Fiction in translation
Dedalus Ltd Baltic Belles: The Dedalus Book of Latvian
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£9.49
Dedalus Ltd The White Dominican
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£9.49
Dedalus Ltd Chasing the Dream
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£9.49
Dedalus Ltd Days of Anger
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£9.49
Dedalus Ltd Catalogue of a Private Life
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£7.99
Dedalus Ltd The Pearl Whisperer
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£7.99
Dedalus Ltd Take Six: Six Spanish Women Writers
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£9.49
Dedalus Ltd This was the Man: Lui
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£11.39
Dedalus Ltd This Woman, This Man: Elle et Lui
Book SynopsisGeorge Sand''s fictionalised account of her notorious affair with the poet Alfred de Musset caused a sensation on its publication two years after his death, in 1859. It also prompted a volley of claim and counter-claim: two more novels rapidly appeared in the following months, Lui Et Elle, by Musset?s brother, defending his reputation; and Lui, by Louise Colet, Flaubert?s former mistress and briefly Musset?s. Then the journalists and commentators of the day joined in, with Eux, by Gaston Lavalley, and Eux Et Elles, by Adolphe de Lescure, satirising the whole sordid business.
£9.49
Dedalus Ltd Where the Grass no longer Grows
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£9.49
Dedalus Ltd Naples Noir: La Strada degli Americani
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£9.49
The Emma Press About Us
Book Synopsis"Now's not the time to think. Now's the time to feel." A taxi ride, a train trip, a family photo: in About Us, seemingly unremarkable journeys and mundane objects ripple with the repercussions of past decisions. All is not what it seems at a family wedding, a regretful father risks estranging his daughter, and a young woman is tormented by the cries of a baby that her partner cannot hear. Reda Gaudiamo's characters charm, chafe and confound in a series of intimate snapshots of domestic relationships. With twists shifting from the comically mischievous to the abruptly chilling, this collection is a bold slice of contemporary Indonesian literature.
£10.44
The Emma Press Vivarium
Book SynopsisVivarium is a collection about connection and alienation, belonging and place. Pärtna explores the uneasy co-existence of the past and the present, on a national and global scale, and looks ahead to the future with anxiety as well as hope. She reflects on the effects of Soviet rule on Estonian society and the national mindset, and on humanity’s treatment of natural habitats. Stories of personal trauma play out against a backdrop of major environmental changes, loss of biodiversity, and global warming. Maarja Pärtna is part of the new generation of young Estonian poets, and this edition has been awarded funding by the Cultural Endowment of Estonia.
£8.01
The Emma Press After Summer: and other stories
Book SynopsisAfter Summer is an anthology of new writing for young people, produced as part of the Creative Europe-funded READ ON! project. Featuring short stories commissioned, selected and written by young people from Portugal, Norway, Italy and the UK, this is an extraordinarily varied collection of stories spanning the continent.
£4.98
The Emma Press Secret
Book SynopsisA little boy wants to tell his mother a secret, but first she has to swear to tell NO-ONE ELSE! There is also a secret hidden in the illustrations. Part of the second batch of Bicki-Books, a collectible series of postcard-sized picture books which each feature a classic Latvian poem. Suitable for children aged 3+.
£5.59
The Emma Press Potato Potato
Book SynopsisA fun nursery rhyme about potatoes written across a long strip of potato peel. Part of the second batch of Bicki-Books, a collectible series of postcard-sized picture books which each feature a classic Latvian poem. Suitable for children aged 3+.
£5.59
The Emma Press Mole
Book SynopsisWho would imagine that a family of moles has built a metro system right under our feet – and that the little mounds you see in the fields are actually their subway train stations?Part of the second batch of Bicki-Books, a collectible series of postcard-sized picture books which each feature a classic Latvian poem. Suitable for children aged 3+.
£5.59
The Emma Press Emil
Book SynopsisA love poem to Emil! Part of the second batch of Bicki-Books, a collectible series of postcard-sized picture books which each feature a classic Latvian poem. Suitable for children aged 3+.
£5.59
The Emma Press I want a little puppy dog
Book SynopsisThis man wants a dog and will stop at nothing to get it! Beautifully illustrated with embroidery.Part of the second batch of Bicki-Books, a collectible series of postcard-sized picture books which each feature a classic Latvian poem. Suitable for children aged 3+.
£5.59
The Emma Press how the first sparks became visible
Book SynopsisSimone Atangana Bekono's poems are vivid and arresting, with the feeling of letters or diary entries. In nine breath-taking streams of consciousness, the poet explore race, gender and sexuality, addressing the social stigmatization of race and gender and invoking empathy and human connection in a voice that is both confident and innovative.
