still relevant as activists continue to take to the streets throughout Latin America to decry, ‘ni una más’ (not one more)."** —The Skinny**"A tense, precise chronicle that treats seriously a still serious subject."** —El Cultural**"A powerful read, shedding a stark light on the horrors of gender violence."** —The Big Issue**"This is not a book that will make you feel at peace with the world, but that is precisely where its strength and persuasion lie."** —Translating Women**"Challenge[s] the true crime obsession in an indirect way. "** —Pendora Magazine**"What makes the book compelling is how the author explores issues of domestic violence, state complicity, machismo and family negligence, along with class and social inequalities, in a non-sentimental prose which is all the more effective as result."** —Morning Star**"Part coming-of-age, part detective work, partly a web of rumors, Almada’s story fuses a variety of genres to create a work that splits the seams of personal narrative, journalism, and fiction."** —NACLA**"The devastating conclusion of the narrator is that the women who survive are unlikely to have made it unscathed but they are lucky ones – lucky to be alive."** —NB Magazine**"Fate has in Dead Girls the perfume of a Greek tragedy: immutable, irreversible, lethal."** —El País**"Far from the detective story, this is an intimate tale, a certain negative of the autobiography of a young woman looking at other young women and how all of them are perceived by a society where misogyny and violence against them is still an everyday affair."** —Pagina/12**"Selva Almada reinvents the imaginative rural world of a country. She is an author gifted with a very uncommon power and sensitivity."** —Rolling Stone (Argentina)"Dead Girls is a brutal, necessary story in which Almada describes the crimes, states the facts and lays bare the horror of these femicides." —Tony's Reading List**"Gripping, shocking and sad."** —The Book Satchel**** Edinburgh International Book Festival First book Award (Winner)**** Book Cover of the Year (Saltire Awards) (Winner)"Like Flannery O’Connor and Juan Rulfo, Almada fills her taut, eerie novel with an understanding of rural life, loneliness, temptation and faith." —BBC Culture**"Billed as a ‘promising voice’ in Latin American literature, this tale delivers readily on that promise."** —Booklist**"The drama of this refreshingly unpredictable debut . . . smolders like a lit fuse waiting to touch off its well-orchestrated events. . . . A stimulating, heady story."** —Publishers Weekly**"The story packs a punch in its portraits of a man who exalts heaven and another who protests."** —Kirkus**"A dynamic introduction to a major Latin American literary force."** —Shelf Awareness, starred review**"[The Wind That Lays Waste] delivers exactly that compressed pressurised electricity of a gathering thunderstorm: it sparks and sputters with live-wire tension."** —TANK Magazine**"The Wind That Lays Waste is elegant and stark, a kind of emblem or vision fetched from the far edges of things, arrested and stripped to its essence, as beautiful as it is unnerving. ""** —Paul Harding**, author of TINKERS"The Wind That Lays Waste is a mesmerizing novel, at once strange and compelling.""** —Bonnie Jo Campbell**, author of MOTHERS, TELL YOUR DAUGHTERS"The quality and resolve of her prose produce a power of suggestion that is unique to Selva Almada."** —El País**"The best novel written in Argentina in the last few years? Don’t know, and don’t care, but you must read Selva Almada."** —El País**"Almada’s prose has a touch of the Faulkner of As I Lay Dying but passed through the filters of the dirty light of the cotton fields and the clean clothes worn by country people to Sunday mass.""** —Germán Machado**"A distinctive debut: atmospheric, tension-packed, and written in vivid, poetic language."** —Books from Scotland**"Perhaps most powerful in the book is Almada’s focus on detail―she skillfully renders the story of a day in brief chapters that reveal the thoughts and fleeting encounters of characters, who are largely living inside themselves."** —Ploughshares**"Almada’s nuanced approach leaves room to explore her characters’ pasts in some detail, but, crucially, these individuals . . . are not defined by their mistakes."** —ZYZZYVA**"What seems fantastical soon turns hyper-realistic, in a style that is reminiscent of Juan Rulfo or Sara Gallardo."** —La Nación************

Read more less

Book SynopsisKhoury is one of the greatest writers of our times and perhaps the greatest Arabic-language writer of this generation, definite Nobel Prize material Avraham Burg, HaaretzWho is Adam Dannoun?Until a few months before his death in a fire in his New York apartment - a consequence of smoking in bed - he thought he knew.But an encounter with Blind Mahmoud, a father figure from his childhood, changed all that. From Mahmoud he learned the terrible truth behind his birth, a truth withheld from him for fifty-seven years by the woman he thought was his mother.This discovery leads Adam to investigate what exactly happened in 1948 in Palestine in the city of Lydda where he was born: the massacre, the forced march into the wilderness and the corralling of those citizens who did not flee into what the Israeli soldiers and their Palestinian captives came to refer to as the Ghetto.The stories he collects speak of bravery, ingenuityTrade ReviewElias Khoury is an artist giving voice to rooted exiles and trapped refugees, to dissolving boundaries and changing identities, to radical demands and new languages. -- Edward W. SaidA writer of panoramic scope and ambition. -- Azadeh Moaveni * Financial Times. *The finest living Arabic novelist. * World Literature Today. *

Read more less

Book SynopsisHamburg State Prosecutor Chastity Riley and her friends are held hostage in a hotel bar by twelve armed men set on revenge, in a searing, breathtakingly original, and unexpectedly moving new thriller from the ‘Queen of Krimi’ ***WINNER of the CWA Crime in Translation Dagger 2022******WINNER of the German Crime Book of the Year Award*** ‘Simone Buchholz writes with real authority and a pungent, noir-ish sense of time and space … a palpable hit’ Independent ‘Reading Buchholz is like walking on firecrackers … a truly unique voice in crime fiction’ Graeme Macrae Burnet ‘[A] nerve-racking narrative … [with] a cunning climax that is shocking and deeply romantic’ The Times ____________________ Twenty floors above the shimmering lights of the Hamburg docks, Public Prosecutor Chastity Riley is celebrating a birthday with friends in a hotel bar when twelve heavily armed men pull out guns, and take everyone hostage. Among the hostages is Konrad Hoogsmart, the hotel owner, who is being targeted by a young man whose life and family have been destroyed by Hoogsmart’s actions. With the police looking on from outside their colleagues’ lives at stake and Chastity on the inside, increasingly ill from an unexpected case of sepsis, the stage is set for a dramatic confrontation and a devastating outcome for the team all live streamed in a terrifying bid for revenge. Crackling with energy and populated by a cast of unforgettable characters, Hotel Cartagena is a searing, relevant thriller that will leave you breathless. _____________________ Praise for the Chastity Riley series 'Combines nail-biting tension with off-beat humor ... Elmore Leonard fans will be enthralled' Publishers Weekly 'Buchholz doles out delicious black humor ... interwoven in a manner that ramps up the intrigue and tension' Foreword Reviews ‘Modern noir, with taut storytelling, a hard-bitten heroine, and underlying melancholy peppered with wry humour … there’s a fizz, a poetry and a sense of coolness’ New Zealand Listener ‘The coolest character in crime fiction … Darkly funny and written with a huge heart’ Big Issue ‘Fierce enough to stab the heart’ Spectator ‘A stylish, whip-smart thriller’ Herald Scotland ‘Combines slick storytelling with substance … like a straight shot of top-shelf liquor: smooth yet fiery, packing a punch with no extraneous ingredients watering things down’ Mystery Scene ‘Caustic, incisive prose. A street-smart, gutsy heroine. A timely and staggeringly stylish thriller’ Will Carver ‘With plenty of dry humour and a good old dash of despair, Simone Buchholz is an unconventional, refreshing new voice’ Crime Fiction Lover ‘With brief, pacy chapters and fizzling dialogue, this almost feels like American procedural noir and not a translation’ Maxim Jakubowski ‘There is a fantastic pace to the story which keeps you hooked from the first sentence all the way to the end a unique voice that delivers a stylish story’ NB Magazine ‘A smart and witty book that shines a probing spotlight on society’ CultureFly ‘Fans of Brookmyre could do worse than checking out Simone Buchholz, a star of the German crime lit scene who has been deftly translated into English by Rachel Ward’ Goethe Institute ‘By turns lyrical and pithy, this adventure set in the melting pot of contemporary Hamburg has a plot and a sensibility that both owe something to mind-altering substances. Lots of fun’ Sunday Times ‘Great sparkling energy, humour and stylistic verve and the story itself is gripping and pacey’ Rosie Goldsmith ‘A must-read, stylish and highly original take on the detective novel, written with great skill and popping with great characters’ Judith O’Reilly ‘Constantly surprising an original, firecracker of a read’ LoveReading

