Fiction in translation

Book SynopsisWhen Father Almida is summoned to an audience with the parish''s principal benefactor, a stand-in is found in Father Matamoros, a drunkard with an angel''s voice whose sung mass is mesmerizing to all. But Matamoros hides a darker side, and when the church''s residents throw a feast for him he encourages them to lose all their inhibitions and give free reign to their most Bacchanalian desires. A satire on the iniquities of the Catholic church in Colombia, Good Offices is at once comic, surreal and startling, a novel that will linger long in the mind. Trade Review'Moving from offbeat humour to soaring spiritual ecstasy, it has both pathos and punch' Maya Jaggi, Guardian. * Guardian *'A novella about hope and the possibility of realising it ... written with brio, and with vivid illuminating touches ... It reads beautifully' Allan Massie, Scotsman. * Scotsman *'The Catholic Church takes a real kicking in this slim yet invective-packed satire ... lays bare the hypocrisy of the Church in richly descriptive sentences' Sunday Business Post. * Sunday Business Post *'A fable of vice and desire as comic as it is disturbing' Lucy Scholes, Sunday Times. * Sunday Times *'An entertaining and engaging read, with arresting images that linger in the mind long after the book has been returned to the shelf' Wayne Gooderham, Time Out. * Time Out *'a ripe and atmospheric satire on ecclesiastical hypocrisy' Sunday Telegraph. * Sunday Telegraph *

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Book SynopsisSet between Normandy and Arizona, In the Gold of Time is a seductive tale of silences and dark, half-revealed secrets, and a haunting elegy for innocence lost in a lost world. A young father holidays by the sea near Dieppe with his reproachfully perfect wife and their twin daughters. Returning from the local shop, he meets an eccentric old lady, Alice Berthier, who lives with he mute sister, Clémence. Their mysterious house is full of old photographs and strange objects - sacred ceremonial masks once belonging to the Hopi, a tribe of Native Americans from Arizona. Haunted by memories of a tragic past, Alice takes comfort in her new companion, and he, in turn, is drawn into her mysterious world. As his family recedes into the background, her stirring tales of the Hopi and the Arizona desert become the only salve to his despondent soul. Trade Review'Poetic and fascinating ... an uplifting book' Elle. * Elle *

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Book SynopsisWhen the mutilated body of Mayra Cabral de Melo is found in a dusty field, Detective Edgar Lefty Mendieta has personal reasons for bringing the culprit to justice. Mayra, a well-known stripper, had no shortage of ardent, deluded and downright dangerous admirers, and Lefty himself is haunted by the night he spent in her company.As Mexico''s drug war ramps up, Lefty''s pursuit of a gallery of jealous and powerful suspects, all with a murderous glint in their eye, leads him to Samantha Valdés, the godfather''s daughter, who is battling to retain her father''s empire. And as the mystery deepens, the bodycount rises.Trade ReviewOne of the biggest names in Mexican literature . . . A true novelist . . . No one has captured the exciting and passionate nature of the Mexican vernacular like him -- Arturo Pérez-ReverteIf you are fed up with formulaic noir novels and looking for something fresher, Élmer Mendoza . . . could be the answer * Sunday Times *Presents Mexico in a darkly surrealist light: corrupt politicos, a plague of narco-crime and only battered detective Edgar "Lefty" Mendieta on the side of the angels * Independent *Mendoza conveys a clear sense of life in Culiacan through the violence of the competing cartels and a simmering expectation and acceptance of corruption * Publishers Weekly *Essential reading. * Sunday Express. *A vivid glimpse into an ultraviolent world of macho posturing, unorthodox policing and ruthless criminality. * Guardian. *

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Book Synopsis Commandant Michel de Palma, known by his colleagues as ''the Baron'', has chosen early retirement and plans to travel the world. But he is dragged back into the force when a case that has haunted him for a decade erupts once more. Resurfacing from Le Guen''s Cave, a prehistoric grotto thirty-eight metres below sea level outside Marseilles, France, an experienced diver mysteriously gets into difficulties. Meanwhile, Thomas Autran, a serial killer with a peculiar interest in the supernatural, suffering from a dangerous form of schizophrenia, is once again on the run. Ancient cave paintings, savage murders committed according to a precise ritual: a return to the first ages of humanity, the era of the great Palaeolithic hunters. And despite the gory trail left at each crime scene, de Palma must first understand the child, the secrets of a family, a story of exploitation - and revenge - before he can track down the First Man. Trade ReviewKeeps up the pace, twisting and turning to ensure you don't stop flipping those pages - Buzz on The Voice of the SpiritsIntriguing and enjoyable - Eurocrime on Voice of the Spirits

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Book SynopsisThe girl with the dragon tattoo is back: Lisbeth Salander and Mikael Blomkvist return in the #1 bestselling continuation of Stieg Larsson's Millennium series.Trade ReviewLagercrantz has constructed an elegant plot around different concepts of intelligence . . . his continuation, while never formulaic, is a cleaner and tighter read than the originals . . . Without ever becoming pastiche, the book is a respectful and affectionate homage to the originals. -- Mark Lawson * Guardian. *As I read Lagercrantz's The Girl in the Spider's Web, I found that I kept forgetting for several pages at a time that I wasn't reading genuine Larsson . . . One devours Larsson's books for the plots, the action, the anger, and most of all for Lisbeth Salander . . . Lagercrantz has caught her superbly, and expertly spun the sort of melodramatic yarn in which she can thrive. -- Jake Kerridge * Daily Telegraph. *Fans of Stieg Larsson's captivating odd couple of modern detective fiction - the genius punk hacker Lisbeth Salander and her sometime partner, the crusading investigative journalist Mikael Blomkvist - will not be disappointed . . . Salander and Blomkvist have survived the authorship transition intact and are just as compelling as ever. -- Michiko Kakutani * New York Times. *Elegantly paced, slickly executed, and properly thrilling. -- Alison Flood * Observer *First, the conclusion. David Lagercrantz has done well . . .The Girl in the Spider's Web conveys the essence and atmosphere of Larsson's Millennium novels. He has captured the spirit of their characters and devised inventive plots, most of them suitably exaggerated . . . On the evidence of Spider's Web, most Millennium fans will want to continue following their Lisbeth. -- Marcel Berlins * The Times. *Lagercrantz's real achievement here is the subtle development of Lisbeth's character; he allows us access to her complex, alienated world but is careful not to remove her mystery and unknowability. Lisbeth Salander remains, in Lagercrantz's hands, the most enigmatic and fascinating anti-heroine in fiction. -- Barry Forshaw * Financial Times. *Rest easy, Lisbeth Salander fans - our punk hacker heroine is in good hands . . . Swedish crime novelist David Lagercrantz takes the reins with prowess, not only mimicking Larsson's shamelessly pulpy prose, but admirably expanding the deliciously depraved world of the novels. -- Patrick Ryan * USA Today. *

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Book SynopsisSuspended from her job as a promising police officer for firing one bullet too many, Anne Capestan is expecting the worst when she is summoned to H.Q. to learn her fate. Instead, she is surprised to be told that she is to head up a new police squad, working on solving old cold cases.Though relieved to still have a job, Capestan is not overjoyed by the prospect of her new role. Even less so when she meets her new team: a crowd of misfits, troublemakers and problem cases, none of whom are fit for purpose and yet none of whom can be fired.But from this inauspicious start, investigating the cold cases throws up a number of strange mysteries for Capestan and her team: was the old lady murdered seven years ago really just the victim of a botched robbery? Who was behind the dead sailor discovered in the Seine with three gunshot wounds? And why does there seem to be a curious link with a ferry that was shipwrecked off the Florida coast many years previously?TranslTrade ReviewThis summer's crime read * Cosmopolitan *You will not want to tear yourself away ... Extremely original -- Jean-Louis Debré * Le Point *A scintillating read ... we are already hooked * Elle *From her first novel, Sophie Hénaff proves that she can really pull the trigger * Paris Match *Original and amusing, it's French noir with a sly smile. * The Times *A delightful creation, the members of her team amusing and the book lively. -- Marcel Berlins * The Times *Amusing and interesting ... this very enjoyable tale has deservingly won several French literary prizes -- Jessica Mann * Literary Review *