£6.50
World Editions Ltd Welcome To America
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£10.44
World Editions Ltd The Last Days Of Ellis Island
Book SynopsisThis winner of the European Union Prize for Literature is a visceral combination of real and fictional events.
£10.79
World Editions Ltd We Are Light
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£12.74
Banipal Books A Rebel named Hanan al-Shaykh
Book SynopsisMain feature: London-based Lebanese author Hanan al-Shaykh. Poems by late Lebanese poet Bassam Hajjar now read widely as "inspirational" and poems by Iraqi exile Adnan Mohsen. Three writers from Syria, Morocco and Tunisia explore their respective countries' dilemmas: Khalil Sweileh, Nassima Raoui and Chafik Targui. Plus 2019 IPAF shortlist novels.
£9.50
Banipal Books The Beautiful Creatures of Fadhil Al-Azzawi
Book SynopsisBanipal 65 celebrates Iraq novelist and poet Fadhil Al-Azzawi, renowned for his “conceptual leaps, rich references and linguistic surprises”. Ariel Dorfman described him as “an Iraqi master poet who opens up all the despair and tenderness of our times”. Plus fiction and poetry from Kuwait, Yemen, Morocco, Egypt and Palestine.
£9.50
Banipal Books Travels
Book SynopsisâœTravelsâ features five Arab travel writers: Iraqi Farouk Yousif in New York; Tunisian Hassouna Mosbahi in Andalucia; Algerian Said Khatibi in Sarajevo; Moroccan-Dutch Abdelkader Benali in Tangiers and Syrian-Danish Monir Almajid in Japan. Plus profiles on Jordanian Kafa Al-Zouâbi and British poet Linda France, and other fiction and poetry works.
£9.50
Banipal Books Elias Khoury, The Novelist
Book SynopsisBanipal 67 – Elias Khoury, The Novelist presents a major feature on the celebrated Lebanese and international author, with excerpts from his latest novel Stella Maris, the second in the Children of the Ghetto trilogy, and a chapter from his first novel (until now not translated), plus in-depth articles on the corpus of novels including translations of his works into Hebrew, and reviews of his early novels. • We bid Adieu to poet Amjad Nasser in Fakhri Saleh’s essay on his poetry collections. • We introduce two winners of the Moroccan Argana International Poetry Prize – Wadih Saadeh and Hawad. • Also featured are the six shortlisted novels of the 2020 International Prize for Arabic Fiction. • Plus works by two well-known Iraqi writers: Muhammad Khudayyir and Muhsin al-Musawi – and poems by three young poets from Lebanon, Palestine and Tunisia. MANY THANKS to all our contributors, authors, translators, and editors, who have been working from home under coronavirus restrictions.
£9.50
Banipal Books Banipal – Short Stories
Book SynopsisCovid-19 is still with us, spreading its deathly virus, killing thousands, keeping us in our homes, making us keep our distance wherever we go, wearing masks whenever we might get within a metre or so of another person, and creating virtual, digital events. Over the months it has changed the world, and till now it’s hard to see an end to it. All our lives are being transformed by it.On 8 April, the Sheikh Zayed Book Award announced its 2020 winners – Banipal Magazine won the Publishing and Technology award. What a huge honour and accolade for this 23-year-old literary magazine. It is a tremendous boost to our very necessary translation project. We were pleased, also, to hear a mention of our new project of a second magazine – Revista Banipal for modern Arab literature in Spanish translation.Banipal 68 – Short Stories introduces 21 diverse, engaging and thoughtful stories, mostly for the first time in English. First, from the award ceremony of the Almultaqa Prize for the Arabic Short Story, there is winner Sheikha Helawy and finalists Sofiene Rajab, Sherif Saleh and Mahmoud Al-Rahbi, and then three further great short story writers, Muhammad Khudayyir , Mustafa Taj Aldeen Almosa and Mohammed Al-Sharekh. Plus chapters from two novels – Free Fall by Abeer Esber and A Small Death by Mohammed Hasan Alwan. Plus works by two major poets – Moncef Ouhaibi, winner of the 2020 Sheikh Zayed Award for Literature, and Abdo Wazen. Plus interview with Mohamed Berrada and essay by Bothayna al-Essa on her writings. And letters from Ghassan Kanafani to Denys Johnson-Davies. A HUGE THANKS to all our contributors who have continued working from home under coronavirus restrictions, and to our socially-distancing printer and distributor.
£9.50
Banipal Books The Madness of Despair
Book SynopsisThe Madness of Despair tells the story of Maliha, who is living in London with her husband Nafie after an arranged marriage in their distant Arab homeland. The couple become good friends with Doctor Nadim, a fellow exile, but in the twists and turns of the friendship, the men’s nostalgia for their old lives – and old ways of living – come into conflict with Maliha’s ambition to live and love freely and make something of her new life now she’s settled in London. Though ready to throw off the constraints of her disastrous marriage at the slightest turn, Maliha is ill-prepared for the fire of emotions that overcomes her, leading to unforeseen consequences for all three. It is a powerful narrative that reveals just how much psychological suffering and cultural displacement can upset the most ordinary of aspirations for life and love.