Read more less

Book SynopsisAn iron-willed mother, an ageing grandmother, a pair of mismatched dogs and 90 mu of less-than-ideal farmland: these are Li Juan’s companions on the steppes of the Gobi Desert.Writing out of a yurt under Xinjiang’s endless horizons, she documents her family’s quest to extract a bounty of sunflowers amid the harsh beauty and barren expanses of China’s northwest frontier. Success must be eked out in the face of life’s unnegotiable realities: sandstorms, locusts and death.While this small tribe is held at the mercy of these headwinds, they discover the cheer and dignity hidden in each other. But will their ceaseless labours deliver blooming fields of green and yellow? Or will their dreams prove as distant as they are fragile?Trade ReviewDistant Sunflower Fields is like Nan Shepherd’s The Living Mountain ... you unconsciously forget the daily hubbub and sink silently into the embrace of the world her words have brought to being.Xinran | author of The Good Women of China

Read more less

Book SynopsisIt all began with an unusual assignment, a job better suited for Marlowe than for counsel for the defence Guido Guerrieri. Could he find new evidence to force the police to reopen their investigation about the disappearance of Manuela, the daughter of a rich couple living in Bari? The stories of Manuela's druggy university friends don't quite add up. Her best friend, Caterina, too beautiful and certainly too young for Guerrieri, is a temptation he doesn't need. While the investigation proceeds, Guido fights his loneliness by talking to the punching bag hanging in his living-room and by walking the streets of Bari late at night, often visiting a colourful bar owned by a former client and ex-prostitute. She somehow provides the clue that explains Manuela's disappearance.Trade ReviewPriase for the series: Hard-boiled and sun-dried in equal parts. Where Philip Marlowe would be knocking back bourbon and listening to the snap of fist on jaw, Guerrieri prefers Sicilian wine and Leonard Cohen. A" Financial Times The role of Guerrieri is to take on impossible cases that have little chance of success. His efforts to prove his client's innocence bring him into dangerous conflict with Mafia interests. Everything a legal thriller should be.A" The Times

Read more less

Book SynopsisImagine being famous. Wouldn't that be great?'A real beauty of a book' - Jonathan Franzen'Riffs echo through this playful, perplexing landscape' - The Times But what if, one day, you got stuck in a country where no one spoke your language. Where no one knew your face and you had no way of contacting home. How would your fame help you then? What would happen if someone got hold of your mobile phone? If they spoke to your girlfriends, your agent, your director and started making decisions for you. And when no one believed that you were you any more, when you saw a lookalike acting your roles for you, what would you do? In this delightfully entertaining book, Daniel Kehlmann throws his characters into situations that are thrilling, funny, surprising and tragic, confirming his place as one of his generation's finest writers.Trade ReviewOne of the most consistently original novelists writing today. * New European *'Ingenious' * Daily Telegraph *'Riffs echo through this playful, perplexing landscape' * The Times *'Brilliant' * Independent *'A real beauty of a book' * Jonathan Franzen *'Kafkaesque' * Time Out *'Extraordinary' * Guardian *

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book SynopsisAfter his university studies and a short stint in the army and the civil service, thirty-something Boris Pavlovich Raisky enjoys the life of an artist, frequenting St Petersburg’s elegant circles, dabbing at his paintings, playing a little music and entertaining thoughts of writing a novel. But for a man like him, who has achieved nothing so far and by his own admission is “not born to work”, the bustle of the capital proves too much, so he decides to visit his country estate of Malinovka. There he hopes to rediscover the joys of a simpler and more authentic life – but when he becomes emotionally involved with his beautiful cousin Vera and meets the dangerous freethinker Mark Volokhov, the scene is set for a chain of events that will lead to disappointment, confrontation and, ultimately, tragedy. Conceived twenty years before its initial publication in 1869, and regarded by its author as his best work, Malinovka Heights (previously translated in English as The Precipice) is Goncharov’s crowning achievement as a novelist and a triumph of psychological insight. Here presented for the first time in unabridged form in a sparkling new translation by Stephen Pearl, Goncharov’s final novel deserves to be reassessed as one of the most important classics of nineteenth-century Russian literature.Trade Review...ten heads above me in talent. -- Anton Chekhov

Read more less

Book SynopsisAnnibale Canessa was a legend: the most notorious cop during Italy's brutal Years of Lead, he hunted down terrorist suspects with unmatched ferocity. But then the fighting stopped, and suddenly Canessa was a soldier without a war. 30 years later and he's settled into a life of calm by the sea - until some shattering news pulls him back in. His estranged brother has been found dead; lying beside him, the body of an ex-terrorist, a man Canessa himself caught. Returning to Milan, Canessa finds the rules of the game have changed: alliances have shifted and brute force won't cut it anymore. Trusting no-one, he launches an investigation into dense networks of corruption that will bring him right back to his own past.Trade Review"Cutting deep into the dark underbelly of sunny Milan, Perrone’s pacy and intelligent novel charts the ordeals of an ex Carabiniere pulled back into the world of terrorism, deception and corruption by his estranged brother’s murder." -- Waterstones "[A] choice Italian noir, set in the Mafia wars and the Red Brigades in the Seventies and Eighties." -- Evening Standard"The best noir yet on the years of terror in Italy." -- Corriere della Serra "So rich in tones that I'd love to read it again." -- Amica

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe sixth book in the classic Martin Beck detective series from the 1960s the novels that shaped the future of Scandinavian crime writing.Hugely acclaimed, the Martin Beck series were the original Scandinavian crime novels and have inspired the writings of Stieg Larsson, Henning Mankell and Jo Nesbo.Written in the 1960s, 10 books completed in 10 years, they are the work of Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö a husband and wife team from Sweden. They follow the fortunes of the detective Martin Beck, whose enigmatic, taciturn character has inspired countless other policemen in crime fiction; without his creation Ian Rankin's John Rebus or Henning Mankell's Kurt Wallander may never have been conceived. The novels can be read separately, but are best read in chronological order, so the reader can follow the characters' development and get drawn into the series as a whole.When Viktor Palmgren, a powerful industrialist, is casually shot during an after-dinner speech, the repercussions both on the Trade Review Praise for Sjowall & Wahloo: ‘The writing is elegant and surprisingly humorous – if you haven’t come across Beck before, you’re in for a treat’ – Guardian ‘One of the most authentic, gripping and profound collections of police procedurals ever accomplished’ – Michael Connelly ‘This Swedish husband-and-wife collaboration, specialising in the police novel, has gone from strength to strength. Plots are interesting as well as realistic, the various homicide men are admirably characterised, and the amused, sarcastic comments on modern Sweden are a delight’ – Sunday Times ‘Their mysteries don’t just read well; they reread even better. Witness, wife, petty cop or crook – they’re all real characters even if they get just a few sentences. The plots hold, because they’re ingenious but never inhuman’ – New York Times

Read more less

Book SynopsisTHE TIMES SCIENCE FICTION BOOK OF THE MONTHHer fiction is a breath-taking piece of a cinematic art powerful and graceful' Bong Joon-ho, Oscar-winning director of Parasite'Dazzling' The TimesA stunning collection of short fiction by one of South Korea's most treasured writers, available in English for the first time.In the title story, an engaged couple working in distant corners of the galaxy plan to arrive on Earth simultaneously and walk down the aisle together. But small incidents wreak havoc on their vast journeys, pushing the date of their wedding far into the future. As centuries pass on Earth and the land and climate change, one thing is constant: the desire of the lovers to be together.Through two pairs of interlinked stories stories, Kim explores the driving forces of humanity love, hope, creation, destruction, and the very meaning of existence.Trade Review‘Her fiction is a breath-taking piece of a cinematic art itself. Reminiscent of the world we experienced in The Matrix, Inception, and Dark City, still it leads us to this entirely original structure, which is a ground-breaking, mystic literary and cinematic experience. Indeed, powerful and graceful’Bong Joon-ho, Oscar-winning director of Parasite ‘These stories will break your heart, then lovingly knit it back together again’Marina J. Lostetter, author of Noumenon ‘She created a world that Hollywood will never be able to imitate’Han Song, Yinhe Award-winning author, on The Day Nien Comes