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Book SynopsisAfter their successful solving of three cold cases and exposing corruption at the very highest level of the Paris police force, Anne Capestan''s squad of misfits and no-hopers should be in a celebratory mood. However, now despised by their colleagues at 36 quai des Orfèvres and worried for their future, morale has never been lower among the members of the Awkward Squad.Capestan does her best to motivate her troops, but even she cannot maintain a cheerful façade when she has to investigate the murder of Commissaire Serge Rufus, the father of her ex-husband. Worse, it soon appears that his murder is linked to two other victims, both of whom were warned by the killer before they struck . . .Trade ReviewA delightful creation, the members of her team amusing and the book lively -- Marcel Berlins * The Times *Amusing and interesting ... this very enjoyable tale has deservingly won several French literary prizes -- Jessica Mann * Literary Review *Original and amusing, it's French noir with a sly smile -- Karen Robinson * The Times Crime Club *You will not want to tear yourself away ... Extremely original -- Jean-Louis Debré * Le Point *From her first novel, Sophie Hénaff proves that she can really pull the trigger * Paris Match *A scintillating read ... we are already hooked * Elle *

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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 SynopsisVenezuela 2012: The President''s illness casts a shadow over the lives of his citizens - he divides opinion, but life without him is almost unimaginable. Miguel Sanabria is a retired oncologist, ambivalent towards the President but caught between a virulently anti-Chávez wife and a equally vehement pro-Chávez brother. He is asked by his nephew to hide a mobile phone carrying secret footage that could shed new light on the President''s condition.His neighbour Fredy has found a fresh angle for a new book about Chávez, but to take advantage he must agree to a green-card marriage and leave his girlfriend and their son for two months, even as their landlady plots to repossess their home.In another apartment live nine-year-old María and her neurotic, near-agoraphobic mother. Taken out of school to be educated at home, María turns to internet chat rooms for company, while her mother''s fears about the city''s endemic violence are proved tragically prescient.Trade ReviewTyszka is a perceptive, original writer. -- Eileen Battersby * Irish Times. *Enthralling . . . with its skilfully wrought atmosphere of suspense and energetic prose -- David Gallagher * Times Literary Supplement *The Venezuelan Ian McEwan. -- Booktrust.The best novel about charisma I've read in a long time. Everything it tells us rings true. * Babelia *His devilish ability to bring together distinct storylines that converge in the apotheosis of a brilliant finale is proof of Barrera's awareness of the finer points of deft and intelligent writing. * El Periódico. *Barrera's prose is clear, rousing, borne of authenticity when it comes to expressing the contradictions of human beings. * La Vanguardia. *Why is Alberto Barrera Tyzska's novel so good? Because, from the first phrase to the last, he keeps us interested, curious, and concerned for what will happen. Because this flair of his reveals a great deal of cultivation, study, and insight into the art of creating suspense. Because his ability to create a redoubtable literary space, which we inevitably associate with the International Sanatorium Berghof in The Magic Mountain, Leopold Bloom's Dublin, or mad Ahab's Pequod, is breathtaking. * El Nacional. *

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Book SynopsisHISTORICAL FICTION BOOK OF THE MONTH - THE TIMESOne night in autumn 1944, a gunshot echoes through the alleyways of a small town in occupied Poland. An S.S. officer is shot dead by a young Polish Jew, Margarita Ejzenstain. In retaliation, his commander orders the execution of thirty-seven Poles - one for every year of the dead man''s life. First hidden by a German couple, Margarita must then flee the brutal advance of the Soviet army with her new-born baby. So begins a thrilling panorama of intermingled destinies and events that reverberate from that single act of defiance. KINGDOM OF TWILIGHT follows the lives of Jewish refugees and a German family resettled from Bukovina, as well as a former S.S. officer, chronicling the geographical and psychological dislocation generated by war. A quest for identity and truth takes them from Displaced Persons camps to Lübeck, Berlin, Tel Aviv and New York, as they try to make sense of a changed world, Trade ReviewA novel about the aftermath of the war, the tribulations of uneasy peace and the violent birth of Israel . . . KINGDOM OF TWILIGHT is powerful and original -- Antonia Senior * The Times *Uhly skilfully unrolls an epic canvas yet rarely loses sight of the individual details that bring his characters to life -- Nick Rennison * Sunday Times *A gripping, thoroughly researched novel . . . Steven Uhly's Kingdom of Twilight should be at the centre of literary debate * Süddeutsche Zeitung *One of the most important and powerful novels of recent German literature * Deutschlandradio Kultur *

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Book SynopsisThe man with the nuclear briefcase has gone rogue - Mission Impossible meets the Hunt for Red October in an explosive new thriller for fans of James Swallow and Tom ClancyTrade ReviewWhat should a thriller do to rise above the ranks of the clichéd? It does no harm to demonstrate some intelligence and (if possible) an engagement with serious issues - but no polemics. Thankfully, Mattias Berg's The Carrier hits those targets squarely. -- Barry Forshaw * Financial Times *An enjoyable, ingenious "nuclear noir" thriller, packed with fascinatingly arcane nuclear facts -- Myles McWeeney * Irish Independent *The Carrier is a devilishly thrilling and alarming story, a doomsday-prophetic symphony over our time here and now... I don't think I have read such a philosophical, knowledge-studded and realistic adventure novel since Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose... the entertainment factor, which sometimes makes me think of Mission Impossible and other action movies, never dims its grave political substance . . . History itself is present in each and every page in Mattias Berg's brilliant novel, where the end is everything else than excepted. * Göteborgs-Posten *At the same time thriller and satire, nuclear physics and history of ideas . . . One of the most ambitious and spectacular debut novels I have read in Swedish. * Kulturnytt, Swedish Radio *A successful hybrid of a novel of ideas, historical depiction and the popular science thriller genre . . . an educative and in places very exciting story with a philosophical backdrop. Why have we created something so powerful, something that could destroy us all? * Expressen *There are special trained super humans, amazingly transformed by surgery, quick-witted brains, codes and numerology, deceptions... But whilst other agent stories may only have this - spiced with some love in the sunset - The Carrier has more. Much more... Mattias Berg's knowledge in the scientific field is impressive, his storytelling skilled and well-balanced. * Dagens Nyheter *

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Book Synopsis1871. Pete Ferguson is a wanted man. An army deserter, hunted for murder in Oregon, not to mention theft and arson in Nebraska.Taking the name of Billy Webb, he is hired by bison hunters, but leaves after a bloody dispute. He then takes the Comancheros Road, which he follows to Mexico, and then to Guatemala . . . Whatever he does, wherever he goes, Pete is a magnet for trouble and seems incapable of making the right choices. The violence that follows him keeps him away from those he loves: his brother Oliver, still on the Fitzpatrick ranch with Aileen, Alexandra and Arthur Bowman.It is a woman who will change his destiny, an Indigenous woman driven out of her lands. To save her, Ferguson will sabotage an attempted coup d''état and together, they will go to the Equator that has become Ferguson''s grail, and where the malevolent forces governing this world must finally be defeated.

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Book SynopsisA rich, deep and atmospheric story about what happens when you turn a blind eye once too often and how difficult it is to keep even the darkest secret.Trade Review'The thinking book groups' Book of the Year' Bookgroup.info. * Bookgroupinfo *'An extremely enjoyable book. Despite the seriousness of the subject, it is light in tone, refined in its humour' De Volkskrant. * De Volkskrant *

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Book SynopsisBook two of the Commissario Balistreri trilogy traces his youth in North Africa, and his first exposure to the horrors that grow from human hardship.Trade Review'A state-of-the-nation piece ... it bristles with the same effortless authority' Barry Forshaw, Good Book Guide. * Good Book Guide *'Gripping' The Sun. * Sun *

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Book SynopsisPrague, I see a city...is a novel of quest, in which the heroine abandons the material world of everyday society and linear history, perceiving it as false, temporary and distracting, and journeys in search of her true identity. Suffused with the atmosphere immediately following the end of the Communist regime, Hodrova's novel is a conscious addition to the tradition of Prague literary texts by, for example, Karel Hynek Macha, Jakub Arbes, Gustav Meyrink, and Franz Kafka, who present the city as a hostile living creature, or as a labyrinthine place of magic and mystery, in which the individual human being may easily get lost. Translated by David Short.Trade Review'It will provide those familiar with the city an intricate, intimate glimpse of its metaphoric inner workings.' - Scott J. Nixon, The Prague Post; 'An introduction to Prague, I See a City…, by David Short’s former student, Rajendra Chitnis of the University of Bristol, has been written so well that, in my opinion, it is worth buying the book for its sake alone.' - Andrei Rogatchevski, Czech Focus; 'Prague is a city of layers. A palimpsest resting atop its earlier selves. Hodrová muddles these layers. Like a napoleon pastry pounded to slop, Prague, I See a City… is deliciously messy.' - Alex McElroy, The Northwest Review of Books;

