Fiction in translation

Book SynopsisTrade ReviewDagerman wrote with beautiful objectivity. Instead of emotive phrases, he uses a choice of facts, like bricks, to construct an emotion -- Graham GreeneDagerman can evoke such emotion in a single sentence -- Colm ToibinThere are some writers (Kafka and Lorca immediately spring to mind) who come to enjoy the status of saint; their lives and deaths constitute statements about existence and its proper priorities. A saint of this type is the Swedish writer Stig Dagerman. * Times Literary Supplement *A writer of uncommon urgency and power -- Siri HustvedtA literary giant in Sweden, Dagerman conjures a Strindbergian atmosphere of shadowy menace in his brief, intense novel, A Moth to a Flame... The novel absorbs the reader effortlessly... The landscape round Stockholm, with its fog-bound flatlands and grey winter seas, is vividly evoked. This moody, death-haunted novel is well worth reading * Evening Standard *This searing tale of bereavement and loathing feels all too relevant today * Guardian *

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Book Synopsis''Askildsen''s dry, absurd humour is not unlike that of Beckett... His short stories are packed with irony, and the dialogue is sharp and expressive'' TLSSpare, taut and told with flashes of pitch-black humour, the short stories of Norwegian master Kjell Askildsen capture all the strangeness of modern existence. In this selection of tales, spanning the whole of his brilliant career, unnerving encounters occur, lonely individuals try to connect, families and relationships are fractured, and we are confronted by the fragility and absurdity of life.''Full of compelling strangeness. Lives surge through a few brittle pages, suppressed loves and resentments threaten to erupt'' IndependentTrade ReviewAskildsen's dry, absurd humour is not unlike that of Beckett... His short stories are packed with irony, and the dialogue is sharp and expressive * TLS *Offers stark portraits of male sexuality and familial dysfunction that are full of compelling strangeness. Lives surge through a few brittle pages, suppressed loves and resentments threaten to erupt. Characters are rarely isolated but their loneliness is palpable as they steal time in the shadows. Names recur throughout the book so the reader tries to connect people with events, but it's the loose ends which draw you back to these taut dramas * Independent *Kjell Askildsen has a completely unique ability to write low-key tension between people, razor-sharp and often chamber-like stories that hit you with relentless certainty. -- Sindre Hovdenakk * Verdens Gang, Norway *Askildsen, who has translated works by Brecht, similarly shines a spotlight on his characters, and that light is alienating and unforgiving, illuminating selfishness and stagnant relationships. -- LiterateurA master of the short story, Kjell Askildsen's unadorned style is not so much concerned with the manipulation of plotlines as with the manipulation of the reader's feelings and allegiances, with the presentation of characters as people, real people, people so like us that it's creepy, uncanny. -- Becky McMullan * Electric Literature *Reading Askildsen is like falling in love with someone you know will hurt you ... hypnotically alluring * Expressen, Sweden *One of the great storytellers of the human soul * ABC, Spain *Stark, minimalist stories, translated from Norwegian, about characters hungry for more than life has delivered * The New York Times *Relentlessly weird in the best possible way -- Zakia Uddin * The White Review *

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Book SynopsisIntroducing Little Clothbound Classics: irresistible, mini editions of short stories, novellas and essays from the world''s greatest writers, designed by the award-winning Coralie Bickford-Smith.Celebrating the range and diversity of Penguin Classics, they take us from snowy Japan to springtime Vienna, from haunted New England to a sun-drenched Mediterranean island, and from a game of chess on the ocean to a love story on the moon. Beautifully designed and printed, these collectible editions are bound in colourful, tactile cloth and stamped with foil.Territory of Light is the radiant story of a young woman, living alone in Tokyo with her two-year-old daughter, in her first year of separation from her husband. At once tender and lacerating, luminous and unsettling, Territory of Light is a novel of abandonment, desire and transformation. It was originally published in twelve parts in the Japanese literary monthly Gunzo, between 1978 and 1979Trade ReviewTsushima evades any label, her fiction transcends gender to focus on the existential loneliness that is at the heart of humanity.—Kris Kosaka, Japan TimesWonderfully poetic ... extraordinary freshness ... a Virginia Woolf quality—Margaret Drabble, BBC Radio 3Spiky, atmospheric and intimate, filled with moments of strangeness that linger in the mind—The SpectatorIn this short, powerful novel lurk the joy and guilt of single parents everywhere—GuardianThis exquisite and poignant novel . . . will resonate with single mothers always and everywhere—Shami ChakrabartiAn extraordinary book . . . cool analytic intelligence propelled by sudden eruptions of passion—Lisa AppignanesiAn astonishing and exquisite masterpiece about love, motherhood, female independence, and the restoration of a damaged family. Yuko Tsushima is an unforgettable name alongside great masters like Virginia Woolf, Alice Munro and Elizabeth Strout—J. M. Lee, author of The Investigation

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewRobbe-Grillet is a visual novelist for whom perception is intrinsically fascinating but fraught with uncertainty. * The Daily Telegraph *Robbe-Grillet's career was built on a sly and amusing paradox: of using fiction over and over again to undo the conventions of fiction. But how cleverly and engagingly he did it. * The Independent *The finest novel about love since Proust. -- Vladimir NabokovThe novel remains striking in its originality, and Richard Howard’s translation from 1959 has held up well. * TLS *

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Book SynopsisAn affecting meditation on loss and exile ANGEL GURRIA-QUINTANA, Financial TimesWindsor Laferrière left Haiti in fear of his life. He has lived in Montreal for thirty-three years, and when his father dies in New York, himself an exile for half a century, Windsor travels there to attend the funeral, and then back to Haiti to inform his mother of the death. In Haiti, Windsor is faced with the grim truth of life in his homeland - the endemic poverty, the thwarted ambitions and broken dreams. But only here can he become a writer again . . .The Enigma of the Return lives where fiction, poetry and autobiography meet. These creative tensions sustain a narrative of astonishing beauty, clarity and insight.Looks set to become one of the great poetic statements of homesickness and return . . . It should be read by all exiles everywhere Ian Thomson, IndependentA poetic, melancholic tour de force . . . a compelling, iTrade ReviewThis magnificent meditation on loss and political exile looks set to become one of the great poetic statements of homesickness and return . . . I have not read such an affecting or humane book in years; it should be read by all exiles everywhere. -- Ian Thomson * Independent *'This affecting novel investigates a man's relationship with the island he fled in his youth - Haiti - and the land in which he made a name for himself - Quebec. A meditation on loss and exile' Financial Times. * Financial Times *'Moves fluidly between free verse and prose' Guardian. * Guardian *'A poetic, melancholic tour de force ... a compelling, intense, stark and poignant exploration of living life as an outsider ... 'the great Haitian novel'' New Internationalist magazine. * New Internationalist magazine *'In an age of great post-colonial migrations, this is a magnificent book' Grégoire Leménager, Nouvel Observateur. * Nouvel Observateur *'A richly haunting novel, with prose melting into poetry' Quentin Mills-Fenn, Uptown. * Uptown *'A tour de force of partial autobiography' GQ magazine. * GQ magazine *