Read more less

Book SynopsisYukio Mishima was born into a samurai family and imbued with the code of complete control over mind and body, and loyalty to the Emperor - the same code that produced the austerity and self-sacrifice of Zen. He wrote countless stories and thirty-three plays, in some of which he performed. Several films have been made from his novels, including The Sound of Waves, Enjo which was based on The Temple of the Golden Pavilion and The Sailor Who Fell From Grace with the Sea. Among his other works are the novels Confessions of a Mask and Thirst for Love and the short story collections Death in Midsummer and Acts of Worship. The Sea of Fertility tetralogy, however, is his masterpiece. After Mishima conceived the idea of The Sea of Fertility in 1964, he frequently said he would die when it was completed. On 25 November 1970, the day he completed The Decay of the Angel, the last novel of the cycle, Mishima committed seppuku (riTrade ReviewKazu is the biggest and most profound thing Mishima has done so far in an already distinguished career * New Yorker *His most novelistic work, with a degree of earthiness and warmth rare in his fiction * New York Times *Japan's foremost man of letters * Spectator *Direct yet allusive, poetic...an amazing feat * Atlantic *

Read more less

Book SynopsisREPUBLISHED ON THE 30th ANNIVERSARY OF THE TIANANMEN MASSACRE, WITH A NEW AFTERWORD FROM THE AUTHOR AND A NEW COVER BY AI WEIWEIBeijing Coma is Ma Jian's masterpiece. Spiked with dark wit, poetic beauty and deep rage, it takes the life, and near-death, of one young student to create a dazzling and excoriating novel about contemporary ChinaMonumental' GuardianA landmark work of fiction' Daily TelegraphA modern literary masterpiece' Sunday ExpressDai Wei lies in his bedroom, a prisoner in his body, after he was shot in the head at the Tiananmen Square protest ten years earlier and left in a coma. As his mother tends to him, and his friends bring news of their lives in an almost unrecognisable China, Dai Wei escapes into his memories, weaving together the events that took him from his harsh childhood in the last years of the Cultural Revolution to his student days at Beijing University.As the minuTrade ReviewThis is an epic yet intimate work that deserves to be recognised and to endure as the great Tiananmen novel ... a magnificent book brim-full of humanity, insight and humour ... beautifully translated by Flora Drew -- James Kynge * Financial Times *Once in a while - perhaps every 10 years, or even every generation - a novel appears that profoundly questions the way we look at the world, and at ourselves. Beijing Coma is a poetic examination not just of a country at a defining moment in its history, but of the universal right to remember and to hope. It is, in every sense, a landmark work of fiction -- Tash Aw * Daily Telegraph *A huge achievement ... a landmark account through fiction of a country whose rise has amazed the world, but which remains cloaked in shadows... finely written and translated -- Jonathan Fenby * The Times *In scene after scene of black satire, lyric tenderness and desolating tragedy…this fearless epic of history and memory establishes the exiled Ma Jian as the Solzhenitsyn of China’s forgetful drive towards world-domination’ -- Boyd Tonkin * Independent *Monumental...riveting. This vivid, pungent, often blackly funny book is a mighty gesture of remembrance against the encroaching forces of silence -- James Lasdun * Guardian *Powerful and exhilirating... Simultaneously a large-scale portrait of citizens writing in the grip of the party and the state and a strikingly intimate study of the fragility of the body and the persistence of self and memory -- Chandrahas Choudhury * Observer *A modern literary masterpiece ... Ma Jian has created an intense, passionate and painful-to-read parable for today.. The elegant and bravura writing of Ma Jian is utterly convincing * Sunday Express *

Read more less

Book SynopsisAndrey Platonovich Platonov (1899-1951) was the son of a railway-worker. The eldest of eleven children, he began work at the age of thirteen, eventually becoming an engine-driver's assistant. He began publishing poems and articles in 1918, while studying engineering. Throughout much of the twenties Platonov worked as a land reclamation expert, draining swamps, digging wells and also building three small power stations. Between 1927 and 1932 he wrote his most politically controversial works, some of them first published in the Soviet Union only in the late 1980s. Other stories were published but subjected to vicious criticism. Stalin is reputed to have written "scum" in the margin of the story "For Future Use," and to have said to Fadeyev (later to be secretary of the Writers' Union), "Give him a good belting-for future use!" During the thirties Platonov made several public confessions of error but went on writing stories only marginally more acceptable to the authorities. His son Trade ReviewAndrey Platonov is the most exciting Russian writer to be rediscovered since the end of the Soviet Union. Born in 1899, one of a railway worker's 10 children, he was an engineer, a party member and a model proletarian writer before doubts about Communism, and his literary imagination, landed him in trouble with Stalin. His work stopped being published in the early 1930s and only resurfaced 40 years after his death in 1951...The Foundation Pit will stand out as his masterpiece * Independent *Platonov managed to make the miseries of forced industrialization into a story as gripping as anything in Dickens, as moving and as artful -- John Bayley * Times Literary Supplement *Andrey Platonov's absurdist parable The Foundation Pit is a masterly achievement...Much of the genius of The Foundation Pit lies in Platonov's objective style and the lively invariably abusive dialogue, contrasting with oddly moving, isolated asides of brittle beauty. It is a Russian Waiting for Godot crossed with Lewis Carroll and Maxim Gorky - there is even a bear working as an apprentice blacksmith, frantically making horseshoes as if there were no tomorrow. And in this book, there isn't. According to the late Joseph Brodsky, Platonov 'simply had a tendency to see his words to their logical - that is absurd, that is totally paralyzing end. In other words, like no other Russian writer before or after him Platonov was able to reveal a self destructive, eschatological element within the language itself.' The Foundation Pit is extraordinary: strange, almost abrupt, a hallucinatory, nightmarish parable of hysterical laughter and terrifying silences * Irish Times *The Chandlers have brilliantly dealt with the challenges of rendering into readable English the extraordinary quality of Platonov's prose... Overall it is hard to see how we could get a better English version of Platonov's prose-nor one more likely to win him the readers he deserves -- Orlando Figes * New York Review of Books *He has been described as the greatest Russian writer of the 20th century, but some of his most controversial works, written between 1927 and 1932, were not published in the Soviet Union until the 1980s. Platonov's The Foundation Pit is a satirical response to Stalin's programme of crash industrialisation and collectivisation * Guardian *

Read more less

Book SynopsisPetterson''s debut novel, published in English for the first time.Twelve-year-old Arvid and his family are on holiday, staying with his grandparents on the coast of Denmark. Dimly aware of the tension building between his mother and grandmother, Arvid is on the cusp of becoming a teenager: feeling awkward in his own skin, but adamant that he can take care of himself.As Arvid cycles down to the beach with its view of the lighthouse, he meets Mogens, an older boy who lives nearby, and together they set out to find fresh experiences in this strange new world. Echoland is a breathtaking read, capturing the unique drift of childhood summers, filled with unarticulated anxiety.Trade ReviewA compelling mix of fable with the day-to-day account of a working-class boy… It is hard to think of a novel that so precisely and vividly conveys the pain and disorientation of puberty -- John Burnside * Guardian *Is there a living writer better at conveying the disconcerting relationship between time and memory?... There is pleasure, too, in watching Petterson shift through the gears from pleasure to unease in one of those gloriously sinuous sentences that have become something of a trademark -- Adrian Turpin * Financial Times *Petterson is remarkably gifted -- James Wood * New Yorker *It packs a powerful punch… A clear-cut jewel of nameless dread and nagging anxiety: Scandinavian gloom par excellence. -- Andrew Van Loon * Sunday Telegraph *His eerily terse prose luxuriates in the hazy strangeness of the Danish landscape and is particularly brilliant at nailing adolescence as an inchoate, restless state in which life is felt much more fiercely than it is understood. -- Claire Allfree * Mail on Sunday *

Read more less

Book SynopsisKarl Ove Knausgaard (Author) Karl Ove Knausgaard's My Struggle cycle has been heralded as a masterpiece all over the world. From A Death in the Family to The End, the novels move through childhood into adulthood and, together, form an enthralling portrait of human life. Knausgaard has been awarded the Norwegian Critics Prize for Literature, the Brage Prize and the Jerusalem Prize. His work, which also includes the Seasons Quartet and the Morning Star sequence (The Morning Star, The Wolves of Eternity, The Third Realm and The School of Night) is published in thirty-six languages.Martin Aitken (Translator) Martin Aitken has translated the works of many Scandinavian writers, among them Karl Ove Knausgaard, Helle Helle, Hanne Ørstavik and Olga Ravn. He lives in Denmark.Trade ReviewFor all its complexity, My Struggle achieves something pretty simple, the thing that enduring fiction has always done: it creates a world that absorbs you utterly… The End is alive. -- Theo Tait * Sunday Times *Knausgaard’s rendering of this crisis – the jitteriness, the relentlessness with which he goes over events again and again, his overwhelming sense of transgression and shame – is riveting… Every changed nappy, every cigarette smoked on the balcony, every cup of coffee poured from that damn vacuum jug is another alibi; the creation of the normal life that distracts from the roiling mess within... That we cannot quite name what we’ve experienced is part of the brilliance. -- Alex Clark * Guardian *The End is woven of a man’s love for his family and his obsession with the solitary writing life, the warp and weft of these contradictory passions sometimes meshing together perfectly… My Struggle is a cultural moment worth getting involved in. The six volumes offer something special: total immersion in the soap opera of another person’s life. -- Melissa Katsoulis * The Times *A uniquely compelling and absorbing reading experience… captivating interplay between banality and beauty, the redundant and the sublime. -- Chris Power * New Statesman *Compulsively addictive… His way of describing “reality as it is” is to expand the range of thoughts and actions, however mundane or shameful, that a human being will publicly admit to. -- Jake Kerridge * Daily Telegraph *