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Book SynopsisBalla is often described as the Slovak Kafka for his depictions of the absurd and the mundane. In the Name of the Father features a nameless narrator reflecting on his life, looking for someone else to blame for his failed relationship with his parents and two sons, his serial adultery and his wife's descent into madness.Trade Review'This beautifully produced volume, containing the title novella and three short stories, gives a useful introduction to a writer who epitomizes the generation that came of age during the period of post-communist transition.' - Charles Sabatos, LA Review of Books;'Balla loves the absurd and mysterious, is a master of magic realism and postmodernism, and, most importantly, is able “to express the unspeakable” with frankness unprecedented in Slovak literature.' - Zuzana Slobodová, Times Literary Supplement; 'I loved this book. Bizarre and beautiful, intense and passionate, the writing is so fresh.' - Rosie Goldsmith, Director of the European Literature Network; 'Reading Balla is like getting on a roller coaster and behaving in an age-appropriate manner: you never know what’s coming, you scream and shout, now in fear, now in joy.' - Gábor Németh, Hungarian author; In the Name of the Father was voted Book of the Year by the Slovak daily SME in December 2012 and won the 2012 Anasoft Litera Prize, Slovakia’s most prestigious award for an original work of fiction; One of World Literature Today’s Notable Translations of 2017

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Book SynopsisThe internationally acclaimed novel by Czech author Hana Andronikova, told over the course of a single day and night, but spanning three continents and much of the twentieth century. This is at once a deeply personal narrative and an homage to the lost relationship of the Czech, German, and Jewish peoples.

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Book SynopsisLee Heejoo was born in Seoul in 1992 and graduated from the Korean literature department at Chung-Ang University. She started her writing career winning the Munhakdongne University Novel Award with her debut Phantom Limb Pain in 2016. She is also the author of the Love World' series, and the short story Mayumi'. Holy Boy is her first novel translated into English.

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Book Synopsis''Dazzling'' Fernanda Melchor''A brilliant debut'' Vogue''Bright and brimming with sisterhood. Overwhelmingly beautiful'' El CulturalA mother and her child embark on a canoe trip down the mighty Atrato River, deep in the thick Colombian jungle. They eat ripe mango and fresh fish, bathe in rainwater, meet curious passers-by. But uncertainties abound. As the small boat proceeds along the water, the mother''s anxiety grows, and, over time, she reveals the truth about how the little one really came into her life one hot morning.A slim, visceral novel, This Wound Full of Fish offers a journey not only through the murky waters of the river, but through a lush and brutal human life.Trade ReviewIn this dazzling and moving literary debut, Lorena Salazar takes us to the heart of the Colombian jungle and shows us, with an enveloping and addictive prose, sorority in its purest form and the brutal contrasts of human nature. * Fernanda Melchor, author of HURRICANE SEASON *A novel of breathtaking landscapes and an accurate portrait of mothers' fears, and of violence, always latent, like a wild beast lurking in the dark * Pilar Quintana, author of THE BITCH *A brilliant debut novel * Vogue *Remarkable . . . Salazar Masso has managed to create a work of fiction that is both compelling and painful. A book that will leave you breathless. * Morning Star *

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Book SynopsisWINNER OF THE AKUTAGAWA PRIZE'A hypnotic dissection of memory, trauma and belonging'New Statesman'This attempt to imprint upon humanity the experiences of the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami in a way that only a novel can achieve deserves to be highly esteemed'Yoko Ogawa, author of The Memory Police'Here we find a form of language that attempts to venture, dancing, into a past enveloped in silence'Yoko Tawada, author of The Last Children of Tokyo'An eerie, shimmering fever dream . . . strange and beautiful'Jenny Mustard, author of Okay DaysIn the summer of 2020, as Germany slowly emerges from lockdown, a young Japanese woman studying in Gottingen waits at the train station to meet an old friend. Nomiya died a decade earlier in the Tohoku tsunami, but he has suddenly returned without any explanation.The reunited friends share a past that's a world away from the tranquillity of Gottingen. Yet Nomiya's spectral presence destabilises something in the city: mysterious guests appear, eerie discoveries are made in the forest and, as the past becomes increasingly vivid, the threads of time threaten to unravel.With a literary style reminiscent of W. G. Sebald, Yoko Tawada, and Yu Miri, The Place of Shells is an astounding exploration of the strange orbits of memory and the haunting presence of the past.

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Book SynopsisAWARD-WINNING CRIME FICTION WITH SOUTH AFRICAN SOULTrade ReviewThis 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 *A new book by Deon Meyer is a cause for celebration. HEART OF THE HUNTER is not just an exciting story of a pursuit; it paints a thought-provoking picture of today's South Africa. * Sunday Telegraph *A rip-roaring adventure, a portrait of spy-world duplicity and a look at South Africa's post-apartheid politics. * Washington Post *Out of post-apartheid South Africa comes a thriller good enough to nip at the heels of le Carré . . . Wonderful setting; rich, colourful cast, headed by a valiant/vulnerable protagonist who make empathy easy. * Kirkus Review *So authentic is Thobela Mpayipheli that South African thriller junkies, who have been waiting a long time for an enthralling read to come out of this country, will fall in love with the gentle Xhosa giant. * South African Sunday Times *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 *Like John le Carré's The Tailor of Panama, this novel examines the rippling horrors too often caused by so-called intelligence agents working for foreign masters in backwater nations. 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 *Despite the complexity of its tightly woven plot . . . [it] moves at a breathtaking pace that will carry readers away. A sympathetic protagonist and the landscape of South Africa add colour to the story. Highly recommended. * Library Journal *An exciting and oddly hopeful look into what feels, smells and sounds very much like life in today's South Africa . . . dark, explosive . . . full of love for the vast beauty of the country but also riddled by the anger of South Africa's recent racial and political struggles. * Chicago Tribune *A terrific thriller of the first order and highly recommended. * Shots magazine *

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Book SynopsisA stunning Spanish novel, depicting the tragedy of twentieth century Europe through one family's story of betrayal.Trade Review[I was] completely transported to communist East Berlin and drawn into the lives and fates of Katia and her family, so sparely and yet vividly told. . . I admired it immensely -- Clare ChambersAroa Moreno Durán writes with a rare sensitivity about the unconsidered consequences of giving everything up for love -- Claire FullerA moving novel * Grazia *Beautifully written, powerfully realised. This is a novel that both makes you think and touches the heart -- Kate HamerA fascinating story of personal and political uprootedness. . . written with the delicacy that touches the reader's heart * Manuel Vilas *A perfect novel * Almudena Grandes *

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Book SynopsisJerusalem and Germany, 1946. The making of a new world from the ashes of the old.Trade ReviewExciting and worldly-wise, a tale about people in Palestine and a post-war Germany razed to the ground looking for their roots and identity. I devoured Displaced * Jan-Philipp Sendker, author of The Art of Hearing Heartbeats *A character based thriller set amongst the dispossessed. Well researched and engrossing * Irish Examiner *An exciting and compelling story . . . while it is firmly set in the summer of 1941, it has resonance for the risk and courage of the displaced of our own troubled era * Jewish Chronicle *The translation reads exceptionally well * Irish Examiner *