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Book SynopsisOlivier Norek: Former police officer, writer on SPIRAL and a million-copy bestsellerExhilarating . . . This is not conventional crime Barry Forshaw, FTWhen a routine kidnapping case goes badly wrong, Capitaine Vincent Coste breaks his golden rule: he starts to take things personally.And with his career hanging by a thread - his resignation letter parked in his superior''s desk draw - he is plunged into his most testing ordeal yet.A raid on the vault at the Bobigny law courts. Five vital pieces of evidence swiped. Four men who can no longer be held: an armed robber, a foreign legionnaire, a kidnapper and a paedophile. But what is the connection between them?With Coste and his team at a loss, it''s the moral outrage of another criminal that will throw up a lead: one they''ll follow to their breaking point - and beyond.What readers are saying about Olivier NorekYouTrade ReviewThe greatest exponent of the policier at work today -- Mark Sanderson * The Times *

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Book Synopsis'Louise Bourgeois talks, talks to herself, reviewing the scraps of her long life in all their disorder. This is the portrait, from memory, of a woman who devoted her life to her art, a life that was also the life of the century' writes J. Fremon.Trade Review'A truly wonderful book... The spider woman, the intellectuel, the rebel, the sly enchantress, and the good girl sing together in this exuberant, lithe text, beautifully translated by Cole Swensen.' - SIRI HUSTVEDT. `Now, Now Louison draws the reader in with all of the monstrous elegance of a spider, capturing us in the fine web of the creative process, and revealing, with biting wit and lyrical style, the ego, and sacrifices it takes to make monumental work.' - PRETI TANEJA, laureate of the Desmond Elliott Prize 2018 for 'We That Are Young'. `Jean Fremon is a wholly singular artist, a writer who lives in the radiant zone where poetry, philosophy and storytelling meet.' - PAUL AUSTER. 'Like all the most urgent poetry, it is "fragile and momentary, but momentarily invincible."' JOHN ASHBERY. 'As much a portrait of Bourgeois as it is of one who has outlasted another and is trying, in full knowledge of an impending failure, to reassemble a figure from the fragments. Perhaps life, this life, any life, is best preserved in its many bits, just as it was lived.' - FRIEZE. `Metamorphosing like Arachne, Bourgeois's imagined voice recounts how she wove the detritus of her memory (...) into an art of resistence (...) Now, Now, Louison (a reference to her childhood nickname) is a sensitive portrait of a woman whose struggle for self-definition came to drive her artistic practice.' Financial Times 'The life of Louise Bourgeois is rendered in ellipsis, quick brush strokes, and a mix of associations of ideas and of sensations waltzing with chronology. An original, sensitive text.' - ArtPress.Table of ContentsNow, Now, Louison, page 1. Jean Fremon, select bibliography, page 113

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Book SynopsisIt is 1947 and the workers on the Dakar-Niger Railway have come out on strike. Sembène Ousmane, in this vivid and moving novel, evokes all of the colour, passion and tragedy of those decisive years in history.''Ever since they left Thiès, the women had not stopped singing. As soon as one group allowed the refrain to die, another picked it up, and new verses were born at the hazard of chance or inspiration, one word leading to another and each finding, in its turn, its rhythm and its place. No one was very sure any longer where the song began, or if it had an ending.''God''s Bits of Wood is Sembène Ousmane''s internationally renowned novel, based on his own experiences of the landmark 1947 railroad strike that spread across French West Africa.''A classic.'' Guardian''Ousmane Sembène [was] a crucial figure in Africa''s postcolonial cultural awakening.'' New York Times''A powerful story.'' Trade ReviewA classic. * Guardian *Ousmane Sembène [was] a crucial figure in Africa's postcolonial cultural awakening. * New York Times *A powerful story. * Kirkus *

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Book SynopsisThis is a novel so caustic it should be printed with hydrochloric acid. Berg, a Swiss writer and social activist, sprays her fury across the whole landscape of technological and economic manias that are rendering the 21st century intolerable. And Tim Mohr has done a remarkable job of translating Berg's hilarious, hectoring, hyperbolic prose, which isn't so much propulsive as relentless...No other book has so thoroughly rattled me about where we're headed. Ron Charles, the Washington PostThe first English translation of iconic Swiss-German novelist Sibylle Berga ruthless indictment of contemporary society and a strikingly creative manifesto for rebellion.Rochdale is a town in post-industrial Britain, but it could be anywhere on the digitalized, environmentally-decimated planet: a place devoid of hope, where poverty, violence, and squalor are the near-future consequences of decisions being made at this very moment. Grime is the dazzling multi-voice

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Book Synopsis'Challenging and disturbing, The Melting is an incredibly cruel fable about friendship and adolescence . . . Spit knows no fear. It is we, the readers, that are left trembling.' - Leïla Slimani, author of LullabyEva can trace the route to Pim’s farm with her eyes closed, even though she has not been to Bovenmeer for many years. There she grew up among the rape fields and dairy farms. There lies also the root of all their grief.Eva was one of three children born in her small Flemish town in 1988. Growing up alongside the boys Laurens and Pim, Eva sought refuge from her loveless family life in the company of her two friends. But with adolescence came a growing awareness of their burgeoning sexuality. Driven by their newly found desires, the children begin a game that will have serious and violent consequences for them all. Thirteen years after the summer she’s tried for so long to forget, Eva is returning to her village. Everything fell apart that summer, but this time she’ll be prepared. She has a large block of ice in her car boot and she’s ready to settle the score . . . Part thriller, part coming-of-age novel, The Melting is an extraordinary and unsettling debut from Lize Spit, a reckoning with adolescent cruelty and the scars it leaves.Trade ReviewChallenging and disturbing, The Melting is an incredibly cruel fable about friendship and adolescence . . . Lize Spit raises the tension and accelerates the suspense until reaching a dark and majestic ending . . . She knows no fear. It is we, the readers, that are left trembling. -- Leïla Slimani * Le Monde *The Melting is like a long-range missile that at first only casts a dark shadow as it flies overhead, apparently without causing any damage, but then strikes its target with calculated precision. * De Standaard *So good you can hardly believe it's a first novel. * Information *Fascinating . . . Terrifying, dark, both foreign and familiar, this first novel leaves a taste of delicious unease. * L'Express *