Read more less

Book SynopsisA Richard & Judy Book Club PickNew York Times Bestseller Sara has never left Sweden but at the age of 28 she decides it's time. She cashes in her savings, packs a suitcase full of books and sets off for Broken Wheel, Iowa, a town where she knows nobody.Sara quickly realises that Broken Wheel is in desperate need of some adventure, a dose of self-help and perhaps a little romance, too. In short, this is a town in need of a bookshop.With a little help from the locals, Sara sets up Broken Wheel's first bookstore. The shop might be a little quirky but then again, so is Sara. And as Broken Wheel's story begins to take shape, there are some surprises in store for Sara too ''The perfect summer read'' StylistTrade ReviewA charmingly offbeat, genuinely amusing novel... the perfect summer read * Stylist *Katarina Bivald has written an absolutely delightful, charming book that celebrates the healing power of friendship and love often found in small towns. The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend is thoroughly enjoyable from start to finish, and I could not recommend it more highly * Fannie Flagg, author of Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe *This adorable book is a peach. It’s built on the same lines as Cold Comfort Farm or Chocolat... Wise, thoughtful, funny, warm, moving; all that stuff and more -- Wendy Holden * Daily Mail *This is a story about community, about being needed and about belonging... A warm, cosy, compassionate read * Independent *A manifesto for booksellers, booklovers, and friendship. We should all celebrate these little bookstores, where our souls find home... one of these books you want to live in for a while * Nina George, author of The Little Paris Bookshop *I was captivated by this tale of books, friendship and the search for happy endings * Woman & Home *A heartwarming tale about literature's power to transform * People *A celebration of people who read to help them survive and thrive * Sainsbury's Magazine *A heartwarming and utterly charming debut... This gentle, intelligent Midwestern tale will captivate... An ideal book group selection, it reminds us why we are book lovers and why it's nice to read a few happy endings * Library Journal, starred review *Bivald encourages us to look for adventure in both literature and life... Charming * Lady *An international bestseller, this quirky, offbeat novel about books, with its wry humour and wonderful characters, is a delicious read * Choice Magazine *Charmingly original....sweet, quirky * Washington Post *This is a charming novel for book lovers from all walks of life… As you journey through the pages, weaving Little Women, Harry Potter, Jodi Picoult, Jane Austen, Steig Larsson and Proust around the storyline, you’ll find yourself rooting for the beautifully drawn characters, smiling at the wry humour and applauding the ending * Candis Magazine *Charming and relatable -- Mel Mitchell * Nudge *You’ll love it -- Catherine Small * Irish News *

Read more less

Book SynopsisPart of the vast Rougon-Macquart cycle of novels, The Earth was regarded by Émile Zola''s as his greatest novel. This Penguin Classics edition is translated with an introduction by Douglas Parmée.When Jean Macquart arrives in the peasant community of Beauce, where farmers have worked the same land for generations, he quickly finds himself involved in the corrupt affairs of the local Fouan family. Aging and Lear-like, Old Man Fouan has decided to divide his land between his three children: his penny-pinching daughter Fanny, his eldest son - a far from holy figure known as ''Jesus Christ'' - and the lecherous Buteau, Macquart''s friend. But in a community where land is everything, sibling rivalry quickly turns to brutal hatred, as Buteau declares himself unsatisfied with his lot. A fascinating portrayal of a struggling but decadent community, The Earth offers a compelling exploration of the destructive nature of human ignorance and greed.Douglas Pa

Read more less

Book SynopsisOne of the great French novels of the 19th centuryBased on Flaubert's own youthful passion for an older woman, Sentimental Education was described by its author as the moral history of the men of my generation. It follows the amorous adventures of Frederic Moreau, a law student who, returning home to Normandy from Paris, notices Mme Arnoux, a slender, dark woman several years older than himself. It is the beginning of an infatuation that will last a lifetime. He befriends her husband, an influential businessman, and as their paths cross and re-cross over the years, Mme Arnoux remains the constant, unattainable love of Moreau's life. Blending love story, historical authenticity, and satire, Sentimental Education is one of the great French novels of the nineteenth century.For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Clas

Read more less

Book SynopsisA new translation of one of the most popular satires on the Russian Revolution and Soviet society Best known for The Master and Margarita, Mikhail Bulgakov is one of twentieth-century Russia's most prominent novelists. A Dead Man's Memoir is a semi- autobiographical story about a writer who fails to sell his novel, then fails to commit suicide. When the writer's play is taken up for production in a theater, literary success beckons, but he is not prepared to reckon with the grotesquely inflated egos of the actors, directors, and theater managers.Trade Review"The book is gentle in tone if fierce in substance." -The New York Times Book Review "Bulgakov is the first magical realist." -Craig Raine, author of T.S. Eliot

Read more less

Book SynopsisGyula Krúdy (1878-1933) is a much-loved and admired Hungarian writer. He spent much of his life in Budapest and wrote many stories about the alcoholic and erotic possibilities of the city in its heyday, possibilities which he himself lived to the full. His most famous books in English are The Adventures of Sindbad and Life is a Dream.Trade ReviewKrudy writes of imaginary people, of imaginary events, in dream-like settings; but the spiritual essence of his persons and of their places is stunningly real * The New Yorker *Marvellously quirky -- CJ Schüler * Independent on Sunday *This [series] is a wonderful idea ... They are absurdist parables, by turns hilarious, unsettling and enigmatic. -- Nicholas Lezard * Guardian *[The series] sheds remarkable light on the literature, culture and politics of the region...anyone coming fresh to the field will be captivated by the richness, variety, humour and pathos of a classic literature that, through a shared historical experience, transcends national and linguistic boundaries. -- CJ Schüler * Independent on Sunday *I urge you to go and read them. -- Adam Thirlwell * New Statesman *This new series of Central European Classics is important well beyond simply providing 'good reads'. -- Stephen Vizinczey * Daily Telegraph *The Hungarian Proust -- Charles Champlin * New York Times *

Read more less

Book SynopsisHerman Broder, a refugee and Holocaust survivor, has three women in his life: Yadwiga, the loyal Polish peasant who hid him in a hayloft from the Nazis; Masha, his beautiful and neurotic true love; and Tamara, his first wife. Unsure of who he really is, what he wants and whether he can ever find peace, Herman navigates a crowded, Yiddish New York with a sense of paranoia and impending doom. Published in 1972, Enemies, A Love Story is an astonishing novel that blends humour and pathos to create a rich, humane portrayal of a man who cannot escape his past.Trade ReviewOne is forever suspended between laughter and tears by this rich and marvellous novel * The New York Times *Isaac Bashevis Singer is a rare pleasure ... a literary genius * San Francisco Chronicle *

Read more less

Book SynopsisHere are attempts at human connection, both depraved and sublime, and the grinding struggle to survive against the crushing realities of the Soviet system: in Among Friends, a doting mother commits an atrocious act against her beloved son in an attempt to secure his future; The Time: Night examines the suicide of the great Russian poetess Anna Andreevna with heartbreaking clarity; while in Chocolates with Liqueur the struggle for ownership of an apartment between a nurse and a madman turns murderous. With the satirical eye of Cindy Sherman, the psychological perceptiveness of Dostoevsky, and the bleak absurdities of Beckett, Petrushevskaya blends macabre spectacle with transformative moments of grace and shows just why she is Russia''s preeminent contemporary fiction writer.One of Russia''s best living writers ... her tales inhabit a borderline between this world and the next - The New York Times Ludmilla Petrushevskaya was born in Moscow Trade ReviewOne of Russia's best living writers ... her tales inhabit a borderline between this world and the next * The New York Times *