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Book SynopsisA riveting coming-of-age story with the precision of a Hitchcock noir by a masterful new voice in Italian literature.Suspenseful and elegiac, as beautiful as it is horrifying. --Karen DionneA densely layered psychological mystery. --Chicago TribuneReads like a collaboration between Daphne du Maurier and Megan Abbott. --The Irish TimesOver the course of one oppressively hot summer in the small town of Ponte, in northern Italy, one family''s secrets are revealed and the community is torn apart by a terrible crime.Sixteen-year-old Elia Furenti lives with his parents in a secluded house, a tight-knit family whose rhythms are dictated by the shifts in his father''s emotional state. When the closure of the nearby factory leaves Elia''s father without a job, however, home becomes an incrTrade ReviewCan You Hear Me? poignantly touches on problems of friendships, families and coming of age in a small community in northern Italy. There is much beauty and sadness in this slim novel. * Marcel Berlins, The Times *'I love books I can read all in one sitting (maybe with a break to make tea) and can you hear me? by Elena Varvello was one of these. A thriller, a mystery, a coming-of-age story that utterly gripped me from beginning to end - and the translation from the original Italian never for a second gets in the way' * Victoria Hislop, Good Housekeeping *Move over Ferrante, there's a new Elena in town... Can You Hear Me? is the first of Elena Varvello's novels to be translated into English - elegantly so by Alex Valente, no easy task since the story episodically flits between two narrative strands, and splices memories of the recent past in with sections set in the present. It's as if, as one character puts it, "time has all bunched up like a bedsheet"... Varvello maintains a sense of tension and dread throughout, all cleverly focused on Elia's slow comprehension of the situation he finds himself in. The novel is something akin to noir, but the emphasis in on the psychological... It made me think of the opening of Ian McEwan's The Cement Garden... Like all the best coming-of-age stories, at its heart Can You Hear Me? is about understanding the limits of one's own knowledge. * Lucy Scholes, Independent *The novel is carried by both the brilliance of its setting and by a scattering of emotional truths... Here, Varvello's spare poetry reveals itself in masterly atmosphere and sense of place... It is refreshing to read a novel of crime and darkness that eschews straightforward domestic noir, and Varvello was brave to write about the trauma that haunts her. * Guardian *Varvello is emerging as one of the strongest young voices in the Italian literary world. Can You Hear Me? is a sparse, stark tale, at once a murder mystery and a coming-of-age story.Can You Hear Me? is a bleak and vivid book, about the way that life can throw up events that are forever impossible to come to terms with, so that subsequent life is a joyless affair. -- Caroline Moorehead * TLS *Haunting... Set in a small Italian town in the late 1970s, Can You Hear Me? reads like a collaboration between Daphne du Maurier and Megan Abbott, a superb psychological study marinated in a teenage boy's simmering hormones. A poet and award-winning short-story writer in her native Italy, Varvello writes tautly lyrical prose (beautifully translated by Alex Valente), delivering an absorbing tale that draws the reader into a nightmarish fever dream of isolation and paranoia given a chilling sense of inevitability by Varvello's matter-of-fact tone and Elia's deadpan narration. * Declan Burke, Irish Times *A claustrophobic read... Marrying the unsettling feelings of a coming-of-age tale with a panic-inducing abduction story, Varvello explores the psychological impacts of fear, love and mental illness in pared-back prose. * Eithne Farry, Daily Express *A spare, underplayed and suspenseful story about a terrible crime eating away at a family. * Alastair Mabbott, Sunday Herald *A beautiful, stark, poignant account of fear, love and loss * Emma Flint, author of LITTLE DEATHS *I loved Varvello's pared-back writing style, and how she manages to say so much in so few words. An intense read, wonderfully anxiety-inducing, where everything is bubbling uneasily just below the surface. * Claire Fuller, author of OUR ENDLESS NUMBERED DAYS *Elena Varvello's Can you hear me? is riveting and luminous. It's a gorgeous heart-rending novel that you want to finish in one sitting - and few readers will be able to resist the exquisite gravity of such temptation - but it's also a novel that you long to savour, to make last, to draw out because there won't be another one this rich, this compelling, this extraordinarily satisfying for a long, long time. * Bret Anthony Johnston, internationally bestselling author of REMEMBER ME LIKE THIS and Sunday Times EFG Short Story Award winner 2017 *So extraordinary that I'm almost speechless... It's such a mesmerising novel, at times a very chilling one, and it has both broken my heart and mended it at the same time. The writing is so tense, the atmosphere so heavy and the book's structure is so clever, and technically astounding. What a feat! And what I applaud so very much is its honest ending, its sense of completion(at least for the reader), and its universal message of hope. I feel so moved by this novel and in ways that I know will take me some time yet to uncover. * Matt Bates, WHSmith Travel Fiction Buyer *Few writers have gripped me, left me breathless and sweaty palmed, quite like Varvello. Expanding the possibilities of the thriller, Can You Hear Me? probes that period of unease, common to growing up, when we realise that our parents are fallible. It's a novel of teenage awakening, of pauses and silences, pregnant with secrets. This book has given me sleepless nights, broken my heart and worked its way deep into my psyche. I am thrilled to finally have the opportunity to place such an extraordinary book in readers' hands. * Gary Perry, Foyles Staff Pick *Can You Hear Me? is not a faint-hearted book. Elena Varvello plays with some big themes here; fear, love and loss are prominent and sketched in heart aching relief. The story is a tense exploration of the mysteries of the human heart, the weight of paranoia and the often destructive nature of love and blind devotion... Varvello's writing is so redolent and vivid that the reader can almost feel the sweltering heat of summer in Italy, the intense desire between Elia and Anna and the individual anguish and grief of all characters here. This is not a light-hearted summer read but rather an intensely brilliant noir, tightly paced but with the wistful quality of a midsummer daydream. The characters are vibrant, relatable and powerfully realised and the story moves at breath taking pace. This is a beautiful coming of age story, a meditation on the nature of adulthood and a sizzling reminder of the turmoil of adolescence. Varvello has expertly captured the exquisite torture of first time lust and the agony of betrayal. The intensely personal nature of the story becomes clear when Varvello discloses that she wrote the book as a way of exorcising her own difficult relationship with her father, himself a sufferer of mental illness, in an act of letting go of her own past. This adds another level of poignant tenderness to this already heart wrenching tale and it adds another layer of humanity to Varvello's writing... Alex Valente has adoringly translated Varvello's work and the partnership between them is a wonderful example of how loving translation can bring powerful writing to readers across the world. If you like your fiction dark and deep, your characters strikingly real and are prepared to have your heart lovingly shattered then this is the book for you. * Bookbag *I can't remember reading a thriller that is as eerily intense as Elena Varvello's Can You Hear Me?... While this novel is obviously far removed from my own circumstances, the style and subject of Varvello's story invoked a deep sense of nostalgia in me. Elia is a somewhat awkward young man who makes a loose friendship with a boy named Stefano. Their friendship develops organically. They don't necessarily have a huge amount of shared interests but are pulled together more because of circumstances when there is no one else to spend time with. A lot of childhood friendships seem to be formed in this way and the only other book I can recall that got this so well is Tim Winton's novel Breath. During their summer together they spend time swimming at a remote water hole. I have strong memories of doing something similar and the representation of this uneven friendship felt very real... While Elia tries to deal with these normal issues surrounding any young man's development, he also grows increasingly wary of his father who believes that he's been cheated out of a job and becomes increasingly absent from the home. Marta seems to bury her head in the sand about her husband Ettore's behaviour and withdraw into herself. So this boy is mostly left to struggle with all of this on his own. Because of this, the story develops an increasing level of emotional poignancy as it goes on at the same time as it grows more unsettlingly tense. Varvello's captivating writing style drew me in and had me gripped in that way that made me really resent having to stop reading it at the end of my commutes or lunch breaks. It's a powerful book that reminds me of some of Joyce Carol Oates' novels in the way that Varvello so effectively builds suspense amidst a plot involving friendship and embittered economical hardships. And (coming from me) you know that means I think very highly of it! * Lonesome Reader *Can you hear me? is no ordinary psychological thriller - to pigeonhole it into that sub-genre would be to ignore large parts of this atmospheric and intense novel. Alongside the central mystery is a coming of age story and the two themes mesh together seamlessly... We've seen how Varvello generates suspense; she is also very skilful in making us care about all the characters: from Marta's tender, careworn love and inability to recognise Ettore's illness, to broken but unbowed Anna; from the adolescent bluster of Stefano to the growing confidence of Elia as he takes charge of his life. All are detailed alongside the tragedy of Ettore. Can you hear me? - which is Ettore's constant question, was tremendous, possibly the best thriller I'll read all year and as I said before, unputdownable. More please! * Shiny New Books blog *From the start this novel is heady and you can feel the Italian heat in every sentence. Considering how dark and intense this novel gets it's passionate and you find yourself relishing every chapter. Varvello's writing is like a shadowy mix of King and Du Maurier, it's part compelling noir and elegant coming -of-age story... I was so rooted in the story, Elia's confused emotional state and his father's mental decline was fascinating. Also I must mention the translation of this novel is brilliant, when reading translated fiction is often noticable when a translator loses the flow of the story but this doesn't happen at all in this book... it just feel like Italy.This is going to be my book of the summer and potentially the year. * Sasha James, Bookspume blog *This excellent novel about difference, mental illness, family and not being able to go home again . . . Can you hear me? READ ELENA VARVELLO! * Literary Hub *Can you hear me? is no ordinary psychological thriller - to pigeonhole it into that sub-genre would be to ignore large parts of this atmospheric and intense novel. Alongside the central mystery is a coming of age story and the two themes mesh together seamlessly... I read into the night, I truly couldn't put the book down...We've seen how Varvello generates suspense; she is also very skillful in making us care about all the characters: from Marta's tender, careworn love and inability to recognise Ettore's illness, to broken but unbowed Anna; from the adolescent bluster of Stefano to the growing confidence of Elia as he takes charge of his life. All are detailed alongside the tragedy of Ettore. Can you hear me? was tremendous, possibly the best thriller I'll read all year and as I said before, unputdownable. More please! * Shiny New Books *At first glance, Elena Varvello's Can You Hear Me? has all the hallmarks of a commercial thriller... Yet those who venture further into the pages expecting the novel to be nothing more than a page-turner are in for a surprise. For this book offers so much more. Varvello has published two collections of poetry and it shows. Not only is her writing (translated here by Alex Valente) taut, but it is also exquisitely precise. Rather than scatter-gunning the reader with details, she selects one telling enough to convey an entire character or mood. From the way a person watches their reflection in a mirror, or the briefest of exchanges, the author conjures entire scenes, imbuing her pages by turns with menace, nostalgia and wistfulness... Chief among the cast of blinkered individuals is the narrator, Elia's, father, whose redundancy and subsequent breakdown are the catalysts for much of the action. Menacingly erratic and yet pitiable, he towers from the page... At points the writing is breathtakingly deft. The result is an engrossing and troubling book that hangs big questions on the taut wire of a gripping plot. Like her namesake Ferrante, Elena Varvello knows how to keep readers hooked. We shall see more of her work. * Ann Morgan, ayearofreadingtheworld.com *...but overall, it is far more about the unspoken, about all the things that crack open a facade and leave people broken, even though they pretend to be resilient. It is about people hiding the truth even from themselves... With its ability to capture the tormented adolescent soul, it reminded me of Bassani's The Garden of the Finzi-Continis, but this is far less idyllic and nostalgic. The tense, moody atmosphere, conveyed not through purple prose, but through a very restrained, economical style, is more reminiscent of Alberto Moravia. There are also hints of that author's disenchantment with human nature, modern life and that elusive myth of finding happiness. * Finding Time to Write blog *A taut, smart, viciously gripping noir about family and the destructive force of unconditional love. It took my breath away and kept me glued to the page until its heart-breaking end: a phenomenal achievement * Kirsty Wark, author of THE LEGACY OF ELIZABETH PRINGLE *Haunting, surreal, and deeply engaging, Elena Varvello's Can you hear me? is at once suspenseful and elegiac, as beautiful as it is horrifying, as Varvello takes us deep inside the mind and heart of 16-year-old Elia Furenti during his summer of change. Readers will devour this novel in one sitting as I did, then chew over it long after the book is done * Karen Dionne, author of THE MARSH KING'S DAUGHTER *Elena Varvello's thrilling novel Can You Hear Me? holds a magnifying glass to a family spiralling into darkness while simultaneously casting a net that ensnares the poignancy of the end of adolescence. We are swept away by the vivid characters as their dark and broken places are deftly revealed. Varvello's command of her story, and yet delicate delivery, makes for stunning writing. A smart, dark, page-turner that lingers long after the last page. * Kate Mayfield, author of THE UNDERTAKER'S DAUGHTER *The bleakness and menace of this 'Hitchcockian' novel owe much to its brevity and the starkness of its prose. A raw and heartrending portrayal of masculinity and loneliness, the burden and complexity of family ties and the perils of crossing boundaries in a small community. * Isabel Costello, The Literary Sofa - Summer Reads 2017 *Can you hear me? shines a light on one family's black heart, a place where opposites coexist: tenderness and fear; happiness and pain; unfaltering faith and ugly suspicions. A book to get lost in * Paolo Giordano, internationally bestselling author of THE SOLITUDE OF PRIME NUMBERS *Reading Can you hear me? is like being swept away by a powerful current. The best Italian novel of the year. * Fabio Geda, internationally bestselling author of IN THE SEA THERE ARE CROCODILES *One of the best Italian novels of 2016. A book that doesn't shy away from pain - it shines a light on it. And it does so beautifully, page by page. * Alessandro Baricco, internationally bestselling author of SILK *Halfway between noir and coming-of-age, Can you hear me? is an utterly original new type of novel. I read it in two sittings, and I'm sure it will stay with me for a long time. * Maria Lomunno, Foyles Bookseller *A noir that reminded me of great Italian literature: the atmosphere I found in Niccolò Ammaniti's I'm not scared, mixed with the images that someone like Bassani can create with such accuracy... I can't even tell you how excited I am to finally talk about it with customers and colleagues * Dafne Martino, Waterstones bookseller *Elena Varvello has created a world of suspense à la Hitchcock: a 16-year-old boy tells his story and that of his tragic family... The ravine and the forest of the Piedmontese hills described in Can you hear me? are threatened by evil which colours every page of this novel and reaches the reader via a shattering, dry dialogue. The rapidly industrialised landscape in a provincial corner of northern Italy, containing woods, waterfalls but also discarded tins and other rubbish, speaks of the tragedy: all is normal in the microcosm of Can you hear me?, even intense unhappiness has been accepted as normality.Elena Varvello is a skilled and able narrator; her strong prose belongs to a new vein that has sprung out of modern Italy: women writers revel in an imagination that used to belong to the male world but with an added dose of poetry that is altogether feminine. * Gaia Servadio *A dark and painful novel, constructed with great wisdom and written with rare restraint. * Nicola Lagioia, author of FEROCITY, winner of the Strega Prize 2015 *Varvello has written both a noir and a coming-of-age novel that is in some ways reminiscent of Niccolò Ammaniti's I'm Not Scared... Varvello reveals the widening cracks slowly, perceptively, as one family scene unfurls from another, telling the story through omissions that become enigmas. * Il Messaggero *Can you hear me? is one of the most beautiful, intense and original books I have encountered in my life... A beautifully written book, that brings to mind Cormac McCarthy. * Huffington Post Italy *It brought back to mind Elsa Morante's Arturo's Island, and those classics with the ability to capture the abyss of adolescence, authors like Moravia and Bassani. This novel will grab you instantly and force you to read with a growing sense of panic, something tight in your throat: like a noir of ordinary life, bloodless and thus even more ruthless * La Stampa *A coming-of-age story of friendship and passion that keeps the reader glued to the page * Repubblica *Magnificent * Il manifesto *With her ability to capture the fragmented rhythm of life, the clockwork eruption of a drama foretold, Elena Varvello hooks the reader * Corriere della Sera *Pain is treated here, not as an emotion to fear, but to be observed under the stunning microscope of Elena's prose. * Australian Women's Weekly (NZ edition) *Can You Hear Me? is a perfect coming-of-age novel, with a dark core that will make you read until the very last page ... Elena Varvello has poured her heart and soul into this beautiful, haunting piece of fiction. * Cesca Lizzie Reads *