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Book SynopsisA classic slice of Japanese hard-boiled noir paying homage to the master of the genre: Raymond ChandlerThe Wrong Goodbye pits homicide detective Eiji Futamura against a shady Chinese business empire and U.S. military intelligence in the docklands of recession Japan. After the frozen corpse of immigrant barman Tran Binh Long washes up in midsummer near Yokosuka U.S. Navy Base, Futamura meets a strange customer from Tran's bar. Vietnam vet pilot Billy Lou Bonney talks Futamura into hauling three suitcases of "goods" to Yokota US Air Base late at night and flies off leaving a dead woman behind. Thereby implicated in a murder suspect's escape and relieved from active duty, Futamura takes on hack work for the beautiful concert violinist Aileen Hsu, a "boat people" orphan whose Japanese adoption mother has mysteriously gone missing. And now a phone call from a bestselling yakuza author, a one-time black marketeer in Saigon, hints at inside information on "former Vietcong mole" Tran and his "old sidekick" Billy Lou, both of whom crossed a triad tycoon who is buying up huge tracts of Mekong Delta marshland for a massive development scheme. As the loose strands flashback to Vietnam, the string of official lies and mysterious allegiances build into a dark picture of the U.S.-Japan postwar alliance. Translated from the Japanese by Alfred BirnbaumTrade ReviewYahagi offers a Japanese Philip Marlowe chasing deadly fallout from the Vietnam War. Proof Brits and Americans have no monopoly on great crime fiction. -- David Hewson * author of The Garden of Angels *Toshihiko Yahagi gives us Japan's answer to Philip Marlowe in the form of the heavy drinking lone wolf Eiji Futamura, who finds himself embroiled in a case that pits loyalty and personal friendship against power and political corruption. Shady things are going on in post-war Kanagawa, but nothing can stop Futamura getting to the bottom of it all, no matter the cost. A suspenseful, intriguing read. -- Nick Bradley * author of The Cat and the City *The Wrong Goodbye is a hard-boiled treasure, a Chandleresque elegy to a time of shady deals, femme fatales, and of course, murder. These are tropes with which mystery readers will undoubtedly be familiar. Yet this novel is also a beguiling peephole into a Japanese society that readers will perhaps not know so well; a world of US airbases, black markets, and corrupt ploys. While Toshihiko Yahagi may not be the heavyweight in the Anglophone world that he is in Japan, he very much deserves to be. Simply put, The Wrong Goodbye is a siren song of poetic noir. -- Nicolas Obregon * author of Blue Light Yokohama *

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Book SynopsisA stunning classic set in Italy's most vibrant and turbulent metropolis - Naples - in the immediate aftermath of World War Two. These lively and superbly written stories helped inspire Elena Ferrante's Neapolitan novels. Ortese's work was also championed by Italo Calvino, who was her Italian editor. The stories and reportage collected in this volume form a powerful portrait of ordinary lives, both high and low, family dramas, love affairs, and struggles to pay the rent, set against the crumbling courtyards of the city itself, and the dramatic landscape of Naples Bay. This classic is exquisitely rendered in English by Ann Goldstein and Jenny McPhee, two of the leading translators working from Italian today. Included in the collection is 'A Pair of Eyeglasses', one of the most widely praised Italian short stories of the last century.

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Book SynopsisINFILTRATOROne-time Swedish government agent Piet Hoffmann is on the run from the life prison sentence he escaped: living under a false identity with his family in Calí, Colombia.INFORMANTWhen Hoffmann is offered employment by a Colombian drug mafia, and is simultaneously approached by the US DEA to infiltrate the same cartel, he says yes to both.IN TOO DEEPHowever, when America settles on an enemy for their next War on Terror, Colombia, the US government and the cartel are faced with the same problem. Piet Hoffmann.Hoffmann is marked. Yet help will come from unlikely quarters: DCI Ewert Grens - the enemy who Hoffmann once tricked - will now become the only ally he can trust.Trade ReviewRoslund / Hellström are among the very best crime novelists around. They write with courage and intensity about the important issues of our time. -- Maj SjöwallSuperb. * Guardian *

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Book SynopsisAn explosive and daring novel about bodies, sex, politics and disability by the prize-winning Spanish writer Cristina MoralesÁngela, Patricia, Marga and Nati are cousins living together in Barcelona. As women branded as disabled who share a state-subsidised flat, they must fight every day to retain their independence and find new and inventive ways - from dance to underground zines - to stop the state from managing every aspect of their lives.Funny and furious, Easy Reading is an indictment of the institutions that stigmatise individuals as disabled and of the language that marginalises them. It is also a portrait - visceral, vibrant, combative - of contemporary Barcelona. But, above all, Easy Reading is a feminist celebration of the body in all its forms, of female desire and queer sexuality, and of the transgressive and revolutionary power of language.Translated from the Spanish by Kevin Gerry DunnTrade ReviewA force of nature. * ABC *Punk rock has arrived in Spanish literature. * El Pais *Offensive, playful, transgressive, hilarious, visceral, combative, brutal, and yet somehow tender... A book that shook me to my core. * Esquire *The most brutal, provocative and hilarious voice in contemporary Spanish literature. Like an unexpected meeting between Kathy Acker and Camilo José Cela in a gynaecologist's waiting room. Extraordinary. -- Paul B. PreciadoA radical, radically original novel with no precedent in Spanish literature. Remarkable for its recreation of orality, its extraordinary characters and its reading of the current political climate. -- Jury for the Herralde Prize

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Book SynopsisA riveting novel that is both an indictment and an elegy, a second-person memoir of Nasser’s final months in the voice of his former prisoner. In 1959, at the age of twenty-two, Egyptian novelist Sonallah Ibrahim was imprisoned by Gamal Abdel Nasser’s regime. Over the following five years in prison in Egypt’s Western Desert, Ibrahim kept diaries that he smuggled out on cigarette papers. In this novel, Ibrahim takes up Nasser as a fictional character tied tightly to real events, offering a window into his daily life in his final years. Ibrahim follows Nasser during the War of Attrition and the aftermath of the 1967 war with Israel and looks back on the events of the previous decades. He also chronicles Nasser at his most vulnerable, detailing a more private set of Nasser’s setbacks and defeats: the daily routines of a diabetic suffering from heart trouble in the months before his death. Political events as well as social and economic transformations are narrated through newspaper clippings and archival fragments, painting a portrait of the decline of a man who was once larger than life.

