Fiction in translation
Oxford University Press A Hunger Artist and Other Stories
Book SynopsisThis new translation includes Kafka's two published collections, A Country Doctor and A Hunger Artist with other, uncollected stories, aphorisms, and parables that have become part of the Kafka canon. Enigmatic, satirical, often bleakly humorous, the stories meditate on art and artists and the human experience. Includes an introduction and notes.Table of ContentsTHE AEROPLANES AT BRESCIA; A COUNTRY DOCTOR: LITTLE TALES; THE RIDER ON THE COAL-SCUTTLE; A HUNGER ARTIST: FOUR STORIES; BLUMFELD, AN ELDERLY BACHELOR; AT THE BUILDING OF THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA; THE HUNTSMAN GRACCHUS; INVESTIGATIONS OF A DOG; THE BURROW; SELECTED SHORTER PIECES; APHORISMS
£9.49
Yale University Press Winter Mythologies and Abbots The Margellos World
Book SynopsisMichon's exquisite short narratives transport us to the heart of the Middle Ages as witnesses to the double-edged power of beliefTrade Review“Michon demonstrates the independence of voice that marks a true writer. . . . His supple prose, dappled with chiaroscuro effects, is used in straightforward chronicles. But his writing can at any time lift or lower into semi-hallucinatory effects that recall Arthur Rimbaud’s assaults on conventional perception.”—Roger Shattuck, New York Review of Books“Excellent news on the Michon translation front: an exceptional translator has, at last, appeared. . . . There is the velocity, the precision, the music, the compression, the singularity, the power. . . . [Michon’s] vision . . . appears with all its French force in Ann Jefferson’s exceptional transplantation.”—Wyatt Mason, New York Review of BooksLonglisted for the 2015 Best Translated Book Award, fiction category, organized by Three Percent, a resource for international literature based at the University of RochesterSelected as a finalist of the French-American Foundation Translation Prize“[Michon] has become a member of that family known as the authors I admire, I trust, I want to read.”—Richard Howard“An astonishingly rich, mythic new direction in modern French narrative.”—Guy Davenport
£10.44
Vintage Publishing General Of The Dead Army
Book SynopsisTwenty years after the end of the Second World War, an Italian general is despatched to Albania to recover his country's dead. Once there he meets a German general who is engaged upon an identical mission, and their conversations brings out into the open the extent of their horror and guilt, newly exacerbated by their present task.Trade ReviewHe has been compared to Gogol, Kafka and Orwell. But Kadare's is an original voice, universal yet deeply rooted in his own soil * Independent on Sunday *A novelist of dazzling mastery -- Paul Binding * Independent *Astonishing...his finest work -- Azar Nafisi, Man Booker judge and author of 'Reading Lolita in Tehran' * Guardian *With its metonymic realism and fidelity to its characters, The General of the Dead Army reminds us why his work is so valued * New Statesman *Literary gold dust - haunting, bleakly comedic and ultimately horrific * The Times *
£9.49
Vintage Publishing The Troubled Man
Book SynopsisEvery morning Håkan von Enke takes a walk in the forest near his apartment in Stockholm. Then, one day he fails to come home.Detective Kurt Wallander is not officially involved but Håkan''s son is engaged to his daughter Linda. A few months earlier Håkan was eager to talk to Kurt about a controversial incident from his past. Could this be connected to his disappearance? When Håkan''s wife also goes missing, Wallander is determined to uncover the truth but the investigation will force him to look back over his own past, as he comes to the unsettling realisation that even those we love the most can remain strangers to us...Trade ReviewA heartbreaking tale of descent into despair and darkness that serves as a totem for what great crime writing can achieve -- Declan Burke * Irish Times *Magnificent * Financial Times *By the time you get to the end, you'll be wanting another. But it would be hard to beat this tale of murder and loss which leads back to the heart of the cold war * Daily Mirror *A plot as twisted and exciting as any Le Carre thriller * Daily Mail *It's a fine finale for the fretful policeman and it's hard not to feel you'll miss the old bugger -- Siobhan Murphy * Metro *
£10.44
Vintage Publishing We The Drowned