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Book SynopsisAn impossible love story at a time when everything was possible.Trade ReviewAdelaide de Clermont-Tonnerre weaves an enigmatic, funny, sensuous web, crossed by characters which we will struggle to forget. * Le Figaro *We've long awaited this elegant, delicate and feverish voice, always ready to tell us of the great romantic destinies of complex, disturbing and passionate characters. * Elle France *A romantic, well-executed bombshell of a book, built like a 1965 Maserati Sebring. * Le Point *A word of advice: don't start reading this page-turner at bedtime, or you'll be staying up all night * Psychologies France *Absolutely magnificent -- Tatiana de Rosnay

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Book SynopsisAn atmospheric and compelling Swedish suspense of a parent's greatest fear realized, written by a master storyteller.Trade ReviewThis disquieting tale of loss, grief, and rekindling of hope hooks the reader from the start * Publishers Weekly *Jansson's second novel...is a powerful, evocative redemption story whose blend of psychological suspense and unsettling supernatural atmosphere is heightened by human obsessions and ghostly threats. * Booklist *Praise for The Forbidden Place -A bone-chillingly cool crime debut. -- Paula Hawkins, author of The Girl on the TrainAn ominous read with a creepy ambience. * Prima *The atmosphere is what makes me fall, head over heels: a lonely woman who rents out her city apartment and heads out into the wilderness . . . The Forbidden Place is one of the best and most complete debut novels I've ever read -- Lotta Olsson * Dagens Nyheter *

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Book SynopsisAn atmospheric and compelling Swedish suspense of a parent's greatest fear realized, written by a master storyteller.Trade ReviewThis disquieting tale of loss, grief, and rekindling of hope hooks the reader from the start * Publishers Weekly *Jansson's second novel...is a powerful, evocative redemption story whose blend of psychological suspense and unsettling supernatural atmosphere is heightened by human obsessions and ghostly threats. * Booklist *Praise for The Forbidden Place -A bone-chillingly cool crime debut. -- Paula Hawkins, author of The Girl on the TrainAn ominous read with a creepy ambience. * Prima *The atmosphere is what makes me fall, head over heels: a lonely woman who rents out her city apartment and heads out into the wilderness . . . The Forbidden Place is one of the best and most complete debut novels I've ever read -- Lotta Olsson * Dagens Nyheter *