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Book Synopsis"WAS DESIRE SOMETHING LIKE BEING POSSESSED BY A NIGHTMARE?" Fernanda and Annelise are so close they are practically sisters: a double image, inseparable. So how does Fernanda end up bound on the floor of a deserted cabin, held hostage by one of her teachers and estranged from Annelise? When Fernanda, Annelise, and their friends from the Delta Bilingual Academy convene after school, Annelise leads them in thrilling but increasingly dangerous rituals to a rhinestoned, Dior-scented, drag-queen god of her own invention. Even more perilous is the secret Annelise and Fernanda share, rooted in a dare in which violence meets love. Meanwhile, their literature teacher Miss Clara, who is obsessed with imitating her dead mother, struggles to preserve her deteriorating sanity. Each day she edges nearer to a total break with reality. Interweaving pop culture references and horror concepts drawn from Herman Melville, H. P. Lovecraft, and anonymous "creepypastas," Jawbone is an ominous, multivocal novel that explores the terror inherent in the pure potentiality of adolescence and the fine line between desire and fear.

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Book SynopsisHave you ever just clicked with someone? - the sequel to the international bestseller Love Virtually about a relationship conducted by email.Love Virtually ends as Leo leaves Austria for America. He and Emmi have still not met, but the intensity of their e-mail correspondence has been threatening Emmi's marriage. Leo returns from Boston and gradually resumes his e-mail contact with Emmi. But he has plans to settle down with Pamela, the woman he met in America. In an attempt to draw a line under their relationship, Emmi and Leo at last agree to meet in person.Translated from the German by Jamie Bulloch and Katharina BielenbergTrade Review'A brilliantly complex and sophisticated love story ... thought-provoking and engrossing' Metro . * Metro *Just what you need. -- Wendy Holden * Daily Mail *Perhaps the first great romantic novel of the internet age. * Sunday Express *A modern romance that feels both fresh and traditional -- Rebecca Wilson * Sunday Times *I couldn't put it down ... like a jilted lover, when I reached the end I wanted more. -- Danielle Goldstein * Time Out *

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Book SynopsisBarbara, originally written in Danish, was the only novel by the Faroese author Jørgen-Frantz Jacobsen (1900–1938), and yet it quickly achieved international best-seller status and is still one of the best-loved twentieth century classics in Danish and Faroese literature. On the face of it, Barbara is a straightforward historical novel in the mode of many a so-called 'romance'. It contains a story of passion in an exotic setting with overtones of semi-piracy; there is a powerful erotic element, an outsider who breaks up a marriage, and a built-in inevitability resulting from Barbara's own psychological make-up. She stands as one of the most complex female characters in modern Scandinavian literature: beautiful, passionate, innocent, devoted, amoral and uncomprehending of her own tragedy. Jørgen-Frantz Jacobsen portrays her with a fascinated devotion.

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Book SynopsisThroughout these stories, Maartje Wortel plays an ingenious game with her readers. Small events have major consequences, while the major events fade into the background. Her stories are alienating and completely logical at the same time, chaotic and orderly, funny and loud – all written in her characteristic idiosyncratic prose.

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Book SynopsisIn the evening of his life, a wealthy man begins to wonder if he might have missed the point. Park Minwoo is, by every measure, a success story. Born into poverty in a miserable neighbourhood of Seoul, he has ridden the wave of development in a rapidly modernising society. Now the director of a large architectural firm, his hard work and ambition have brought him triumph and satisfaction. But when his company is investigated for corruption, he’s forced to reconsider his role in the transformation of his country. At the same time, he receives an unexpected message from an old friend, Cha Soona, a woman that he had once loved, and then betrayed. As memories return unbidden, Minwoo recalls a world he thought had been left behind — a world he now understands that he has helped to destroy. In At Dusk, one of Korea's most renowned and respected authors continues his gentle yet urgent project of evaluating Korea’s past, and examining the things, and the people, that have been given up in a never-ending quest to move forward.Trade Review‘It’s a regretful, bittersweet exploration of modernisation, which picks away at the country’s past and present, slowly becoming a moving reflection of what we gain and lose as individuals and a society in the name of progress … [Hwang’s] writing is laced with the hard-won wisdom of a man with plenty left to say.’ -- Ben East * The Observer *‘Hwang Sok-yong’s At Dusk is a perfect slice of Koreana … shows the underbelly of a nation through the life of characters inhabiting society's bottom rung … Sok-yong proves once again that fiction can be the best way to tell devastating truths.’ -- Gabino Iglesias * NPR *‘At Dusk is a small but powerful novel from one of South Korea’s most esteemed novelists … The questions At Dusk raises are timeless, and perfect for more serious book-group discussions.’ -- Annie Condon * Readings *‘Quietly probing.’ * The Irish Times *‘A stirring and quietly moving novel … a sharply perceptive account of the struggle to maintain body and soul, roughly speaking, in the decades before Chun dooh-hwan's military coup of 1980.’ FIVE STARS -- Paddy Kehoe * RTÉ *‘The melancholic artistry of his bare prose shines through in At Dusk, with the juxtaposition of the nostalgia of a bygone era and a soulless modernity ... this voice is resounding in At Dusk, with its bittersweet meditation of regret.’ FOUR STARS -- Walter Sim * Straits Times *‘Celebrated author Hwang Sok-yong explores the human toll of South Korea’s rapid modernisation ... Through the lens of Seoul’s urban housing and architecture, he traces the development of South Korean modernisation and highlights the extremes to which its citizens are pushed, challenging readers in the process to reexamine if the nation’s transformation can truly be considered successful.’ * International Examiner *‘Thoughtful and affecting.’ -- Jane Graham * The Big Issue *‘Having been imprisoned for political reasons, Hwang has a restrained, delicate touch, alive to the nuances of memory, the slipperiness of the past, and the difficult choices life forces us to make ... Subtly political, deeply humane, a story about home, loss, and the cost of a country's advancement.’ -- Kirkus Reviews, starred review‘Here [Sok-yong] scrutinises the quiet disconnect of contemporary relationships through the life of a successful, sixty–something Seoul architect … A piercing modern tale about all we can never know about our loved ones and ourselves.’ -- Terry Hong, Booklist, starred review‘Hwang is a master storyteller … his writing is sparse and evocative.’ * Asymptote Journal *‘[A] solid portrait of changing times and society.’ -- M.A. Orthofer * The Complete Review *‘The book is on the verge of something, and despite the gentle care in Hwang’s storytelling, there is an urgency to his words.’ * The Skinny *‘At Dusk is a book steeped in melancholy — for times gone by, for relationships lost or abandoned, for a world that no longer exists. Hwang delves deeply into the psyche of his characters and in doing so tells universal stories of love, ambition and regret … another superb novel from a writer at the top of his craft.’ * psnews.com.au *‘At Dusk has Hwang’s customary blend of fragility and brutality, of tenderness and raw pain … At Dusk is a journey through memory and through the necessary potential and duty of architecture; through human spaces and urban topographies of existence and non-being. For Korea, this is a novel that should mark a turning point in its sense of identity; for non-Korean readers, it is a blueprint of the critical elenchus we need to undertake before it is tragically far too late for all our local traditions, cultures and individual lives.’ -- Mika Provata–Carline * Bookanista *‘What elevates this work, is how the gritty psychological exploration of contemporary Korean society is packaged within a taut and compelling mystery regarding how the two disparate narratives might be connected. At Dusk is another short but impactful novel from Hwang Sok-yong.’ * Booklover Book Reviews *‘These characters illustrate South Korea’s sharp economic divides and explore what is required to improve one’s lot in life — and whether it’s even possible for more than a very few. It captures so much in under 200 pages: economic inequality; gender, class, and educational divides; and the complex relationships individuals and the culture at large have with their own history.’ -- Rebecca Hussey * Bookriot *‘At Dusk provides the reader with an excellent picture of Seoul now and several decades ago, with a mournful, nostalgic feel pervading the novel … Hwang is a masterful storyteller, and the final third of the book skilfully brings the disparate stories together, with a clever, and surprising, twist to round matters off.’ -- Tony Malone * Tony’s Reading List *‘[A] beautifully observed tale … another superb novel from a writer at the top of his craft.’ * Pile by the Bed *