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe Man of Feeling is a story of love and memory by Javier Marías, whose highly-anticipated new novel The Infatuations is published in 2013.On a train journey from Paris to Madrid a young opera singer becomes fascinated by those in his compartment: a middle-aged businessman, his alluring wife and their male travelling companion. Soon his life of constant travel, luxury hotels, rehearsal and performance will become entangled with these three people, and the singer will find himself fatefully consumed by Natalia''s beauty. The Man of Feeling is the haunting story of the birth and death of a passion, told in retrospect. Intricately interweaving desire and memory, it explores the nature of love, and asks whether we can ever truly recall something that no longer exists.Trade ReviewMarías is one of the best contemporary writers * J. M. Coetzee *Stylish, cerebral ... Marías is a startling talent * The New York Times *

Read more less

Book SynopsisBorn in 1902, Isaac Bashevis Singer grew up among fellow Jewish families in Poland. In response to the growing Nazi threat in neighbouring Germany, Singer emigrated to America. Settling in New York, he worked as a journalist for a Yiddish-language newspaper, The Forward. Singer was insistent that even after the Second World War, a wide audience remained for Yiddish texts, and each of his novels were originally written in his native language. He won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1978. Since Singer's death on July 24 1991 his name has been used in honour for a street in Surfside, Florida, and for the full academic scholarship for undergraduate studies at the University of Miami.Trade ReviewSinger is a writer of far greater than ordinary power * The New York Times *Singer is a master storyteller * Chicago Tribune Book World *

Read more less

Book SynopsisBorn in 1902, Isaac Bashevis Singer grew up among fellow Jewish families in Poland. In response to the growing Nazi threat in neighbouring Germany, Singer emigrated to America. Settling in New York, he worked as a journalist for a Yiddish-language newspaper, The Forward. Singer was insistent that even after the Second World War, a wide audience remained for Yiddish texts, and each of his novels were originally written in his native language. He won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1978. Since Singer's death on July 24 1991 his name has been used in honour for a street in Surfside, Florida, and for the full academic scholarship for undergraduate studies at the University of Miami.Trade ReviewSinger is a master storyteller * Chicago Tribune Book World *[A] curious excursion into prehistory * The New York Times *Singer is a writer of far greater than ordinary power * The New York Times *

Read more less

Book SynopsisEasily one of the most towering figures of Bengali literature of the twentieth century, Buddhadev Bose was as prolific as he was versatile. A poet of renown, Bose was also an accomplished playwright, novelist, essayist and short-story writer.

Read more less

Book SynopsisParis Street Tales is the third volume of a trilogy of translated stories set in Paris. The previous two are Paris Tales, in which each story is associated with one of the twenty arrondissements, and Paris Metro Tales, in which the twenty-two stories are related to a trip round the Paris Metro. This new volume contains eighteen newly translated stories related to particular streets in Paris, and one newly written tale of the city.The stories range from the nineteenth century to the present day, and include tales by well-known writers such as Colette, Maupassant, Didier Daeninckx, and Simenon, and less familiar names such as Francis Carco, Aurélie Filipetti, and Arnaud Baignot. They present a vivid picture of Paris streets in a variety of literary styles and tones. Simenon''s Maigret is called upon to solve a mystery on the Boulevard Beaumarchais; a flâneur learns some French history through second-hand objects retrieved from the Seine; a nineteenth-century affair in the Rue de MiromesnTrade Reviewthis lovely collection will give you a real sense of the city's character, and I defy anyone to read it without a great longing to get there and explore. * Shiny New Books *Often moody and always eccentric, the collectiondedicated to the memory of Parisians killed in recent attacks at Charlie Hebdo and the Bataclanuncovers the dark and light corners hidden in a city of interesting characters and exuberant history. * Publishers Weekly *If you can't make it to the capital in person this October, sitting in a café with a glass of French wine and reading this book about Paris's streets and faces is the next best thing. * Living France *A captivating read for all those who want to get a taste of classic French literature and love to lose themselves in the streets of Paris. * French Property News *I enjoy short fiction as much as anything I read today, and this Oxford University Press publication reminds me why that is. * BookChase *Table of Contents1: Didier Daeninckx: Rue des Degrés 2: Jean Follain: Streets 3: Guy de Maupassant: The Rendezvous 4: Octave Mirbeau: Tableau Parisien 5: Arnaud Baignot: Rue de la Tacherie 6: Émile Zola: Old Iron 7: Marcel Aymé: Rue Saint Sulpice 8: Jacques Réda: The Freedom of the Streets 9: Frédéric H. Fajardie: A Rapist's Shout One Night in Montparanasse 10: Julien Green: Lost Street Cries 11: Joris-Karl Huysmans: Rue de la Chine 12: Georges Simenon: The Affair in the Boulevard Beaumarchais 13: Roland Dorgelès: Rooftop over the Champs Elysées 14: Vincent Ravalec: The pigeon who shat on people 15: Aurélie Filipetti: The Street is not enough 16: Francis Carco: Rue Pigalle 17: Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette: The hold-up in the Rue Ordener 18: Gisèle Prassinos: The Tree with three branches 19: David Constantine: Rue de la Vieille Lanterne

Read more less

Book SynopsisLisbon has been an extraordinary city for well over a thousand years, rendering it a place of great historical and contemporary interest. The combination of cultural influences in Lisbon--Arabian, African, and European--and the city''s identity as a great seafaring stronghold, has granted it a unique and spirited legacy. Lisbon Tales reflects this legacy in its literary selections. From famous names to new voices, Lisbon Tales describes a city in continuous and vibrant change.Trade ReviewA slice of Lisbon to form a tantalizing tart of tales. * Lonnie Weatherby, Library Journal *Lisbon Tales is another excellent installment in this series of books, and they'd all make the perfect addition to the bookshelves of any armchair travellers you might know! * Karen Langley, Shiny New Books *There are many fine inclusions here, with excellent stories by authors who will be largely unknown in the English-speaking world ... The rendering of the stories in English is fluent, appealing, and ... faithful to the original, with helpful explanatory footnotes added when required ... There is much to enjoy in this collection. * David Frier, Words Without Borders *This panorama, proffered in elegant but natural English, is one of the main strengths of Lisbon Tales, leaving aside the intrinsic merits of the stories and crónicas themselves, and Hopkinson's translations are a welcome addition to the repertoire of Portuguese works available to English-speaking readers. * Patricia Anne Odber de Baubeta, Translation and Literature *Table of ContentsPicture Credits General Introduction, Helen Constantine Introduction, Amanda Hopkinson 1. Alves & Co, Eça de Queiroz 2. A Clerical Afternoon, Fernando Pessoa 3. Lost Refuge, Soeiro Pereira Gomes 4. The Accident, José Rodrigues Miguéis 5. The Whistler, Mario Dionisio 6. The Fiancé, Augustina Bessa-Luis 7. Walking in Lisbon, José Saramago 8. Cais-do-Sodre Station, Orlanda Amarilis 9. Still Life with Head of Bream, Teolinda Gersão 10. Collectors, Mario de Carvalho 11. Metro Zoo, Hélia Correia 12. The Companions, Mauro Pinheiro 13. Kizombar, Kalaf Angelo 14. The Time When, Kalaf Angelo Notes on the Authors Further Reading Publishers Acknowledgements Map of Lisbon

Read more less

Book SynopsisEven more popular in their day than Don Quixote, Cervantes''s Exemplary Stories (1613) surprise, challenge and delight. Ranging from the picaresque to the satirical, Cervantes''s Exemplary Stories defy the conventions of heroic chivalric literature through a combination of comic irony, moral ambiguity, realism, and sheer mirth. With acute narrative skill and deft characterisation, drawing on colloquial language and farce, Cervantes creates a tension between the everyday and the literary, the plausible and the improbable. While encouraging us to reach our own moral conclusions, he also persuades us to accept the coincidental and the incredible: two boys indulge their life of crime at a time of public prayer; a young nobleman undergoes a change of identity at the behest of not a princess but a mere gipsy girl, and, most fantastically, talking dogs philosophize in a ward full of syphilitics. By placing the extraordinary within the contexts of the ordinary, the Exemplary Stories chart new Table of ContentsINCLUDES