Book SynopsisCarsten Jensen was born in 1952. He first made his name as a columnist and literary critic. As a journalist he has reported from many regions of conflict, including the Balkans and most recently, Afghanistan. His essays, novels and travel books have won numerous literary awards, including the coveted Golden Laurels and the Danish Bank Literary Prize. In 2010 he received the prestigious Olof Palme Prize, awarded for his contribution to the defence of human rights. We, the Drowned has sold more than 300,000 copies in Scandinavia alone and was voted best Danish novel of the past 25 years.Trade ReviewA magnificent addition to the canon of seafaring writing, a brilliant new reworking of the ancient theme...the pages glow with wonderfully imagined pictures... The language is all you could hope for in a sea novel: sinewy and simple, often surprisingly beautiful -- Vanora Bennett * The Times *Carsten Jensen is unquestionably one of the most exciting authors writing in Scandinavia today. I always look forward hugely to his books. He is, in my opinion, an utterly unique story-teller -- Henning MankellAn epic tale * Independent *A novel of immense authority and ambition and beauty, by a master storyteller at the height of his powers. This is a book to sail into, to explore, to get lost in, but it is also a book that brings the reader, dazzled by wonders, home to the heart from which great stories come. Meet Carsten Jensen halfway and you're spellbound -- Joseph O'ConnorImpressive... one of the more engrossing literary voyages of recent years... rich, powerful and rewarding * Financial Times *
£10.44
Penguin Books Ltd Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk And Other Stories
Book SynopsisNikolai Semyonovich Leskov was born in 1831 in Gorokhovo, Oryol Province and was orphaned early. In 1860 he became a journalist and moved to Petersburg where he published his first story. He subsequently wrote a number of folk legends and Christmas tales, along with a few anti-nihilistic novels which resulted in isolation from the literary circles of his day. He died in 1895.David McDuff is a translator of Russian and Nordic literature. His translations of nineteenth- and twentieth-century Russian prose classics (including works by Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Bely and Babel) are published by Penguin.
£11.69
Vintage Publishing Atomised
Book SynopsisMichel Houellebecq is a poet, essayist and novelist. He is the author of several novels including The Map and the Territory (winner of the Prix Goncourt), Atomised, Platform, Whatever and Submission. He was awarded the Legion d'Honneur in 2019.Trade ReviewVery moving, gloriously, extravagantly filthy and very funny * Independent *Compelling...wrenchingly terrible... Unhealthy and haunting, rich and provocative, Atomised astonishes both as a novel of ideas and as a portrait of a society * Independent *A brave and rather magnificent book * Daily Telegraph *Sheer brilliance...totally mesmerising, energising, infuriating and moving... Compulsory reading * Time Out *A novel which hunts big game while others settle for shooting rabbits -- Julian Barnes * Times Literary Supplement *Destined to become a cult book...a genuine page-turner * Observer *Bullying and brilliant... Atomised is nothing less than a road-rage map of our times * Evening Standard *An extraordinary voice * Observer *Makes you re-examine your beliefs... This is a brave and rather magnificent book * Daily Telegraph *
£9.49
Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group The Death of Ivan Ilyich Vintage Classics
Book SynopsisTolstoy’s most famous novella is an intense and moving examination of death and the possibilities of redemption, here in a powerful translation by the award-winning Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky.Ivan Ilyich is a middle-aged man who has spent his life focused on his career as a bureaucrat and emotionally detached from his wife and children. After an accident he finds himself on the brink of an untimely death, which he sees as a terrible injustice. Face to face with his mortality, Ivan begins to question everything he has believed about the meaning of life. The Death of Ivan Ilyich is a masterpiece of psychological realism and philosophical profundity that has inspired generations of readers.
£8.54
Profile Name
Book Synopsis'Brilliantly spiky ... As well as boasting compelling, sharp prose, Name forces readers to question what one's name means - and to who' AnOther Magazine, Best Books of 2025'Debré's voice is Camusian, comic, stark, relentless and totally hypnotic' Rachel Kushner'Written with edge and urgency in a voice that is both vulnerable and in full command' Colm Tóibín'Annie Ernaux, just edgier. Her prose is gorgeously spare and practical' Irish IndependentName is Debré's most intense novel yet, a fresh feat of sharp, spare, yet explosive prose. Set partly in the narrator's childhood, it explores ideas about origins and reshapes relationships to our various inheritances: name, family, class, habits. As the novel unravels, freedom is revealed as a redefining of these relationships on one's own terms. Brilliant and unflinching, Name affirms and extends Debré's radical project.