£10.79
Banipal Books Banipal 69: 9 New Novels
Book SynopsisBanipal 69 opens by saluting in texts by two of its major authors, the city of Beirut that was devastated by the calamitous explosion at its port on 4 August: Beirutshima is a resounding and moving poem by the poet Abdo Wazen that describes vividly and painfully the sudden and awful moments of the destruction as “tongues of hellfire shot out” … “in a nightmare moment like eternity”, in a brilliant translation by Paul Starkey. Elias Khoury’s essay The City of Strangers begins by looking at the metaphor of Beirut as an apple, from Mahmoud Darwish’s poem “Beirut”, although it was “born a pine tree on the shores of the Mediterranean”, and how the explosion then sees “the monster bite through the metaphor’s back and tear the metaphor to pieces.”The main feature introduces nine new Arabic novels by authors from Tunisia, Oman, Bahrain, Algeria, Sudan, Qatar and Egypt. In a change from including a brief synopsis of a novel with the excerpts in translation, in this issue eight novels are fully reviewed alongside the translated excerpts while one includes an interview with the author.
£9.50
Banipal Books Banipal 70 - Mahmoud Shukair, Writing Jerusalem
Book SynopsisBanipal 70 – Mahmoud Shukair, Writing Jerusalem is a rich issue of diverse authors and literary news to inspire and enthuse you in this continuing time of Covid-19.The main feature on Palestinian author Mahmoud Shukair is a gift to the great Jerusalemite on his 80th birthday – which took place in March this year – with articles, short stories, reviews of his two collections in English translation, and his trilogy of novels of Jerusalem family life.Two recent Arabic novels are reviewed and excerpted: At Rest in the Cherry Orchard by Iraqi author Azher Jirjees, and No One Prayed over Their Graves by Syrian author Khaled Khalifa. Also included, a memorable short story “A Bicycle Brings an Old Comrade” by Egyptian author Hassan Abdel Mawgoud.Lebanese author Alawiya Sobh talks to Katia al-Tawil about her latest novel To Love Life, with three chapters excerpted.Guest writer is Gibraltarian poet and translator Trino Cruz, working in both Spanish and English, with selected poems from The Fertile Shore.Plus an interview with the editors of the Maktoob project, which translates and publishes Arabic literature in Hebrew.
£9.50
Banipal Books The Madness of Despair
Book SynopsisThe Madness of Despair tells the story of Maliha, who is living in London with her husband Nafie after an arranged marriage in their distant Arab homeland. The couple become good friends with Doctor Nadim, a fellow exile, but in the twists and turns of the friendship, the men’s nostalgia for their old lives – and old ways of living – come into conflict with Maliha’s ambition to live and love freely and make something of her new life now she’s settled in London. Though ready to throw off the constraints of her disastrous marriage at the slightest turn, Maliha is ill-prepared for the fire of emotions that overcomes her, leading to unforeseen consequences for all three. It is a powerful narrative that reveals just how much psychological suffering and cultural displacement can upset the most ordinary of aspirations for life and love.
£16.50
Banipal Books Sarajevo Firewood
Book SynopsisSarajevo Firewood, which was shortlisted for the International Prize for Arabic Fiction (IPAF) award in 2020, explores the legacy of the recent histories of two countries — Algeria and Bosnia-Herzegovina — both of which experienced traumatic, and ultimately futile, civil wars in the 1990s. The novel narrates the lives of two main characters, with their friends and families: Salim, an Algerian journalist, and Ivana, a young Bosnian woman, both of whom have fled the destruction and hatred of their own countries to try to build a new life in Slovenia. As Ivana pursues her goal of writing her ‘dream play’, Khatibi’s novel brings to life in fictional form the memories and experiences of the countless ordinary people who survived the atrocities linking the two countries. As such, it represents both a lasting memorial to the thousands of dead and ‘disappeared’ of the two countries’ civil conflicts, but also a powerful and novel exploration of the experience of exile to which so many have been subjected over the last few decades.