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Book SynopsisA banker hanged from Gallows Rock... An unknown child discovered in his flat... Iceland's Queen of Crime is back with a chillingly dark murder mystery.Trade ReviewPraise for Gallows Rock * : *Nail-biting... Iceland's long dark nights are at their most minatory in Sigurðardóttir's atmospheric thrillers * Financial Times *Sigurdardottir is as confident a writer as ever * The Sunday Times *The multi-award winning Icelandic writer has a growing UK fan base. The fourth thriller featuring child psychologist Freyja and detective Hulder, is as chilling as Scandi noir should be * Peterborough Telegraph *Sigurðardóttir hooks her readers very quickly... Eventually, justice is done and the loose ends are satisfactorily tied up * Literary Review *Pacey dealing out of the plot twists amid uniquely Icelandic characters and circumstances * The Sunday Times Crime Club *You'll devour it with fascination and you'll be head over heels with Sigurðardóttir's writing * Daily Record *Packs an all too timely punch - 5 Stars * Heat *Well-paced police procedural with a twist you may not see coming * Choice Magazine *Praise for Yrsa Sigurdardottir's Freyja and Huldar series * . *Yrsa remains the queen of Icelandic thriller writers. * Guardian *It's addictive, bleak, and will give you thrills and chills in equal measures. * Cosmopolitan Magazine *There's no waffle in The Reckoning: it is brutal, baroque and ends with a brilliant last-minute twist. * Evening Standard *If you like your crime fiction dark and engaging, look no further. THE LEGACY is as brutal as it gets. A cracking start to a new series by Yrsa Sigurdardottir. -- Mari Hannah, author of the DCI Kate Daniels seriesA dark story by a brilliant author. A densely plotted, multifaceted and compelling book. Exceeds most novels in the thriller genre. -- Eric Axl SundYrsa Sigurdardóttir has with her large-scale and genuinely intelligent stories attempted to find the core of Iceland's distinctive society, and thus pushed the Icelandic crime novel tradition many steps forward. -- Arne DahlIceland's outstanding crime novelist * Daily Express *THE RECKONING is another chilling, atmospheric tale from the undisputed Queen of Icelandic Noir. I loved it. -- Simon KernickOne of the best books I've read for a long time: dark, creepy, and gripping from beginning to end. -- Stuart MacBride, author of the Logan McRae seriesYrsa is a magnificent writer. -- Karin SlaughterFreyja and Huldar are one of the most intriguing crime detecting partnerships around and THE ABSOLUTION is a gripping, fascinating insight into the dark side of social media and children at risk. THE ABSOLUTION confirms Yrsa as a master storyteller with a satisfyingly slanted view of the world she recreates. -- William Ryan, author of A House of GhostsYrsa Sigurdardottir gets better and better with each book. The relationships and the humour lighten the darkest plot. -- Liz Nugent, author of Skin Deep

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Book Synopsis''Completely enchanting . . . a gentle and unexpected love story whose characters are drawn with tenderness and touching honesty. I loved it.'' Ruth Hogan, author of THE KEEPER OF LOST THINGSMarguerite had been living a comfortable but dull existence in a suburban town with her straitlaced lawyer husband. When he dies, she realises that life has passed her by.Marcel had been in a loving relationship with Nora since they left Algeria sixty years before. Now that he has lost her, he has lost his way. Marguerite and Marcel live in two very different worlds - one rich, one poor. They never should have met. And yet their paths cross at a retreat, and a connection forms...But will they manage to overcome the disapproval of their friends and families, as well as their own misgivings? Or have they left it too late to really follow their hearts'' desires?Now Let''s Dance is an uplifting, life-affirming novel about following your heTrade ReviewCompletely enchanting . . . a gentle and unexpected love story whose characters are drawn with tenderness and touching honesty. I loved it. It deserves to fly off the shelves! * Ruth Hogan, author of THE KEEPER OF LOST THINGS *This gorgeous, optimistic, often very funny love story is full of the joys and despairs of ageing, and written with a superb simplicity. It's perfect for the young-at-heart. * DAILY MAIL *I enjoyed it very much, a really charming love story * Cathy Hopkins, author of THE KICKING THE BUCKET LIST *

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Book SynopsisThis Is a Classic illuminates the overlooked networks that contribute to the making of literary classics through the voices of multiple translators, without whom writers would have a difficult time reaching a global audience. It presents the work of some of today's most accomplished literary translators who translate classics into English or who work closely with translation in the US context and magnifies translators' knowledge, skills, creativity, and relationships with the literary texts they translate, the authors whose works they translate, and the translations they make. The volume presents translators' expertise and insight on how classics get defined according to language pairs and contexts. It advocates for careful attention to the role of translation and translators in reading choices and practices, especially regarding literary classics.Trade ReviewTranslation has always been about learning to understand others while finding out something vital about ourselves. Unlike other books in the field, This Is a Classic does not fall into the trap of neglecting one part of that equation to favor the other, and that is because it never loses sight of the fact that a literary classic – whatever else it is or does – teaches us to look at ourselves anew in consideration of others. * Juan Carlos Calvillo, Professor, Center for Literature and Linguistics, El Colegio de México, Mexico City *This important collection aims to raise awareness of translation in mainstream academia but is equally valuable for the lay reader because, as Galasso points out in her introduction, 'the classics are tools for developing writers.' With brilliant contributions from a constellation of our generation's literary rock stars, Galasso is on point in her curation of these essays which, as she points out, could just as accurately have been titled 'Translators on the Making of World Literature' because without translation 'literature would not have the ability to move around the globe.'" * Samantha Schnee, Founding Editor of Words Without Borders *Table of ContentsIntroduction Literary Classics through Translation Regina Galasso (University of Massachusetts Amherst, USA) Prologue: The Translator's Agency and the Literary Classic Abroad: Emily Dickinson's Voyage to Braziliput Adalberto Muller (University Federal Fluminense, Brazil) 1. Chinese Classics: The Commentarial Tradition Sabina Knight (Smith College, USA) with Kidder Smith (Bowdoin College, USA) 2. Happy Hour Homer: On Translating and Performing the Iliad Live in a Bar Lynn Kozak (McGill University, Canada) 3. Today in the Temple of Language: Translating Dante Mary Jo Bang (Washington University St. Louis, USA) 4. True Confessions of a Literary Translator Arvind Krishna Mehrotra (Independent Scholar, India) 5. What is a Classic? The Case of Esperanto Humphrey Tonkin (University of Hartford, USA) 6. The Russian Canon in Retranslation Marian Schwartz (Independent Scholar, USA) 7. Translating Yiddish Classics: Redefining Tradition in Modern Yiddish Literature through the Prism of Kadya Molodowsky Chantal Ringuet (Independent Scholar, Canada) 8. Victor Català's A Film (3000 Meters): Translating a Catalan Classic Peter Bush (Independent Scholar, UK) 9. Translation as Storytelling Susan Bernofsky (Columbia University, USA) 10. In Terror and Pandemic: Translating García Lorca's Poet in New York Mark Statman (The New School, USA) 11. Stopping at the Surface: Translating Clarice Lispector's The Besieged City and A Breath of Life Johnny Lorenz (Montclair State University, USA) 12. Tanizaki's The Key in Translation: Will You Still Need Me? Will You Still Read Me, When I'm Sixty-Four? Anna Zielinska-Elliott (Boston University, USA) 13. An Essay on Nichita Stanescu: The Classic and the Personal in Translation Sean Cotter (University of Texas, USA) 14. From Arabic to English, What is a Classic? Michelle Hartman (McGill University, Canada) 15. Translating a Classic into the Future: Tómas Jónsson—Bestseller Lytton Smith (SUNY Geneseo, USA) 16. Love, Anger, Madness Making a Classic: Amplifying Marie Vieux Chauvet's Haitian Trilogy Caroyln Shread (Mount Holyoke College, USA) 17. What besides Words?: Translating Bilge Karasu's A Long Day's Evening Aron Aji (University of Iowa, USA) 18. Nonsense in a Given Direction: Translating the Timelessness of Marguerite Duras Emma Ramadan (Independent Scholar, USA) 19. "Sentence" as Lifeline: Translating David Albahari's Novels Ellen Elias-Bursac (Independent Scholar, USA) Epilogue Matching Socks in the Dark; or How to Translate from Languages You Don't Know Ilan Stavans (Amherst College, USA) A Translation Experiment Kleptomaniac Classic: Ramona Esther Allen (CUNY, USA) and Sean Cotter (University of Texas, USA) Index