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Book SynopsisIt's 1954 and nine-year-old Mira's life is about to change forever. After a typhoid outbreak rages through her town, robbing her of her parents and siblings, the orphaned child is forced to live with her mysterious, depressive Aunt Hana, a figure both frightening and fragile.Gradually, Mira uncovers the secrets of their troubled family history and begins to understand why her aunt is so incapable of trusting herself and the world around her. Deftly weaving two separate timelines, the harrowing reasons behind Hana's reclusive way of life, the guilt she wears as palpably as a cloak, and the tattoo on her wrist, are revealed to Mira. Alena Mornstajnova's gripping novel, which is based on real events, has won numerous awards and been translated into over a dozen languages across the world.

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Book SynopsisA young couple are entangled in a nightmare spiral of lies when they pretend to be someone else …Exquisitely dark psychological suspense by the international bestselling author of The Bird Tribunal ‘A delightfully insightful and wicked little read … Like the cabin, it's so minimalist and stark and at the same time so compelling’ Elizabeth Haynes ________It started with a lie… Married couple Karin and Kai are looking for a pleasant escape from their busy lives, and reluctantly accept an offer to stay in a luxurious holiday home in the Norwegian fjords. Instead of finding a relaxing retreat, however, their trip becomes a reminder of everything lacking in their own lives, and in a less-than-friendly meeting with their new neighbours, Karin tells a little white lie… Against the backdrop of the glistening water and within the claustrophobic walls of the ultra-modern house, Karin’s insecurities blossom, and her lie grows ever bigger, entangling her and her husband in a nightmare spiral of deceits with absolutely no means of escape… Simmering with suspense and dark humour, The Guests is a gripping psychological drama about envy and aspiration … and something more menacing, hiding just below that glittering surface… _____ Praise for Agnes Ravatn **Shortlisted for the Dublin Literary Award****A BBC Book at Bedtime****Shortlisted for the Petrona Award for Best Scandinavian Crime Fiction****Winner of an English PEN Translation Award** 'A clever, quirky mystery, full of twists and reminiscent of Agatha Christie at her best' The Times 'Ravatn, one of Norway's premier crime writers, manages to conjure up an extra level of chilling atmosphere that will make you want to put the heating on' The Sun 'An unrelenting atmosphere of doom fails to prepare readers for the surprising resolution' Publishers Weekly 'Unfolds in an austere style that perfectly captures the bleakly beautiful landscape of Norway's far north' Irish Times 'Reminiscent of Patricia Highsmith and I can't offer higher praise than that. Agnes Ravatn is an author to watch' Philip Ardagh 'A tense and riveting read' Financial Times 'Crackling, fraught and hugely compulsive slice of Nordic Noir tremendously impressive' Big Issue 'Intriguing … enrapturing' Sarah Hilary ‘A masterclass in suspense and delayed terror' Rod Reynolds

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Book SynopsisThis is a classic work of fiction, encompassing history and folklore and beautifully written; it belongs on the bookshelves of all literature lovers.

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Book SynopsisHe was locked inside an abandoned house. But he's not the only one . . .When a dead man is found locked in the basement of an abandoned house, deep in the woods, there is no evidence of what happened beyond his name - scratched into the wall before he died. The regional police can't find anyone who knew him. But no-one knows the locals like Detective Eira SjÃdin. When her expert knowledge of her home town is again called in, she knows one of them must have seen something. Then, a shock: before she can uncover the truth, someone close to her disappears.Has he fallen victim to the same criminal they've been chasing? And can Eira put the pieces together in time to save him?**AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER NOW**PRAISE FOR WE KNOW YOU REMEMBER'Intensely gripping.' CHRIS WHITAKER'Strong characters, a great sense of place and plot twists galore.' SUNDAY TIMES CRIME CLUB'A terrific twisting roller

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Book SynopsisWelcome to the Holy City, where bent cops are ten a peso, and it is only the degree of corruption that is ever in question.Trade Review'Scintillating' Jake Kerridge, Telegraph. * Telegraph *