£10.79
Banipal Books Things I Left Behind
Book SynopsisThis is young Palestinian author Shada Mustafa’s debut novel – a free-flowing narrative that interrogates, in short, direct sentences, the memories of growing up, falling in love, that keep forcing themselves out to be reckoned with. Through ceaseless questioning, and the seemingly random revisiting of each of the four “things” she has left behind, the narrator redeems her life from the inexplicable pain and tragic anguish that was her childhood in an occupied and divided land and family. In so doing, Mustafa creates a unique writing style while at the same time allowing the narrative its original, cathartic function, liberating herself from her past, and finding her true self. Why was she always having to cross the Qalandia checkpoint to see her dad or her mom? Why did they divorce? Why was her mom angry? How could she make her happy? Why was her dad a different man when he came out of the occupier’s prison? What was more important, the cause or the people? The questions become more urgent when she becomes a student and falls in love. This short novel, original in its subject as much as its narrative technique, has been singled out from the start by being shortlisted for the 2021 Sheikh Zayed Book Award for Young Authors.
£9.49
Banipal Books Banipal 72 – Iraqi Jewish Writers
Book SynopsisThis unique feature on Iraqi Jewish writers includes short stories, excerpts from novels, and poems – written by 17 authors – all of whom are of Iraqi descent. For several centuries, Iraqi Jews were key contributors to Iraq’s rich social and cultural tapestry – active in all areas of life as novelists, poets, essayists, journalists, musicians, composers, singers, and artists. Sadly, all this came to a tragic end with the massive transfer-emigration and forced displacement of Iraqi Jews in the 1950s to Israel. The feature also includes introductory essays about the authors and poets, who are of different generations, traversing a wide range of languages – from the poetry of the Mani brothers at the turn of the 20th century to the works of Almog Behar and Mati Shemoelof in the early noughties. The texts raise universal questions of belongingness, exile, diaspora, cross-national affinities, and cross-linguistic possibilities. All texts were either translated directly from Arabic (approximately two-thirds) or from Hebrew, with one written originally in English.
£9.50
Banipal Books Banipal 73 Fiction Past and Present
Book SynopsisBanipal 73 - Fiction Past and Present is a delicious mix of pioneering, emerging and established authors from around the Arab world. With short stories by three pioneering writers - Emile Habiby, Fuad al-Takarli and Mohamed Choukri and works by established novelists Ezzat el-Kamhawi (The Travellers' Room) and Emna Rmili (Beach of Souls). Also the first time in English translation for fiction writers Reem Al-Kamali, Mohammed Alnaas, Dima al-Choukr, Khalid Al-Nassrallah and Bushra Khalfan in our feature on the six shortlisted novels of the 2022 IPAF.
£9.50
Banipal Books Shadow of the Sun
Book SynopsisImpoverished Egyptian teacher Helmy is desperate to find a better life for himself, his wife and little boy, seeing no future at home in Cairo. He dreams of working in oil-rich Kuwait and its boom in construction being the answer, just like many thousands before him. He manages to borrow the huge cost of a visa and is at last on his way to Kuwait City. He has no idea of the hellish nightmare, instead of the dream, that awaits him – the relentless summer sun and temperature of 56ºC and more, the choking dust and sweat, having to do construction work instead of teaching. And always, no money, and no answers from the many officials that he comes up against. Instead of achieving his dream, he falls into trap after trap. The author is himself a character in the novel, an engineer with the construction company who is writing a novel about the humiliating and degrading experiences of the migrant foreign workers arriving in Kuwait to make their fortunes. In the Preface to the novel, author Taleb Alrefai writes: "The novel casts lights on the lives of thousands of workers who come to the Gulf states with dreams of money and wealth, but who are confronted with the harshness of a desolate reality. It exposes specifically the suffering of migrant workers in Kuwait, be they Arabs or foreigners, and how their every moment is shaped by need, injustice and cruelty. Some commit suicide, but that has no effect on the work on site under the blazing sun that’s like the lash of hell. "Almost a historical document on my life and the lives of the workers with whom I lived for fifteen years, Shadow of the Sun presents a human landscape set in and reflecting Kuwait."