Read more less

Book SynopsisExploring the many moods of the Danish capital.From the narrow twisting streets of the old town centre to the shady docklands, this rich anthology captures the essence of Copenhagen and its many faces. Through seventeen tales by some of the very best of Denmark''s writers past and present, we travel the length and breadth of the Danish capital examining famous sights from unique perspectives. A guide book usefully informs a new visitor to Copenhagen but these stories allow the reader to experience the city and its history from the inside.Trade ReviewThis collection is a splendid celebration of Copenhagen. It is beautifully produced with an abundance of illustrations, many of them archival photographs, and it contains helpful introductions, notes and an indispensible map. * Times Literary Supplement, Paul Binding *This collection is a splendid celebration of Copenhagen. It is beautifully produced with an abundance of illustrations, many of them archival photographs, and it contains helpful introductions, notes and an indispensable map. * Paul Binding, The Times Literary Supplement *Sensitively edited by Helen Constantine and beautifully translated by Lotte Shankland, this eclectic anthology touches on mad kings, deliverance from enemy occupation, and the lot of Jewish-Danish immigrants in the city. * Good Book Guide *Table of ContentsThe Water Drop ; Twice Met ; A Tricky Moment ; To Catch A Dane ; Willasden ; Eggnog ; The Maids ; The Bra ; The Naughty Boy ; Is There Life After Love? ; A Bench in Tivoli ; As the Angels Fly ; The Trousers ; Nightingale ; Amelie's Eyes ; Conversation One Night in Copenhagen ; The Night of Great Shared Happiness

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

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 his brilliance at absorbing us obsessively in his stories * Guardian *A supreme writer . . . unforgettable vividness * Independent *The most addictive of writers . . . a unique teller of tales * Observer *

Read more less

Book Synopsis''One of Japan''s most venerated writers'' David MitchellIn this unnerving fable from one of Japan''s greatest novelists, a recluse known as ''Mole'' retreats to a vast underground bunker, only to find that strange guests, booby traps and a giant toilet may prove even greater obstacles than nuclear disaster.''As is true of Poe and Kafka, Abe creates an unexpected impulsion. One continues reading, on and on'' New Yorker''Abe''s depiction of the deadly game of survival is hilarious but at the same time leaves us with a chilling sense of apprehension about the brave new world that awaits us'' Los Angeles TimesTrade ReviewA large, ambitious work about the lives of outcasts in modern Japan and such troubling themes as ecological destruction, old age, violence and nuclear war * The New York Times Book Review *Abe's depiction of the deadly game of survival is hilarious but at the same time leaves us with a chilling sense of apprehension about the brave new world that awaits us * Los Angeles Times *As is true of Poe and Kafka - two writers whose influence does seem apparent - Abe creates on the page an unexpected impulsion. One continues reading, on and on * New Yorker *

Read more less

Book SynopsisThis new selection of stories featuring Inspector Maigret - three of which are published in English for the first time - takes the detective from a mysterious death in a Cannes hotel to a love triangle in the Loire countryside and a bitter rivalry within a Parisian family.Written during the Second World War, just a few years after Simenon had published what was intended to be his last novel featuring Inspector Maigret, these tales of human frailty and deceit distil the atmosphere, themes and psychological intensity that make Simenon''s famous detective series so compelling. Translated by Ros Schwartz''Not just the world''s bestselling detective series, but an imperishable literary legend . . . he exposes secrets and crimes not by forensic wizardry, but by the melded powers of therapist, philosopher and confessor'' Boyd Tonkin, TimesTrade ReviewOne of the greatest writers of the 20th century . . . no other writer can set up a scene as sharply and with such economy as Simenon does . . . the conjuring of a world, a place, a time, a set of characters - above all, an atmosphere. -- John Banville * Financial Times *Simenon's supreme virtue as a novelist, to burrow beneath the surface of his characters' behaviour; to empathise . . . it is this unfailing humanity that makes the Maigret books truly worth reading -- Graema Macrae Burnet * Guardian *Gem-hard soul-probes . . . not just the world's bestselling detective series, but an imperishable literary legend . . . he exposes secrets and crimes not by forensic wizardry, but by the melded powers of therapist, philosopher and confessor -- Boyd Tonkin * Times *Compelling...tense...readers will surely race through each story with relish -- Martin Bentham * Evening Standard *

Read more less

Book Synopsis''An extraordinary storyteller'' Bernardine Evaristo''People say that on the first night Francis Sancher spent in Rivière au Sel the wind in its temper screamed down from the mountains...''Francis Sancher always said he would come to an unnatural end. So when this handsome newcomer to the Guadeloupean village of Rivière au Sel is found dead, face down in the mud, no one is particularly surprised. Loved by some - especially women - and reviled by others, Francis was an enigmatic figure. Where did he come from? What caused his strange nocturnal wanderings? What devils haunted him? As the villagers come to pay their respects, they each reveal another piece of the mystery behind his life and death - and their own buried secrets and stories come to light.''The grand queen, the empress, of Caribbean literature'' Fiammetta Rocco, GuardianTrade ReviewThe grand queen, the empress, of Caribbean literature -- Fiammetta Rocco * Guardian *Maryse Condé's prodigious fictional universes are founded on a radical and generative disregard for boundaries based on geography, religion, history, race, and gender -- Angela Y. DavisA story of life in all its flavours . . . a fluid, mobile narrative, passing easily from person to person. Fascinating and beautiful -- John Self * The Observer *A masterly storyteller * New York Times Book Review *A treasure of world literature, writing from the center of the African diaspora with brilliance and a profound understanding of all humanity -- Russell BanksCondé writes elegantly in a style that beautifully survives translation from the French. . . She gives readers a flavor of the French and Creole stew that is the Guadeloupan tongue. In so doing, Conde conveys the many subtle distinctions of color, class, and language that made up this society * Chicago Tribune *

Read more less

Book SynopsisAward-winning author Javier Marías weaves a darkly thrilling tale of love, betrayal and lives played out in the unhappy shadow of history As a young man, Juan de Vere takes a job that will haunt him for the rest of his life. Hi employer is Eduardo Muriel: a famous film director, sophisticated and discreet. Muriel''s wife Beatriz is a soft, ripe woman who slips through her husband''s home like an unwanted ghost, finding solace in other beds. And on the periphery of their lives stands Dr Jorge Van Vechten, a old family friend with a shadowy past. Juan enters eagerly into Muriel''s world of glamour and prestige, but as time passes he is troubled by many questions that seem to have no answer. Why does Muriel hate Beatriz? How did Beatriz meet Van Vechten? And what happened in the chaotic years after the war?As Juan learns more about his employers, his own iTrade ReviewPublisher's description. From one of Spain's most acclaimed literary voices comes a rich and complex portrait of mutual deception, toxic love and cruel, lingering guilt. A youth caught in the middle of someone else's bitter marriage; a beautiful woman scorned; a man torn between conscience and will. Step into the melancholic, unforgiving world of Javier Marías. * Penguin *Marías returns with another masterful tapestry of noir-ish twists and digressive cerebration * The Millions *Elegant and beautiful, reminiscent of Proust... Magnificent * Daily Mail *One of Marias's most enjoyable and accessible novels * Financial Times *Marias is relentless in his pursuit of literary and psychological truth * Sunday Times *Ferociously addictive, troubling [and] seductive... It works as high literary fiction, constantly picking apart our assumptions about story and fiction, but also offering good old-fashioned plot' * Independent *A powerful study of history and memory from a literary giant * Sunday Times *Easily as engrossing as anything he's written before... He manages to tread the tightrope between a very literary fiction and an utterly absorbing plot * The Times *Alfred Hitchcock would be a home with Marias - but so too might Harold Pinter...It's a rare trick to pull off, this combination of suspense, analysis and metaphysics that aims both high at the brow and low at the gut * Prospect *Almodóvar-esque * New York Magazine *On the page, he is expansive and unrestrained * New Yorker *A major work from a global talent, Thus Bad Begins knits Hitchcockian suspense into a hypnotic tale crackling with erotic tension and political strife... The personal is political, as Marías' powerful, wide-ranging, yet curiously intimate novel attests * Minneapolis Star-Tribune *Marías is a master of a kind of suspense that is rare in the modern novel * NY Times *Erudite, strange, hypnotic and beautiful...One reads Marías for his ability to make the smallest parts of the world come alive * LA Times *

Read more less

Book Synopsis'Ravishing' (The Times): a compelling, brilliant novel from a master of European literature, a bestseller in France.Trade Review'Ravishing' * The Times *'Achingly beautiful' * Guardian *'Bewitchingly mysterious...Makine's reputation rises with every book, and some have claimed that he deserves the Nobel Prize; on the strength of this teasing, emotionally dense novel, it's easy to see why' * Sunday Telegraph *'Luminous, enthralling...The enormity of the Second World War, with more than 20 million Russian dead, is allied with one, inconsolable human tragedy. This is where Makine dazzles. He can make the universal deeply intimate.' * Herald *'Beautiful...Makine gives us a work about love and its doppelganger, infatuation, which is by turns touching and profoundly sad' * Spectator *