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Book SynopsisA masterpiece of literary craft and concision; sparse, beautiful and hugely affecting - Daily MailSince the liberation of the Netherlands, Emma Verweij has been living in Rotterdam, in a street which became a stronghold of friendships for its inhabitants during the Second World War. She marries Bruno, they have two sons, and she determines to block out the years she spent in Nazi Berlin during the war, with her first husband Carl. But now, ninety-six years old and on the eve of her death, long- forgotten memories crowd again into her consciousness, flashbacks of happier years, and the tragedy of the war, of Carl, of her father, and of the friends she has lost. In The Longest Night, his impressive, reflective new novel after News from Berlin, Otto de Kat deftly distils momentous events of 20th-century history into the lives of his characters. In Emma, the past and the present coincide in limpid fragments of rare, melancholy beauty.<Trade ReviewA masterpiece of literary craft and concision; sparse, beautiful and hugely affecting. -- John Harding * Daily Mail *De Kat mixes great moral issues with historical events. This is his literary art. The Longest Night is melancholic and brilliantly written. -- Marianne Mielke * Radio Berlin. *Otto de Kat has created a small masterpiece. * Nürnberger Zeitung. *The De Kat Express takes you on a journey without borders. * NRC Handelsblad. *An exceedingly beautiful novel that you read breathless till the end. * E.O. Vision. *These are novels of subtle emotional distance . . . as physical as a blow to the heart -- Eileen Battersby * Irish Times *One of the Netherlands' most compelling literary voices * Irish Examiner *[A] powerful novel, exploring the impact of war through the lives of its memorable characters. * The Lady *

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Book SynopsisWhen Michelangelo, a young autistic child, goes missing, Commissario Sergio Striggio is put in charge of the investigation. Searches turn up nothing, but there is an interesting connection with the mother''s past: when she was a child, her twin brother also went missing, never to be found. However, Striggio is finding it difficult to concentrate on the case. He is waiting for his father, Pietro, to come and stay. The idea of the visit is torturing him. He fears having to reveal that he is gay - most of all he fears that his partner, Leo, will reveal his sexuality to his father. Pietro, however, has other matters on his mind: he has news of a devastating diagnosis to share with his son.And when his life with Leo unexpectedly collides with his investigation into Michelangelo''s disappearance, it seems that in the complicated web of the small town of Bolzano, the truth behind the mystery cannot hide for long.Valse Triste is one of those rare novels in wh

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Book SynopsisThe thrilling, hair-raising new novel from Herman Koch, the New York Times bestselling author of The Dinner and Summer House with Swimming Pool

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Book Synopsis''Absorbing and moving'' The Tablet1989. Salvadorian society is immersed in the horror of civil war. On a fateful November dawn, a group of armed men entered the Universidad Católica and murder six Jesuits priests and two women in cold blood. Survivor of the massacre Father Tojeira is forced to take the reins of control in the sinister days following the attack, desperate to uncover the truth behind the terrible slaughter. Inspired by the real-life tragic events that shook El Salvador and Latin America, November is a moving and unsettling novel about fear, hate and impunity. It is the first book to cast some light on the crime that was never solved and an attempt to speak out, as the murdered Jesuits attempted to do, in the defence of the disadvantaged.Trade ReviewAbsorbing and moving * The Tablet *Spare and moving * TLS *

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Book Synopsis1989. Salvadorian society is immersed in the horror of civil war. On a fateful November dawn, a group of armed men entered the Universidad Católica and murder six Jesuits priests and two women in cold blood. Survivor of the massacre Father Tojeira is forced to take the reins of control in the sinister days following the attack, desperate to uncover the truth behind the terrible slaughter. Inspired by the real-life tragic events that shook El Salvador and Latin America, November is a moving and unsettling novel about fear, hate and impunity. It is the first book to cast some light on the crime that was never solved and an attempt to speak out, as the murdered Jesuits attempted to do, in the defence of the disadvantaged.Trade ReviewAbsorbing and moving * The Tablet *Spare and moving * TLS *

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Book Synopsis'The dank underside of social media, its cruelty and delusions . . . superbly poised, psychologically astute and subtle' - Ian McEwan, author of Atonement'A glimpse of the foetid underbelly of the internet' - The TimesWe Had To Remove This Post by Hanna Bervoets is a chilling, powerful and gripping story about who or what determines our world view. To be a content moderator is to see humanity at its worst — but Kayleigh needs money. That’s why she takes a job working for a social media platform whose name she isn’t allowed to mention. Her job: reviewing offensive videos and pictures, rants and conspiracy theories, and deciding which need to be removed.Kayleigh and her colleagues spend all day watching horrors and hate on their screens. Yet Kayleigh is good at her job, and in her colleagues she finds a group of friends, even a new girlfriend — and for the first time in her life, Kayleigh’s future seems bright.But soon the job seems to change them all, shifting their worlds in alarming ways. How long before the moderators own morals bend and flex under the weight of what they see?Examining the toxic world of content moderation, the novel forces us to ask: what is right? What is normal? And who gets to decide?Translated from the original Dutch by Emma Rault.'Taut as a thriller, sharp as a slug of ice-cold vodka' - Irish Times'Fast paced and thrilling, violent and nightmarish' - Kristen Arnett, author of Mostly Dead Things'An acid glimpse into a new form of labor existing today' - Ling Ma, author of SeveranceTrade ReviewAcid-dipped novella . . . a glimpse of the foetid underbelly of the internet and a sobering consideration of who is deciding what we see, and at what cost. -- Siobhan Murphy * The Times *A chilling page-turner . . . the unreliable narrator gives it a strong literary heartbeat — and it’s richly suspenseful too. With a few deft strokes [Bervoets] manages to incorporate all of the ills of social media into one concise story . . . utterly haunting. -- Johanna Thomas-Corr * The Sunday Times *The setting alone is compelling and has always been in need of an accomplished novelist’s attention . . . The dreamlike climax of the final pages is beautifully wrought. Men might usefully confront in Bervoets a writerly intelligence at once so tender and so willing to look into the abyss. -- Ian McEwan * The Guardian *Bervoets' neat dissection of morality is as taut as a thriller, sharp as a slug of ice-cold vodka. -- Catherine Taylor * Irish Times *Surprising and enigmatic . . . intriguing and frustrating . . . As we spend more and more time in the trickmirror of the internet, how can we know what or whom to believe? -- Laura van den Berg * The New York Times *A very modern tale about the dark side of the internet. * The Times 'Best Books of Summer' *Hanna Bervoet's slim, compelling novel We Had to Remove This Post addresses the foetid morass of social media . . . Bevoets is often acidly funny, especially when demonstraring the workers' mordant, jockish humour. * TLS *The dank underside of social media, its cruelty and delusions . . . Hanna Bervoets has richly obliged in this superbly poised, psychologically astute and subtle novel of mental unravelling. -- Ian McEwan, author of AtonementExtremely gripping and intense edgy queer novel -- Andrea Lawlor, author of Paul Takes The Form Of A Mortal GirlThis novel gives us an acid glimpse into a new form of labor existing today, a job that extracts an immeasurable psychic toll. Fascinating and disturbing. -- Ling Ma, author of SeveranceAn astonishing and compelling cast of characters, drawn together through circumstance, separated by the same. The novel is fast paced and thrilling, violent and nightmarish and grief-stricken, but also tender and wildly moving. -- Kristen Arnett, author of Mostly Dead Things and With TeethI thought it was incredible and has real cult potential. -- Alice Slater * Tik Tok *Powerful, discussable, and a harbinger of a voice-in-translation to watch. * Booklist Starred Review *Scathing, darkly humorous exploration of the impact of VR, IR . . . Bervoets just gets it. This is, unironically, a novel for our time. * Kirkus Starred Review *Magnetic . . . Bervoets frames the story like a mystery, slowly revealing the fractured relationships and circumstances that drove Kayleigh away from her job. * Publishers Weekly *