£10.44
Banipal Books Birds of Nabaa: A Mauritanian Tale
Book SynopsisBirds of Nabaa is a tale of physical and spiritual journeys, beginning in Nabaa, a remote Mauritanian village, whose herds lead the community according to their own inscrutable instincts, to life in Madrid, the Gulf states and Guinea, where the narrator's work as an embassy accountant takes him, and to Mauritania's capital Nouakchott. Inspired by the Sahara of his childhood and devoted from an early age to the vagabond life of the pre-Islamic poets, the narrator's constant life on the move in search of the inner stillness known only to desert dwellers leads him back always to the music, song and poetry so much a part of Mauritanian life and the spiritual universe of Sufism. The mix of diverse characters joining him includes Teresa, his Brazilian neighbour in Madrid whom he taught to make tea the Mauritanian way; Rajab the inspiring teacher in a blue face veil; Hussein the poet; Mariam, a postman between the living and the dead via cowrie shell readings; the exiled judge of Chinguetti; as well as his close friend the voracious reader and rebel Abdurrahman who wants to change the world, Abdel Hadi, the holy-fool sheikh with an encyclopaedic knowledge of Arab history and poetry, and Ould al-Taher, the first climate-change refugee. The narrator's travels take him to the village of Kanz al-Asrar near a tributary of the Senegal River, an area so fertile it is like a lush paradise. However, two and more years without any rain create drought, wells dry out, livelihoods shatter, and dreams turn to disturbing nightmarish premonitions of disaster. The burning fire of the sun is winning its eternal struggle with the hidden water that the clouds plant in the depths of the sand. As desertification takes hold, that paradise of southern Mauritania and of Nabaa gradually declines and the waves of migration, always a feature of life in the Sahara, intensify.Trade Review"Birds of Nabaa, A Mauritanian Tale by Mauritanian author Abdallah Uld Mohamadi Bah is a cathartic experience inspired by the passion of Sufism.""Uld Mohamadi Bah's characters are refined and crafted with delicate nuance. He captures the discordant feelings of those who have experienced immigration, whether by choice or impossible circumstances."Reviewed by Noshin Bokth in The New Arab newspaper: https://www.newarab.com/features/birds-nabaa-mystical-roamings-mauritanian-sufiTable of Contents12 Chapters. 1 Birds Soaring in Our Sky. 2 In the Shade of Teresa. 3 Soaring above the Touched Man's Nest. 4 My Life as Travelogue. 5 Rajab's Shade Giving Tent. 6 Three Men and a Woman. 7 Mariam the Cowrie Shell Reader. 8 Abdurrahman Lays Down his Saddle. 9 War Dance at Kanz al-Asrar. 10 That Woman's Name is Mounira. 11 Bread and Mint. 12 The Sheikh's Vision Comes True.
£10.44
Fitzcarraldo Editions Dark Satellites
Book SynopsisInternational Booker-longlisted author Clemens Meyer returns with Dark Satellites, a striking collection of stories about marginal characters in contemporary Germany. A train driver’s life is upended when he hits a laughing man on the tracks on his night shift; a lonely train cleaner makes friends with a hairdresser in the train station bar; and a young man, unable to return to his home after a break-in, wanders the city in a state of increasing unrest. From the home to places of work, Meyer transforms the territories of our everyday lives into sites of rupture and connection. Unsentimental and yet deeply moving, Dark Satellites is a collection of stories from our time, as dark as the world, as beautiful as the brightest of hopes.Trade ReviewSpectator Books of the Year 2020‘Figures from society’s margins are at the centre of the stories... Dark Satellites throws a perceptive light on circumscribed lives on the edges of Europe.’ — David Mills, The Sunday Times‘Clemens Meyer’s great art of describing people takes the form of the Russian doll principle: a story within a story within a story. From German jihad to a Prussian refugee drama, so much is so artfully interwoven that his work breaks the mould of the closed narrative. Images of history extending into the present are what make this collection a literary sensation.’ — Katharina Teutsch, Die Zeit‘Meyer’s writing is brittle, laconic, clear, intense – and once again on top form. Short stories are clearly his forte. He finds memorable images for his themes: a dance without music in an unused Russian canteen; a midnight haircut; a man who slides into another identity after a break-in to his home and leaves his briefcase, the last requisite of his old life, in an abandoned shop. Meyer’s stories are quiet, tragic and once again populated by ordinary people, for whom he has always harboured sympathies.’ — Steffen Roye, Am Erker‘Meyer’s snapshots of urban life — a burger bar, a fairground wheel, a neglected train station — are so vivid they make you see your own surroundings in the light of those faraway buildings.’ — Anna Aslanyan, Spectator
£12.34
Fitzcarraldo Editions Grove