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Book Synopsis'Godfather of Swedish Crime' (Metro), Hakan Nesser, is back with the second installment in the Inspector Barbarotti series, The Root of Evil.July 2007. A letter arrives on Inspector Barbarotti’s doorstep detailing a murder that is about to take place in his own quiet Swedish town. By the time the police track down the subject of the letter, he is already dead. So when a second letter arrives, then a third, and a fourth, it’s a game of cat and mouse to stop the killer before he can make good on all of his promises. Meanwhile, an anonymous diary is unearthed depicting the incidents of a two week holiday in France five years earlier, and it doesn’t take Barbarotti long to realize the people populating the diary are the ones whose lives are now in the balance . . .Trade ReviewThe godfather of Swedish crime * Metro *Told with wry humour and compassion, Nesser has four more Barbarotti stories to come — cherish them all -- Daily Mail on The Darkest DayA master of suspense * Sunday Times *In an exemplary translation by Sarah Death, this tangled tale of guilt and betrayal whets the appetite for translations of the other Barbarotti novels -- Financial Times on The Darkest DayOne of the best of the Nordic Noir writers * Guardian *Barbarotti has to disentangle years of bad blood and resentment to get to the heart of a thrillingly complex case * Sunday Times (on The Darkest Day) *One of Sweden's best crime writers * Mail on Sunday *

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Book SynopsisThe Overnight Kidnapper is the twenty-third Inspector Montalbano mystery, from the international bestselling author Andrea Camilleri.After a hectic morning involving two rather irritating cases of mistaken identity, Inspector Montalbano finally arrives in his office ready find out what's troubling Vigàta this week. What he discovers is unnerving. A woman on her way home from work has been held up at gunpoint, chloroformed and kidnapped, but then released just hours later – unharmed and with all her possessions – into the open countryside.Later that day, Montalbano hears from Enzo, the owner of his favourite restaurant, that his niece has recently been the victim of the exact same crime. Before long, a third instance of this baffling overnight kidnapping has been reported. As far as Montalbano can tell, there is no link between the attacker and the victims. So what exactly is this mystery assailant gaining from these fleeting kidnappings? And what can he do to stop them? Montalbano must use all his logic and intuition if he is to answer these pressing questions before the kidnapper finds his next victim . . .The Overnight Kidnapper is followed by the twenty-fourth gripping mystery, The Other End of the Line.Trade ReviewMontalbano's colleagues, chance encounters, Sicilian mores, even the contents of his fridge are described with the wit and gusto that make this narrator the best company in crime fiction today * Guardian *Among the most exquisitely crafted pieces of crime writing available today . . . Simply superb * Sunday Times *One of fiction's greatest detectives and Camilleri is one of Europe's greatest crime writers * Daily Mail *The Overnight Kidnapper is an ideal beach read or a prefect winter evening companion. It’s the light tone, the humorous relationships between the characters and the farcical situations that arise in the novels that makes them so enjoyable . . . If you are new to Montalbano, aside from going back to the beginning, this would be an excellent place to start. * NB Magazine *

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Book Synopsis'I think the world should read it' LISA TADDEO, AUTHOR OF THREE WOMEN A Guardian Book of the Year After the unexpected death of her partner, Carolina Setterwall found herself bereft and rudderless at thirty-six, faced with the seemingly impossible task of raising her son alone. In this remarkable Swedish memoir about grief and guilt, memory and intimacy, she explores the nature of bereavement itself – the difficulty of learning to live with the ones we love, and the trials of living without them. 'The most compelling book I’ve read in years’ The Times ‘It’s impossible not to draw comparisons with Karl Ove Knausgaard. I absolutely loved it' Evening Standard 'Every spare, controlled sentence has the ring of truth. Gripping' Daily MailTrade ReviewThis book! Swedish, confessional, shockingly honest about desire, love, loss. I've read it twice now and can't stop thinking about Carolina. Utterly compulsive -- Marian KeyesPainfully clear-sighted, unsentimental . . . It’s about grief in all its raw messiness * Daily Mail *Brutally candid. The book’s power lies in Setterwall’s lacerating honesty. It’s the most compelling book I’ve read in years * The Times *Quite simply one of the best bereavement memoirs I’ve read. It’s impossible not to draw comparisons with Karl Ove Knausgaard, but there is a unique voice here, a style of disclosure all her own, incidentally beautifully translated. It’s an emotional battering ram, I thought, and I absolutely loved it * Evening Standard *Heart-wrenching and unsettling -- Rowan Coleman, internationally bestselling authorMoving, tender . . . Depicts the obsessive interiority of grief * Kirkus Reviews *The kind of book that you’ll never forget. It gets under your skin. It moves into the heart. The story is so vulnerable and direct that one cannot avoid caring for the people it is about, and to love them . . . I have never read a book that, so beautifully, puts into words how difficult it is to live without – but also to live with – the one you love. One of the best, most touching and most relevant books I’ve ever read * Randiglensbo.dk *An electrifying read. A book that forces itself upon you, impossible to resist and difficult to pause * Dagens Nyheter (Sweden) *A rich, honest, and poignant portrayal of the many dimensions of grief * Alba.Nu *One of the best books I’ve ever read . . . You’re drawn into her raw grief, anger, guilt, bitterness, fear and loss – all of it, without any filter . . . Real and alive * Sidses Bogreol *Breathtaking . . . Astoundingly well told * NWT *A magnificent reading experience * Magasinet Liv *Honest and unvarnished . . . Setterwall writes about the many nuances of grief, but also about love, family life and expectations of life before and after tragedy * Litteratursiden.dk *

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Book SynopsisGabrielle Levy's The Insomniac Society is the international phenomenon for those having sleepless night's everywhere . . . Five people. One thing in common: none of them can sleep.Claire, who sits awake beside a snoring husband and a little boy who is not hers. Jacques, a psychiatrist at the end of his career whose lonely nights are punctuated only by anonymous phone calls. Michèle, a retiree whose dark secret compels her out of bed and to church. Lena, a young goth who cannot brave the dawn, volunteering at a local café. Hervé, a shy accountant who sits in bed, panicking about his job while scrolling through emails into the early hours. As meetings led by sleep specialist Marie-Hélène draw them together, friendships will be formed and confessions made... but will they discover what's keeping them awake? And more importantly: will they be able to get to sleep?Trade ReviewGabrielle Levy does an admirable job characterising her hodgepodge collection of insomniacs and draws from a varied palette of types, demonstrating how anyone, from any strata of society, can lose their sleep * Buzz Magazine *

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Book SynopsisTHE FIRST NOVEL BY NICOLAS MATHIEU, WINNER OF THE 2018 PRIX GONCOURTNicolas Mathieu's gripping first novel is the story of a world that has come to an end. With a girl, a gun and acres of snow.When a factory that employs most of a small town is scheduled to close - to the despair of the workers and disdain of the overlords - things start to fall apart. The disenfranchised factory workers have nothing left to lose. Martel, the trade union rep with innumerable tattoos and Bruce, the body-builder addicted to steroids resort to desperate measures. A bungled kidnapping on the streets of Strasbourg goes horribly wrong and they find themselves falling prey to the machinations of the criminal underworld. "[An] uncompromising portrait of a working class eaten up by the frustration and resentment of having been abandoned, and sinking into alcoholism and racism". -- Paris MatchTrade ReviewBefore Nicolas Mathieu won the Prix Goncourt in 2018 for And Their Children After Them he wrote this remarkable novel about two small-town scallies who resort to crime when the local factory closes down . . . Mathieu, a wonderful writer, echoes the grittiness and compassion of Émile Zola in Germinal * Sunday Times *There are several intersecting stories in this bleakly uncompromising portrait of working-class life in the Vosges . . . this tale of helpless, resentful people with nothing to lose is powerful and compelling. -- Laura Wilson * Guardian *Award-winning novelist Nicolas Mathieu portrays how the destruction of working-class communities has fed cynicism and despair. -- Conrad Landin * Jacobin Magazine *A first novel of rare power * Le Figaro Littéraire *Nicolas Mathieu has written one of the best crime novels of the year * Le Monde *

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Book SynopsisA split-second decision.A terrible price to pay."You have to keep reading until the last page, the last word, the very last full stop. It's unputdownable." -Le Pays Briard"An intense and powerful novel." -Le Point"The characters are no angels... they resemble us." -Le Point"A rare pearl. Each page has us question our idea of humanity." -Le Parisien"A novel that will have you delve into the intimacy of its' characters flawed lives." -Carrefour Savoir"Immerse yourself in the meanders of the human mind, its sense of guilt and everything else that is part of human weakness." -Le Pays Briard"A strong novel." -Tele 7 JoursWhen Pax, a middle-aged second-rate actor, scores an audition for a blockbuster, he is convinced fate has taken pity on him and he will finally get to spend some time in the limelight.He leaves his flat in a hurry, ignoring the alarming sounds coming from the apartment above. He is beside himself when he learns what devastating consequences his decision had: not only was his neighbour Alex assaulted and left for dead, Alex is also his girlfriend Emi's son . . .Before long, Pax is faced with an impossible choice: should he continue to deceive Emi, the one person who always believed in him, or tell the truth and destroy their relationship?Trade ReviewA rare pearl. Each word is chosen with care, each page has us confront our own inconsistencies and question our idea of humanity. * Le Parisien *An intense and powerful novel. The characters in this book are no angels. Nothing shows this better than the fact that they resemble us. * Le Point *Immerse yourself in the meanders of the human mind, its sense of guilt and everything else that contributes to human weakness . . . You have to keep reading until the last page, the last word, the very last full stop. It's unputdownable. * Le Pays Briard *A novel that will have you delve into the intimacy of its characters' flawed lives. * Carrefour Savoirs *An emotionally strong novel * Télé 7 Jours *