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Book Synopsis'One of the most beautiful books published in recent years: an intense, poignant story' Caterina BonviciniCan a prison free those who enter?Nisida, moored like a boat in the Mediterranean, is a small island nestled between Capri and Bagnoli, off the coast of Naples. Each day, through the early morning light, Elisabetta Maiorano travels across the city, passes by the guards on the way into the detention centre, hands over her bag and arrives at her classroom. All thoughts are suspended once inside. Usually Elisabetta hasn't spoken to anyone since the day before; her only reason for living to teach mathematics to the group of young inmates who arrive not long after she does. But one day, Almarina shows up and everything changes. She is Romanian and bears the signs of her personal history on her body. Together, closed up in a small classroom, a true island within an island, Elisabetta and Almarina discover a possible pathway to freedom. Warm and intimate, intense and political, Valeria Parrella touches our emotions, giving voice to a loneliness that is universal. Almarina is about finding love in unexpected places, about atonement, forgetting and starting over. But mostly it is about two women learning how to live again.Translated by Alex ValenteTrade ReviewOne of the most beautiful books published in recent years: an intense, poignant story * Caterina Bonvicini *

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Book Synopsis'One of the most beautiful books published in recent years: an intense, poignant story' Caterina BonviciniCan a prison free those who enter?Nisida, moored like a boat in the Mediterranean, is a small island nestled between Capri and Bagnoli, off the coast of Naples. Each day, through the early morning light, Elisabetta Maiorano travels across the city, passes by the guards on the way into the detention centre, hands over her bag and arrives at her classroom. All thoughts are suspended once inside. Usually Elisabetta hasn't spoken to anyone since the day before; her only reason for living to teach mathematics to the group of young inmates who arrive not long after she does. But one day, Almarina shows up and everything changes. She is Romanian and bears the signs of her personal history on her body. Together, closed up in a small classroom, a true island within an island, Elisabetta and Almarina discover a possible pathway to freedom. Warm and intimate, intense and political, Valeria Parrella touches our emotions, giving voice to a loneliness that is universal. Almarina is about finding love in unexpected places, about atonement, forgetting and starting over. But mostly it is about two women learning how to live again.Translated by Alex ValenteTrade ReviewOne of the most beautiful books published in recent years: an intense, poignant story * Caterina Bonvicini *

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Book SynopsisA dark psychological thriller with a killer twist, that has topped the bestseller charts in its native Israel*TRANSLATED BY MAN BOOKER WINNER JESSICA COHEN*Three tells the stories of three women: Orna, a divorced single-mother looking for a new relationship; Emilia, a Latvian immigrant on a spiritual search; and Ella, married and mother of three, returning to University to write her thesis. All of them will meet the same man. His name is Gil. He won't tell them the whole truth about himself - but they don't tell him everything either. Tense, twisted and surprising, Three is a daring new form of psychological thriller. It is a declaration of war against the normalisation of death and violence. Slowly but surely, you see the danger each woman walks into. What you won't see is the trap being laid - until it snaps shut.Trade ReviewThe architecture of Mishani's new book is meticulously crafted, the tension builds up step by step as a result of the fatal choices the protagonists make. With huge talent Mishani shows the normality of everyday life in Israel as a fertile ground for pure evil . . . A sophisticated literary machine, Three is a work written like a Shakespearean play . . . I believe it'll be remembered as a work that heralded a new-wave in Israeli fiction just as My Michael by Amos Oz did a few decades ago * Haaretz, Israel *Dror Mishani writes with profound originality * Henning Mankell *Dror Mishani has reached the world league of crime fiction * Die Zeit, Germany *Dror Mishani marvellously handles the art of suspense * Les Echos, France *Dror Mishani is one of the greatest new writers in the genre * Politiken, Denmark *A psychological drama that goes far beyond the standard thriller plot * Wprost, Poland *Three is an outstanding thriller. From the first page, Mishani's addictive prose begins its work, drawing you into a devious plot where life, fate and murder intertwine. A steady hand, immersive writing and masterful storytelling. This is suspense at its best -- Olivia Kiernan, author of * Too Close to Breathe *Superb, the way darkness snakes its way into these apparently humdrum lives. A book with killer twists that are impossible to see coming, but utterly convincing.The pay-off for the reader is fantastic -- Willam Shaw, author of * Deadland *In three parts, there are very effectful plot twists just when you expect them least.Psychologically sophisticated suspense and three touching and subtle portraits of women -- Dagmar Kaindl * BuchKultur *I was nailed to this story. In serene, almost transparent prose Mishani leads us into a devilish underworld of other minds, where real and imaginary collide and answers cannot be guessed but we desperately want them, right to the end. Riveting and masterly -- Polly Clark, author of * Larchfield *A masterpiece that - on quiet paws - evokes more insight than some of the many editorials * WDR Radio, BOOK OF THE WEEK *Dror Mishani is the undisputable spiritual heir to George Simenon * Le Monde *The characters and mood of this intriguing page-turner remain with the reader long after the last page. * The Lady *an utterly convincing and utterly compelling exercise in Highsmithian horror * The Times *A Tel-Aviv-set psychological thriller . . . with surprise after surprise stored up its clever sleeve, Dror Mishani's stand-alone serial killer tale . . . with a difference evokes both Patricia Highsmith and the quiet desperation of some of Simenon's non-Maigret novels * Crime Time *