Book SynopsisAn unnamed narrator, recently bereaved, travels to Olevano, a small village south-east of Rome. It is winter, and from her temporary residence on a hill between village and cemetery, she embarks on walks and outings, exploring the banal and the sublime with equal dedication and intensity. Seeing, describing, naming the world around her is her way of redefining her place within it. Written in a rich and poetic style, Grove is an exquisite novel of grief, love and landscapes.Trade Review‘What makes Grove so noteworthy is the keening, perfectly weighted clarity of Esther Kinsky’s prose; Caroline Schmidt’s elegantly considered translation is meticulous but never overstated.’ — Lucy Scholes, Financial Times ‘This is a sublime book, born of profound, empathetic understanding.’ — Declan O’Driscoll, Irish Times‘The language and atmosphere is again redolent of Kinsky’s compatriot W. G. Sebald, the much-missed psychogeographer. With Grove, she has reached his level. This is a book that finds a kind of comfort in the transience of being human.’ — i‘Depth of detail is Kinsky’s forte, her language tailored perfectly to a natural world inherent with life and a mystical beauty.’ — Review 31‘[This] remarkable novel…demonstrate[s] that the many turns and returns of memory can become part of a “path” to “be on”—that, in other words, it is possible to move ahead precisely by circling back, to learn how to sow by remembering how to bury, and vice versa…’ — Alexander Sorenson, Los Angeles Review of Books‘Grove is a realistic and humbling exploration of the all-encompassing nature of bereavement. Kinsky paints a striking picture, aided by Caroline Schmidt’s careful translation.’ — Lunate‘Deeply sad and darkly beautiful. The novel is masterly and uplifting and without any doubt it offers solace.’ — Jury for the Düsseldorf Literature Prize‘A recently bereaved woman decides to go on a trip to a small town in Italy. She wanders around describing her surroundings and the people she meets in an intimate tone that hovers between the banal and the sublime. A novel set to the pace of the narrator’s walks, it is an exploration on the effects of grief and the sometimes puzzling ways it manifests itself.’ — Buenos Aires Herald
£11.69
Fitzcarraldo Editions I is Another — WINNER OF THE 2023 NOBEL PRIZE IN
Book SynopsisAsle is an ageing painter and widower who lives alone on the southwest coast of Norway. His only friends are his neighbour, Asleik, a traditional fisherman-farmer, and Beyer, a gallerist who lives in the city. There, in Bjorgvin, lives another Asle, also a painter but lonely and consumed by alcohol. Asle and Asle are doppelgangers - two versions of the same person, two versions of the same life, both grappling with existential questions. In this second instalment of Jon Fosse’s Septology, ‘a major work of Scandinavian fiction’ (Hari Kunzru), the two Asles meet for the first time in their youth. They look strangely alike, dress identically, and both want to be painters. At art school in Bjorgvin, Asle meets and falls in love with his future wife, Ales. Written in ‘melodious and hypnotic slow prose’, I is Another: Septology III-V is an exquisite metaphysical novel about love, art, God, friendship, and the passage of time.Trade Review‘Fosse’s fusing of the commonplace and the existential, together with his dramatic forays into the past, make for a relentlessly consuming work: already Septology feels momentous.’ — Catherine Taylor, Guardian‘The reader of I is Another is both on the riverbank and in the water being carried forward, and around, by the great, shaping, and completely engrossing, flow of Fosse’s words. It’s a doubleness of view that is reflected in the characters, named Asle, who are both one and other, and through which we can see and feel the world, and ourselves, more clearly.’ — David Hayden, author of Darker with the Lights On‘Jon Fosse is a major European writer.’ — Karl Ove Knausgaard, author of My Struggle
£11.69
Fitzcarraldo Editions A New Name — WINNER OF THE 2023 NOBEL PRIZE IN
Book SynopsisAsle is an ageing painter and widower who lives alone on the southwest coast of Norway. In nearby Bjørgvin another Asle, also a painter, is lying in the hospital, consumed by alcoholism. Asle and Asle are doppelgängers – two versions of the same person, two versions of the same life, both grappling with existential questions. In this final instalment of Jon Fosse’s Septology, the major prose work by ‘the Beckett of the twenty-first century’ (Le Monde), we follow the lives of the two Asles as younger adults in flashbacks: the narrator meets his lifelong love, Ales; joins the Catholic Church; and makes a living by trying to paint away all the pictures stuck in his mind. A New Name: Septology VI-VII is a transcendent exploration of the human condition, and a radically other reading experience – incantatory, hypnotic, and utterly unique.Trade Review‘Fosse’s portrait of memory remarkably refuses. It will not be other than: indelible as paint, trivial as nail clippings, wound like damp string. This book reaches out of its frame like a hand.’ — Jesse Ball, author of Census‘Jon Fosse is a major European writer.’ — Karl Ove Knausgaard, author of My Struggle‘Fosse intuitively — and with great artistry — conveys ... a sense of wonder at the unfathomable miracle of life, even in its bleakest and loneliest moments. In this fine conclusion to Septology, the religious subtexts of the project’s companion pieces at last draw into focus. The link between Asle’s art and his faith finds subtle expression in the parallels between the haunting oil painting of two crossed lines, which the narrator contemplates at the beginning of each section, and the cross made with anointing oil as he is accepted into the Catholic faith.... As the final pages draw to their profound and breath-snatching close, Septology also attains that original ambition: it imbues the very enigma of life, which can seem at times so terrifyingly dark, with a light that is almost beatific.’ — Bryan Karetnyk, Financial Times‘The entire septet seems to take place in a state of limbo...Though Fosse has largely done away with punctuation altogether, opting instead for sudden line breaks, his dense, sinuous prose is never convoluted, and its effect is mesmerizing.’ — Johanna Elster Hanson, TLS