Read more less

Book SynopsisIf you could go back in time, what would you do differently? For Eliott, there is no question. To all appearances, his life has been a success. At 60, he is an esteemed surgeon with a daughter he adores. The only thing missing is Ilena - a girl who died thirty years ago. But then he is given an extraordinary opportunity to revisit his past: to go back to San Francisco, when the seventies were in full swing, and find the passionate young doctor who has yet to lose the love of his life.Trade Review'Musso once again proves that he is a master of romantic stories, the ideal companion for cold winter's days on the sofa.' * Westdeutsche Zeitung *'Musso has written a sentimental love story with an intriguing twist. Humorously and suspensefully, Musso plays back and forth in time with the manipulation of fate and wish-fulfillment fantasy until the final heart-stopping sentence. Suspend your disbelief and take a trip back to the future, this time with feeling.' * Iain Finlayson, Saga *'Musso is from the Paul Coelho school of writing, with on-the-nose prose and a simple message. Think a sentimental Back to the Future.' * London Paper *'Light, but charming: a fantastic romance' ... 'Musso, keep writing! Whatever comes next, we'll be there.' * Thuringsiche Landeszeintung *'Will you be there' is a delightful, uncliched romance.' * Freundin, Germany *'A daring rollercoaster of a novel - readers of The Time Traveller's Wife will love it' * Sunday Express *Book of the Month: 'It's an irresistible tale of love conquering the boundaries of time and space - think Truly, Madly, Deeply meets The Time Traveler's Wife.' * Glamour *'A gripping read' * Augsburger Allgemeine *'You must read this book - and if you like Marc Levy, you'll love Guillaume Musso. Promise!' * Veranstaltungskalender *'It's no surprise that this novel has had its film rights snapped up - it's as high concept as they come . . . Musso is from the Paul Coelho school of writing, with on-the-nose prose and a simple message. As one reviewer put it, think: "a sentimental Back to the Future"' * London Paper *'A novel that people actually want to read and simply enjoy. Musso has written a sentimental love story with an intriguing twist - to put right a romance gone wrong . . . Humorously and suspensefully, Musso plays back and forth in time with the manipulation of fate and wish-fulfilment fantasy until the final heart-stopping sentence. Suspend your disbelief and take a trip back to the future, this time with feeling.' * Saga *'A daring rollercoaster of a novel - readers of The Time Traveller's Wife will love it' * Sunday Express *'It's an irresistible tale of love conquering the boundaries of time and space - think Truly, Madly, Deeply meets The Time Traveller's Wife.' * Glamour *'This young and rising French author has a way of captivating you . . . gripping . . .If you like Mitch Albom, you'll like Musso, even though he has a lighter and more humorous approach' * Hype Magazine, Singapore *'Stunning novel . . . an intelligent and emotional time-travelling romance, if you enjoyed The Time Traveller's Wife you will treasure WILL YOU BE BE THERE? A moving tale of love, loss and hope, it's not hard to see why this book was a runaway bestseller in France and has been translated into 24 languages with a film in the offing.' * East Anglian Daily Times *'Read this: WILL YOU BE THERE? is for anyone who has thought about what they would do differently if they could change the past. * Famous Magazine, Australia *'An enthralling tale which will keep you turning the pages until the very end . . . you will hear more about [Musso] in the future' * Daily Mercury, Australia *

Read more less

Book SynopsisLocked behind the Iron Curtain, a young boy grows up bewitched by his French grandmother''s memories of Paris before the Great War. Yet despite what he also learns of her suffering in the Soviet Union under Stalin and during the Second World War, as an adolescent he finds himself proud to be a Russian. Torn between the two cultures, he eventually makes a choice - which has a wholly unexpected outcome. Capturing the powerful allure of illusion, this unforgettable novel traces a sentimental and intellectual journey that embraces the dramatic history of the twentieth century.Trade ReviewA superb novel about fantasy and reality...It is Makine's achievement to convey the essential, with economy, grace and beauty * Scotsman *Great literature, necessary and profound * Independent *He communicates brilliantly the exquisite agony of nostalgia * Literary Review *Beautifully written...A deceptively profound novel. Makine's wonderful economy of image and phrase convey far more than one could think possible about the Russian soul * Daily Telegraph *

Read more less

Book SynopsisAWARD-WINNING CRIME FICTION WITH SOUTH AFRICAN SOULWinner of the 2011 Boeke Prize in South Africa and shortlisted for the 2010 CWA International Dagger for Best Translated Crime Novel of the Year.Trade ReviewWhat makes Deon Meyer's novel so outstanding is its setting - the new South Africa, where jaded white detectives are still getting use to working with black and coloured (in the country's parlance) colleagues . . . Meyer gives rare insights into the texture of everyday life in a country still troubled 20 years after the release of Nelson Mandela. * The Sunday Times *This terrific, action-packed thriller has superbly drawn characters and an enthralling setting. Deon Meyer is one of the best crime writers on the planet. * Mail on Sunday *Deon Meyer is the undisputed king of South African crime fiction, and THIRTEEN HOURS demonstrates why. * The Times *South African thrillers arrive with racial baggage, and it's a mark of Meyer's talent to see just how well the issues are balanced with a smashing story. Imposing a strict time limit and a tight location on his plot, he ramps up the suspense to an unbearable degree. Best of all, his sharply drawn characters really feel part of the new South Africa, where loyalties and beliefs must always be questioned. * Financial Times *What makes this novel so outstanding is its setting... and Meyer's superlative talent for suspense... This is a vigorous, exciting novel that combines memorable characters and plot with edge-of-the-seat suspense. * The Sunday Times *Far and away South Africa's best crime writer * The Times *gripping and suspenseful crime novel set in a violent, post-apartheid South Africa * Culture Magazine (The Sunday Times) *A cracking read from one of Africa's finest * Shots ezine *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 * Matthew Lewin, Guardian, on BLOOD SAFARI *One of the most exciting thrillers I've read for a long time. * Lady Antonia Fraser *Blood Safari is my first exposure to the man billed by his publishers as the "king of South African crime thrillers". For once the publicity spinners are not guilty of hyperbole -- Meyer is simply excellent. * Business Day on BLOOD SAFARI *Pulsating and gripping * The Sunday Times on BLOOD SAFARI *I rushed through it like one of Meyer's beloved BMW motorbikes in overdrive. A fantastic read. I know Cape Town well and he did glorious justice to the city's mosaic * Tim Butcher, author of Richard and Judy bestseller BLOOD RIVER, on DEVIL'S PEAK *'A moving, expertly constructed story of a broken man's redemption' * The Sunday Times on DEVIL'S PEAK *Out of post-apartheid South Africa comes a thriller good enough to nip at the heels of le Carré * Kirkus Reviews (starred review) on HEART OF THE HUNTER *A Christmas Choice for best thrillers in 2007 * The Times on DEVIL'S PEAK *A glimpse of the soul of the new South Africa in all its glory, and with all the gory details of its problems and corruption...I marvelled at the intricacy of the plotting, I smiled at Christine's cheeky ingenuity, I felt Thobela's pain and Benny's desperation, and I was stunned by a denouement of awesome power and accomplishment * Guardian on DEVIL'S PEAK *My favourite South African thriller writer * James Mitchell, Tonight, South Africa, on DEVIL'S PEAK *'Meyer is a gifted writer...believable and disturbing' * Tangled Web on DEVIL'S PEAK *'Deon Meyer, who writes in Afrikaans, portrays a world of terrifying uncertainty, in which those who fought for liberation from apartheid are having to come to terms with the knowledge that freedom is not enough to wipe out cruelty. A thoughtful and exciting novel' * Times Literary Supplement on DEVIL'S PEAK *This guy is really good. Deon Meyer hooked me with this one right from the start. HEART OF THE HUNTER is a thriller with some weight attached and that is a rare find. * Michael Connelly on HEART OF THE HUNTER *HEART OF THE HUNTER is a brilliant book. Deon Meyer does an excellent job of developing a whole range of characters who are affected by the changes in South Africa in different ways. And Thobela, a giant of a man in search of redemption, is a wonderful hero. * Michael Ridpath, author of THE PREDATOR, on HEART *Meyer weaves an impressively tangled web and taut narrative keeps the reader guessing until the last couple of pages * Heat***, on DEAD AT DAYBREAK *Like post-war Germany, post-apartheid South Africa offers fertile ground for reflective fiction ... Senior editor at Little, Brown, Judy Clain, a fellow South African, says, "Meyer has an extraordinary landscape - a changed world where the ghosts of the past play a huge role." * Publishers Weekly, on HEART OF THE HUNTER *With simmering racial tensions, a bounty of natural resources, and a government whose members worked both sides of the cold-war fence, South Africa should prove fertile ground for many fine spy thrillers to come. Don't be surprised if quite a few of them are written by Meyer. * Booklist (starred review) on HEART OF THE HUNTER *A fascinating portrayal...a black, assegai-wielding former freedom fighter who turns into a vigilante and goes on a killing spree; a high-class tart; and a policeman who drinks to drown the screaming that's waiting inside his head: "One day it will come out and I am scared that I am the one who will hear it." It does come out and he is the one who hears it, winding up the tension to a gripping, shocking climax. Highly recommended. * Jessica Mann, Literary Review, on DEVIL'S PEAK *A sombre but terrifying thriller, and some parts will ignite even those readers with the iciest of hearts...Meyer plays the best of mind games with his readers * Mail & Guardian, South Africa, on DEVIL'S PEAK *Tough in-your-face crime writing that spares nothing in language, visceral scenes of blood and mayhem (for Meyer is adroit at choreographing descriptions of slaughter), and never wavers from the compelling pace of the story. It also has a mean line in humour that comes through in the snappy dialogue. * Sunday Independent, South Africa, on DEVIL'S PEAK *an explosive mixture * Peterborough Evening Telegraph *the staccato story slips back and forth between the various strands at a breathless clip, doling out huggest of plot in just the right amounts to have us salivating to know more * Metro Scotland *[Benny Griessel is] 'a gem of a protagonist... This is my favourite novel of the year so far.' * Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine *

Read more less

Book Synopsis The prize-winning 100,000-copy Italian bestseller A 2023 book of the year for the Financial Times, the Irish Times, the New European, Marie Claire and Largehearted Boy''Deliciously enjoyable'' Katherine Heiny''I adored it'' Naoise Dolan''Wild, funny and disturbing'' Roddy Doyle''Thrillingly original'' Monica Ali''It would be simply impossible for a book this good to go unnoticed'' Big Issue _________________________________A delightfully funny Italian novel about sex, love, family - and how a writer transforms her life into artVero has grown up in Rome with her eccentric family: an omnipresent mother who is devoted to her own anxiety, a father ruled by hygienic and architectural obsessions, and a precocious genius brother at the centre of their attention. As she becomes an adult, Vero''s neeTrade ReviewHighly entertaining, thought-provoking and one of 2023's best novels yet * Strong Words *Funny and tender * Financial Times, Best Books of the Year 2023 *Wild, funny and disturbing, all I ask of a book about mothers and their daughters. -- Roddy Doyle * Irish Times, Best Books of 2023 *Excellent ... written in a spare and precise style from the pen of a biting narrator. It would be simply impossible for a book this good to go unnoticed * Big Issue *Remarkable. A darkly funny novel of rhythm, subtlety and nuance ... a writer who deserves as wide an audience as possible * New European *Restless and sly ... intelligently spiky * The Times *I fell head over heels in love with Lost on Me. What a thrillingly original voice! Raimo writes with a tender brutality that is simultaneously hilarious and heartbreaking * Monica Ali, author of Love Marriage *I adored Lost on Me. With combustive prose and oxidising wit, Veronica Raimo sets fire to the Bildungsroman. A clear-eyed comedic talent who bends the novel form to her will -- Naoise DolanA uproariously funny portrait of an unconventional family from a writer who knows the sliver of ice in the heart as well as she knows love. This deliciously enjoyable novel is a true original and one to savour -- Katherine HeinyWhen the book you start reading is immediately hilarious and deeply disturbing, you know you're onto something special. Lost on Me is that book -- Roddy DoyleIs it possible, today, to completely reinvent auto-fiction? For Veronica Raimo it clearly is. Get ready to talk about this book for a long, long time -- Paolo Giordano, author of The Solitude of Prime NumbersThis book made me want to clear my calendar and read everything of Raimo's I could get my hands on. Incisive, engrossing, and deeply funny -- Julia May Jonas, author of VladimirLike a poke in the eye with a sharp stick, Veronica Raimo mocks the absurdities of her family life as well as tries to reconcile her own ambiguous feelings. A bold, provocative, and original book -- Lily Tuck, author of SistersA desecrating and tender portrait of family that reels us in from the very first lines * Io Donna: Il Corriere della Sera *Many pages in this novel are so intense and unscrupulous that one feels the apprehension of being caught spying in a stranger's mailbox * Esquire Italia *Reading this novel is a blast ... Many of the pages are jellyfish stings: they burn on and on -- Claudia Durastanti, author of Strangers I KnowVeronica Raimo is a stupendous comedian * La Stampa *A story that nails us down with a powerful first-person voice, clear and exhilarating. * Marie Claire Italia *With its stellar voice, Raimo's inquisitive and vulnerable novel proves tough to put down * Publishers Weekly *Lost on Me is the naughty grandson of Natalia Ginzburg's Family Lexicon ... Raimo has tapped the novelistic potential of her affections and has transformed them into comedy. The result deserves all of the praise flaunted on the cover * Il Corriere della Sera *Filled with humour and neuroses ... a witty and complex portrait of a woman becoming herself * Kirkus *Lost on Me was anything but; I was utterly seduced by this wry and fearless novel featuring the unforgettable voice of Vero, a young woman with a sharp sense of humour and a splendid eye for the absurd -- Elizabeth McKenzie, author of The Dog of the NorthWhat a fresh, vivid and unpredictable voice, bursting with life, I loved it. Finally something that's not like everything else. -- Karl Geary, author of Montpelier ParadeThis bittersweet work of autofiction charts Verika's journey through her neurotic childhood to womanhood and her attempts - literal and metaphorical - to escape her family and their influence. Smart, funny ... a sharply tender portrait of a young woman's becoming * Marie Claire, Best Books of 2023 *If Sheila Heti was Italian and wrote a modern Franny & Zooey, it would approximate how powerful and magnificent Veronica Raimo's novel Lost on Me is. * Largehearted Boy *Infused with a hilarious dry wit wrung from a wry attitude to life, Lost On Me stands out as a brilliant and inventive modern novel in English thanks to an outstanding translation for which Leah Janeczko deserves much credit * New European, Best Books of 2023 *If you enjoy Deborah Levy or Natalia Ginzburg, then you'll appreciate the writing of Italian author and translator, Veronica Raimo. Deeply original and with kudos from Naoise Dolan and Katherine Heiny, this bildungsroman follows Vero, a 15-year-old girl, writer and compulsive liar as she plots various bids for freedom, all of which are thwarted by her savvy mother. The film rights have been snapped up by Fandango, so look out for news of a future movie * Rushh.com *

Read more less

Book Synopsis''Enchanting. Reading Barreau is like having me-time with your best friend'' NINA GEORGE, author of The Little Paris Bookshop''Heart-breaking . . . touching and magical until the very last page'' ELLE ___________Julien Azoulay is famous around the world for his beautiful romance novels. But last year, he stopped believing in love. When his beloved wife Hélène died, leaving him alone to raise his young son, Julien lost his faith in the happier side of life - and with it his ability to write. But Hélène was clever. Before she died, she made Julien promise to write her one letter for each year of her life . . . and now, in this moment, in the most famous cemetery in Paris, Julien stands with his painful first letter in his hand. Here, even though Julien wouldn''t believe it, something wonderful is going to happen . . . Come with us down the narrow streets, past the cosy red bistro o

Read more less

Book Synopsis''You''ll cry for these brothers: for the men they became, for the boys they were, for the innocence they lost. Alex Schulman will take you deep into an emotional labyrinth'' Fredrik Backman, author of A Man Called OveYears ago, they fled the lake house.Now, the brothers have returned. Three brothers return to the family cottage by the lake where, more than two decades earlier, a catastrophe changed the course of their lives. Now, they are here to scatter their mother''s ashes - young men, estranged but bound together by the history that defines them. Their lives have been spent competing for their father''s favour and their mother''s love, in a household more like a minefield than a home. What really happened that summer day when everything was blown to pieces?The Survivors is a suspenseful, haunting novel about three brothers and their reckoning with the events of one disputed, disastrous summe

Read more less

Book Synopsis“Filled with passion, curiosity, empathy, as well as mischief—definitely mischief.”—Azar NafisiTrade Review"Carries the flavor of the old world..." -- The Washington Post

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe Second Edition of the Norton Critical Edition of The Brothers Karamazov is based on a significantly revised translation by Susan McReynolds.

Read more less