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Book Synopsis "An absolutely prime slice of Scandicrime . . . the writer channels her professional expertise into a noteworthy domestic thriller" Barry Forshaw, FT"Having hit a bull's-eye with . . . The Therapist . . . Helene Flood repeats the trick with another twisty tale of domestic goings-on . . . teasing and pleasing the reader till the very last page" Sunday Times Crime Club"The Lover is taut, clever and irresistible" Anna Bailey"A wonderful storyteller" Chris WhitakerIs it worse to deceive to your husband or the police?Rikke is lying to them both.But how many lies can she get away with?When her upstairs neighbour Jørgen is found murdered, she's questioned alongside her husband. How can she admit that she and Jørgen were having an affair? Or explain to the police the complexity of her feelings? The hint of relief that he's dead. And what would they say if they knew she used a spare key to enter his apartment the morning after he was killed?Rikke knows she can't hide the evidence of the affair from the police. And if she's caught in her lie, suspicion will turn to her. With her perfect family life threatening to unravel, Rikke realises that finding the killer is the only way to put herself in the clear. So long as the killer doesn't get to her first.Praise for The Therapist"Creepy, compelling and very well written" Harriet Tyce"Wonderfully creepy, twisty and compelling" Karen Hamilton"Masterfully paced and hauntingly written" Anna Bailey"Gets under your skin" Jo Spain"I couldn't put it down" Sarah Ward"A marvellously assured debut thriller" Irish Times."A striking debut" SpectatorTranslated from the Norwegian by Alison McCulloughTrade ReviewAn absolutely prime slice of Scandicrime . . . the writer channels her professional expertise into a noteworthy domestic thriller -- Barry Forshaw * FT *Having hit a bull's-eye with . . . The Therapist . . . Helene Flood repeats the trick with another twisty tale of domestic goings-on . . . teasing and pleasing the reader till the very last page * Sunday Times Crime Club *The joy of the book is the vivid variety of characters, and the cynicism with which Flood dissects the sad illusions of married life -- A.N. Wilson

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Book Synopsis"A beguiling read . . . A cold-case whodunnit [and] a Shadow of the Wind-style quest" - John Dugdale, Sunday Times"Bestselling writer Luca D'Andrea has concocted a fearsome witches' brew of myth, memory and mayhem" Sunday Times Crime ClubA haunting thriller drawing on myths, legends and fairy tales, set in a mysterious Italian valley - from Italy's bestselling answer to Stephen King."D'Andrea piles on the action and the atmosphere with the panache of a seasoned writer" Marcel Berlins, The TimesIt begins with a slap in the face.Out walking his St Bernard, Tony Carcano is confronted by a girl on a motorbike who shows him a photograph from his past. Of him posing with the body of a young woman. Smiling."Why were you laughing?"It's not the last Tony sees of Sybille Knapp, an orphan whose mother drowned herself in Kreuzwirt lake in 1999. That was the official verdict. Before long, Tony, a bestselling writer, is turning his imagination to working out what really happened.But Kreuzwirt is a sullen, silent community, loyal to the powerful Perkman family, who will stop at nothing to keep the truth buried. And there are other forces at work in this valley. Stories of an ancient evil. Whispers of a figure who stands between this world and the next.The Wanderer sings and his song is the wind.Translated from the Italian by Katherine GregorTrade ReviewD'Andrea piles on the action and the atmosphere with the panache of a seasoned writer. -- Marcel Berlins * The Times *Can be compared (with no fear of hyperbole) to Stephen King and Jo Nesbø. -- Massimo Vincenz * La Repubblica *D'Andrea's a name to add to your Eurocrime list. -- David HewsonA beguiling read . . . A cold-case whodunnit [and] a Shadow of the Wind-style quest -- John Dugdale * Sunday Times *Bestselling writer Luca D'Andrea has concocted a fearsome witches' brew of myth, memory and mayhem * Sunday Times Crime Club *D'Andrea delivers with quite some verve a haunting whodunnit laden with elements of myth and fairy tale * i *A well paced page-turner -- A N Wilson * Tablet *

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Book Synopsis'How truth thickens and deepens when it migrates from didactic fable to the raw experience of a visceral awakening is one of the thrills of Tolstoy's stories'Sharon Cameron in her preface to The Kreutzer Sonata and Other StoriesThis second volume of Tolstoy's shorter fiction, selected by the critic Sharon Cameron, contains 'Family Happiness', 'The Devil' and 'The Kreutzer Sonata', three of Tolstoy's unhappy-marriage stories as well as 'Father Sergius', a story of a loss of identity in ambitious pursuit of holy virtue and 'Master and Man'. Tolstoy's antidotes to delusion, fear, jealousy and even madness have an ethical thread pulled through the fabric of different themes and genres.This riverrun edition reissues the translation of Louise and Aylmer Maude, whose influential versions of Tolstoy first brought his work to a wide readership in English.

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Book SynopsisThe mayor of Barcelona is being blackmailed.A sex tape from her student days - one she never knew existed. The price: 300,000 euros and her immediate resignation.A political chameleon who swept to power on a populist wave, she has her enemies. Nor can she trust those closest to her. Both her ex-husband and her deputy would profit from her fall.Melchor Marín, living a quiet life in Terra Alta, is tempted back to Barcelona to work the case. But what seemed a simple matter has its roots in far more serious and disturbing crimes.With the mayor on the verge of capitulation, a shock revelation changes everything - not least the course of Melchor's life. At long last, his heart's dark desire is in his grasp. Praise for Even the Darkest Night"A gem of a book, easily the best I've read this year" M W Craven"A wonderful novel. I look forward to many more Melchor stories" A N Wilson"The first in what promises to be an excellent series" GuardianTranslated from the Spanish by Anne McLeanTrade ReviewThis novel is not just good, it's great -- Álvaro Colomer * Diari Ara *Cercas' best. A terrific novel -- José María Pozuelo Yvancos * ABC Cultural *The new Cercas shines brightly -- Jordi Amat * La Vanguardia *A courageous Javier Cercas seeks to give an allegorical dimension to social observation, and succeeds ... a committed moral novel and belligerent tale of denunciation -- Santos Sanz Villanueva * Zenda Libros *

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