£11.69
Fitzcarraldo Editions Strangers I Know
Book SynopsisEvery family has its own mythology, but in this family none of the myths match up. Claudia's mother says she met her husband when she stopped him from jumping off a bridge. Her father says it happened when he saved her from an attempted robbery. Both parents are deaf but couldn't be more different; they can't even agree on how they met, much less who needed saving. Into this unlikely yet somehow inevitable union, our narrator is born. She comes of age with her brother in this strange, and increasingly estranged, household split between a small village in southern Italy and New York City. Without even sign language in common – their parents have not bothered to teach them – family communications are chaotic and rife with misinterpretations. An outsider in every way, she longs for a freedom she's not even sure exists. Only books and punk rock – and a tumultuous relationship – begin to show her the way to create her own mythology, to construct her own version of the story of her life. Kinetic, formally daring, and strikingly original, Strangers I Know is a funny and profound portrait of an unconventional family that makes us look anew at how language shapes our understanding of ourselves.Trade Review‘Formally innovative and emotionally complex, this novel explores themes of communication, family, and belonging with exceptional insight. Durastanti, celebrated in Italy for her intelligent voice and her hybrid perspective, speaks to all who are outside and in-between. ‘Strangers I Know, in a bracing translation by Elizabeth Harris, is stunning.’ — Jhumpa Lahiri author of Whereabouts‘Brave and deeply felt... Here the novel is not only a medium of illumination, but also a buoy cast into the dark waters of memory, imagination, and boldly embodied questions. In other words, it is my favorite kind of writing, the kind that not only tells of the world – but burrows through it, alive.’ — Ocean Vuong, author of On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous‘Claudia Durastanti's writing is lyrical and sharp, underpinned with a searching gaze that turns the everyday into something darkly beautiful. Every page feels totally, absorbingly alive.’ — Sophie Mackintosh, author of The Water Cure‘Playful, looping, atmospheric and funny, Strangers I Know is a singular achievement, one of those rare books that expanded my understanding of what a novel can do. Claudia Durastanti is an absolutely thrilling writer.’ — Lauren Groff, author of Matrix‘There is much exquisite characterisation in Strangers I Know by Durastanti, as well as barbed and profound musings on the class system…’ — Buzz Magazine‘Durastanti is a superb writer whose text is fluid, descriptions taut and original, whose whole novel gradually unfolds into a web of associations, possibilities and interwoven stories within stories that highlight how families, distant and near, misunderstand, confuse and love each other.’ — Rupert Loydell, International Times ‘In this moving family portrait [Durastanti] depicts personal calamities and failings with frankness, but the glimpses of violence and loneliness throughout shimmer with a sense of acceptance and the “useless power of forgiveness”.’ — Vilma De Gasperin, TLS
£11.69
HopeRoad Publishing Ltd A LONG WAY FROM DOUALA
Book SynopsisOn the trail of Roger, a brother who has gone north in search of football fame in Europe, Choupi, the narrator, takes with him the older Simon, a neighborhood friend. The bus trip north nearly ends in disaster when, at a pit stop, Simon goes wandering in search of grilled caterpillars. At the police station in Yaounde, the local cop tells them that a feckless boza who wants to go to Europe is not worth police effort and their mother should go and pleasure the police chief if she wants help! Through a series of joyful sparky vignettes, Cameroon life is revealed in all its ups and downs. Issues of life and death are raised but the tone remains light and edgy.Trade Review‘A Long Way From Douala reads like a love letter to Cameroon. A clever and compelling new voice in African literature’ (The Monthly Booking)‘There is something about the way the novel ends that is both fitting but leaves you hungry for more. I want to see where the characters go next and be swept away in Lobe’s poignant descriptions of Cameroon’ (Bad Form Magazine‘This very enjoyable novel with a loveable narrator is all about the journey, I for one, didn’t want him to arrive’ (Shiny New Books) 'Redolent with the sights, sounds and smells of modern Cameroon, this is in fact a classic road trip, a Homeric quest in which our two young heroes may not discover what they were seeking but learn a great deal about themselves, each other and the state of Africa. A jostling, poignant tale, it left me hungry for more' (Michela Wrong, author Borderlines and It's Our Turn to Eat) 'His eye is as compassionate as his characterisations are rich. I only wish this novel had been twice the length. You are in for a treat' (Patrick Gale) 'Max Lobe immerses us in the Cameroon of today... All this churns up the daily life of the novel's characters whose lives are narrated with humour and satire.' (Amnesty ) 'The role played by mothers, the fascination of football, and the influence of Boko Haram over daily life is chronicled with total delight' (Tribune de Geneve)
£9.49
HopeRoad Publishing Ltd The Colour Line