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Book Synopsis'A magnificent love story, to be savoured like a delicious meal' Le ParisienFor fans of Antoine Laurain, When All is Said and Julie and Julia comes this emotional and heartwarming story of love between a father and son, told through their shared passion for food.For thirty years, Julien has lived with the question as to why his mother, Helene, suddenly walked out on him and his father - and why his father Henri refused to ever speak of her again.Now, as he sits by his father's bedside preparing to say goodbye, Julien remembers his father's long-lost notebook: a gift from Helene in which he jealously kept the recipes that made him the renowned chef of the Relais Fleuri restaurant.Julien is determined to find this last link to the father he so fiercely loves, and the mother he has never forgotten. But can the secrets to his father's cooking finally help him understand the other secrets Henri has kept all these years?Readers love The Little French Recipe Book'Rich, scrumptious, bittersweet, The Little French Recipe Book is a wonderful novel dipped in a mix of nostalgia, love, and secrets' Meggy'Heartwarming and a beautiful trip down memory lane' Jacky'A poignant and heartwarming book that kept me hooked and crave the food described' Anna Maria'My mouth positively watered with the descriptions of the food . . . If you have already discovered the novels of Antoine Laurain you will love this as well' Linda'What a treat for all lovers of French cooking, a vivid story with the bonus of lovely recipes spiced with a twist of mystery' JoanTrade ReviewLike a French meal - elegant, perfectly-paced and satisfying -- Anne YoungsonJacky Durand's debut novel is a love letter to family, memory and the art of French cooking, as authentic and satisfying as the recipes it describes. I devoured this poignant and evocative feast of a book, which explores the complex, bittersweet ingredients of the relationship between a father and son. -- Fiona ValpyI devoured this bittersweet debut novel set in a small town near Dijon ... an affecting tale with terroir recipes thrown in * Saga *A lovely emotional story. * My Weekly Special *A bittersweet book * Woman *

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Book SynopsisFrom the author of Grey Souls and Brodeck's Report: a chilling island fable of murder, exploitation and complicity"A parable about modern migration that is also the kind of detective story Mikhail Bulgakov might have written: visionary and darkly humourous" Lucy Hughes-Hallet, New Statesman BOOKS OF THE YEAR"A timely and elegant examination of the migrant situation in the Mediterranean from the point of view of a remote, volcanic island" The New European BOOKS OF THE YEARThe Dog Islands are a small, isolated cluster of islands in the Mediterranean - so called because together, when viewed from above, they form the shape of a dog, twisting and baring its teeth against a brilliant blue sea. One of the only inhabited islands (the one that takes the place of one of the dog's teeth) is dominated by a gently smoking volcano, fringed by black volcanic beaches and under the iron rule of the heads of community who are loath to let any outside influence disrupt the quiet way of life on the island.Then one morning, an old woman comes across three bodies that have washed up with the tide: three young black men, who have apparently drowned in their attempt to cross the sea. The initial reaction of the island community is that this tragedy must be covered up, lest any association with the drownings damages the island's tourism industry . . .But the island's deliberate isolation from the realities of the world cannot last for long, and when a visiting detective arrives on the island and starts asking awkward questions, it becomes clear that the deaths of these three men indicate something far more sinister and deeply rotten lying at the heart of this godforsaken fragment of sea-bound land.Translated from the French by Euan CameronEUAN CAMERON is a literary translator from the French and a former publisher. His previous translations include works by Patrick Modiano, Didier Decoin and Paul Morand, as well as biographies of Marcel Proust and Irène Némirovsky. His debut novel, Madeleine, was published in 2019.With the support of the Creative Europe Programme of the European UnionTrade ReviewA timely and elegant examination of the migrant situation in the Mediterranean from the point of view of a remote, volcanic island that depends on tourism for its survival and lives in fear of negative publicity as a result. -- Charlie Connelly * New European Books of the Year *

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Book Synopsis'One of the undisputed masterpieces of early nineteenth-century French prose fiction.'From Richard Sieburth's preface to AdolphePublished simultaneously in London and Paris in 1816, Adolphe is the story of a tragic love affair between its narrator and his lover Ellenore, two characters locked into a fatal dance of self-destruction. In what is one of the earliest examples of autofiction, from a period when all creative endeavour was permeated by autobiography. Constant's aim was to create an exemplary fiction of high moral purpose which would also function as an act of intimate self-vindication and revenge on his former lover, the formidable Madame de Stael. The result is a tautly-strung Racinian tragedy in prose.Soon after publication, Constant was defending himself from charges that he had written a novel based on real people, which he strenuously denied. The work was translated into English by Alexander Walker, and overseen by the author, resulting in what Richard Sieburth describes as 'an eccentrically bevelled jewel of Regency prose'.This riverrun edition publishes Walker's translation and Constant's preface in a new edition here for the first time since 1817.

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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 "Night Hunters, like the previous three Black Forest cases, is hard-hitting and tightly written" MARK SANDERSON, The Times Crime Club"Oliver Bottini is a terrific storyteller" Sunday Express"Taut writing and pacy events" Sunday Times"Always able to surprise the reader" BARRY FORSHAW, author of Crime Fiction: A Reader's GuideThe fourth in the Black Forest Investigations featuring Louise Bonì - by the four-time winner of the German Crime Fiction AwardAt first nothing seems to link fifteen-year-old Eddie, a bit of a loner who finds solace swimming in the dangerous waters of the Rhine, and Nadine, a rich but bored student from Freiburg. Except for the fact that both disappear without trace, within days of each other. When Eddie's body is found, suspicion first falls upon his brutal and uncooperative father. But when Nadine's own father raises the alarm, Detective Chief Inspector Louise Bonì of the Freiburg police instinctively feels that the cases are connected.An abandoned barn near the river soon becomes the focus of the investigation, beginning a trail that will lead Bonì and her team across the Rhine to Colmar, confronting them with the grim secrets of outwardly respectable citizens. Sometimes it takes very little to unleash the monster in man.Translated from the German by Jamie BullochTrade ReviewBottini's novels are infused with his knowledge of the darker corners of European history -- Joan Smith * Sunday Times *Night Hunters, like the previous three Black Forest cases, is hard-hitting and tightly written. -- Mark Sanderson * The Times Crime Club *Bottini is a terrific storyteller and he evokes his setting - the Rhine borderlands of the Black Forest - with skill -- Jake Kerridge * Sunday Express *

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Book SynopsisStressed-out, sleep-deprived and pill-popping Dr Tekla Berg is as unusual a central character as you will find" Irish Independent"Tekla is a terrific character" Literary Review"Tekla Berg is a brilliant character" Susi Holliday"A memorable protagonist" Imran Mahmood"Tekla is a scalpel-sharp character" Jens LapidusA woman is found wandering the corridors of Nobel Hospital in Stockholm, accompanied by a young boy. She appears to be looking for a man who was involved in a car accident earlier that day.Meanwhile, in one of the emergency rooms, Tekla Berg is fighting to save a patient who was seriously injured in the same incident. The resulting chaos goes beyond anything anyone could have predicted, leaving hospital staff, police and everyone else involved equally shocked and perplexed.Hospital Director Monica Carlsson has stepped up her attempts to privatise her fiefdom with the launch of an exclusive patient hotel, a controversial liver transplant unit and the prestigious recruitment of star surgeon Klas Nyström. It soon becomes obvious that Klas has his own agenda and is working to undermine Tekla at every turn.But Tekla is too distracted to meet this challenge head on: she has become obsessed with the mystery surrounding the woman and her young charge - for the boy's identity remains unknown and no trace of his past can be found.Reviews for Hell and High Water"A gripping crime novel . . . fast-moving and packed with convincing detail and memorable characters" Literary Review"As gripping as it could be . . . An authentic and seriously exciting debut" Irish IndependentTranslated from the Swedish by George Goulding and Sarah de Senarclens

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