Book SynopsisIt was the middle of the nineteenth century when Lafanu Brown audaciously decided to become an artist. In the wake of the American Civil War, life was especially tough for Black women, but she didn't let that stop her. The daughter of a Native American woman and an African-Haitian man, Lafanu had the rare opportunity to study, travel, and follow her dreams, thanks to her indomitable spirit, but not without facing intolerance and violence. Now, in 1887, living in Rome as one of the city's most established painters, she is ready to tell her fiance about her difficult life, which began in a poor family forty years earlier. In 2019, an Italian art curator of Somali origin is desperately trying to bring to Europe her younger cousin, who is only sixteen and has already tried to reach Italy on a long, treacherous journey. While organizing an art exhibition that will combine the paintings of Lafanu Brown with the artworks of young migrants, the curator becomes more and more obsessed with the life and secrets of the nineteenth-century painter.Weaving together these two vibrant voices, Igiaba Scego has crafted a powerful exploration of what it means to be "other," to be a woman, and particularly a Black woman, in a foreign country, yesterday and today.Trade Review'A testament to the possibilities of liberation that rest in every act against injustice, and in every moment of artistic creation' [Maaza Mengiste]; 'In its reckoning with racism and colonialism. The Colour Line explores the potential for artists to reclaim line and colour in the name of justice' [Selby Wynn Schwartz]; 'An engrossing tale of ambition, survival, and love' [Publishers Weekly]; 'An intense and evocative book about the lasting traumas of racial injustice, the healing power of creativity, and the importance of representation in history' [Ruth Ben-Ghiat]
£14.39
HopeRoad Publishing Ltd Never Tell Anyone Your Name
Book SynopsisThe unnamed Uruguayan protagonist has accidentally booked the wrong ticket on a train journey between France and Spain and, finds himself in the Spanish border town of Irun with eight hours to kill. He meets a Spanish girl and her friend who befriend him, but we fear her intentions are not good. An unseen twist in the plot reveals our protagonist is not who he seems. Narrated in a disturbing second person present tense that constantly questions the reader and with a rhythm marked by suspense and inspired by the author's own experience of booking the wrong ticket on a train journey.Trade Review'Hauntingly mysterious right to the end' Johanna McCalmont World Kid Lit; 'Spectacularly written, Ivanier's prose flows beautifully' Sabastian Vargas;Ivanier describes with admirable freshness, that relationship between teenagers not very aware of their feelings' La Republica;‘A worldwide first Young Adult novel from Uruguay to ever be published in English. Ivanier’s hauntingly crafted novella with its clever twists and turns reveals a dark story which is hinted at from the beginning and again later on with an overt reference to the boy’s favourite classic novel. The lyrical text, excellently translated by Claire Storey, builds the atmosphere and increases tension chapter by chapter. This is not a novel for the faint-hearted with its rather macabre climax, however, it is more than just a book defined in the horror genre; there are so many complex emotions mixing everyday normality and the power of love with something much darker and sinister’ Outside in World
£8.54
HopeRoad Publishing Ltd THE DARKNESS OF COLOURS
Book SynopsisAn historical thriller narrated from two different perspectives, in two eras. The novel revolves, around kidnapping of five babies during the night of 5th of April 1885. This is the start of the experiment into the idea of nature vs nurture. What happens if these children are given different upbringing? Twenty-five years later the children now grown up suddenly reappear on the doorsteps of their biological parents. Confused by his daughter's memory loss, one parent hires Alejandro a journalist to investigate. What he discovers shocks him to the core.
£9.49
HopeRoad Publishing Ltd The Last One
Book SynopsisThe youngest daughter of Algerian immigrants, Fatima Daas is raised in a home where love and sexuality are considered taboo and signs of affection avoided. Living in the majority-Muslim Clichy-sous-Bois, she often spends more than three hours a day on public transport to and from the city, where she feels like a tourist observing Parisian manners. She goes from unstable student to maladjusted adult, doing four years of therapy - her longest relationship. But as she gains distance from her family and comes into her own, she grapples more directly with her attraction to women and how it fits with her religion, which she continues to practice. When Nina comes into her life, she doesn't know exactly what she needs but feels that something crucial has been missing.Trade Review'Hypnotising and lyrical' (Guardian) 'Daas has chosen not to play the designated role of 'the chick from the banlieue who made it'. All of this makes her path harder, as does her unwillingness to iron out the conflict she sees between her religion and her sexuality. This has made for a fine first novel' (NLR); 'The writing triumphs by keeping a low profile, without trying to make too much noise, and with a show of compassion for her people' (Virginie Despentes); Fatima Daas has written a first novel with percussive lyricism. With a narrator torn between 'the forbidden' and her desire' (Livres Hebdo);'An absorbing exploration of sexuality and religion in the mainly Muslim Paris suburb of Clichy-sous-Bois, Daas's debut is a nuanced tale of finding one's place in the world fired by a desire to belong forged in one's own truth' (New European)
£10.79