£10.44
Vintage Publishing The Temple of the Golden Pavilion
Book SynopsisYukio Mishima was born into a samurai family and imbued with the code of complete control over mind and body, and loyalty to the Emperor - the same code that produced the austerity and self-sacrifice of Zen. He wrote countless stories and thirty-three plays, in some of which he performed. Several films have been made from his novels, including The Sound of Waves, Enjo which was based on The Temple of the Golden Pavilion and The Sailor Who Fell From Grace with the Sea. Among his other works are the novels Confessions of a Mask and Thirst for Love and the short story collections Death in Midsummer and Acts of Worship. The Sea of Fertility tetralogy, however, is his masterpiece. After Mishima conceived the idea of The Sea of Fertility in 1964, he frequently said he would die when it was completed. On 25 November 1970, the day he completed The Decay of the Angel, the last novel of the cycle, Mishima committed seppTrade ReviewA dark vision...a beautiful, disturbing novel * Los Angeles Times *Mishima writes with a fury that seldom flags * Glasgow Herald *Glitters with images of beauty and destruction, cruelty and sacrifice, dedication and betrayal * The Times *An amazing literary feat * Chicago Tribune *I adore Mishima's prose and vivid descriptions. They pull me out of my daily reality -- Amanda Harlech * Harpers Bazaar *
£9.49
Vintage Publishing The Temple of Dawn
Book SynopsisYukio Mishima was born into a samurai family and imbued with the code of complete control over mind and body, and loyalty to the Emperor - the same code that produced the austerity and self-sacrifice of Zen. He wrote countless stories and thirty-three plays, in some of which he performed. Several films have been made from his novels, including The Sound of Waves, Enjo which was based on The Temple of the Golden Pavilion and The Sailor Who Fell From Grace with the Sea. Among his other works are the novels Confessions of a Mask and Thirst for Love and the short story collections Death in Midsummer and Acts of Worship. The Sea of Fertility tetralogy, however, is his masterpiece. After Mishima conceived the idea of The Sea of Fertility in 1964, he frequently said he would die when it was completed. On 25 November 1970, the day he completed The Decay of the Angel, the last novel of the cycle, Mishima committed seppuku Trade ReviewThe four novels remain one of the outstanding works of 20th-Century literature and a summary of the author's life and work... Like the Divine Comedy and Remembrance of Things Past, "The Sea of Fertility" gives the reader the sensation of being carried to a great height...but Mishima abandons the reader at the edge of the precipice, revealing the abyss beneath the degraded life of the post-war world * Los Angeles Times *Surpassingly chilling, subtle, and original * New York Times *Japan's foremost man of letters * Spectator *Tremendous...evocative and poetic * Los Angeles Times *
£9.49
Orient BlackSwan Translating Kerala
Book SynopsisTranslating Kerala is an interdisciplinary study that is situated at the interstices of translation studies and cultural studies. It looks at translation as a social and cultural act that transcribes, articulates and interprets structures of power unfolding within asymmetrical fields of cultural politics. The book tries to go beyond traditional approaches that consider translation as a literary and linguistic endeavour, attempting to look at it as a process that transcribes and articulates the region of Kerala, while teasing out the paradoxes, ambiguities and politics that mediate such translational acts. The chapters in this book delve into seminal issues, ranging from the politics that constitutes various linguistic variables of Malayalam to the interpretative paradigms that bring out experiences of the gendered and subaltern subject in Kerala. In the process, it focuses on texts as varied as the Malayalam translation of Les Misérables, the autobiographies of C. K. Janu and Nalini Jameela, and Ramu Kariat''s cinematic adaptation of Chemmeen. From detailed discussions on canonical literary texts to non-canonical/popular cultural texts.
£19.35
Penguin Books Ltd Russian Émigré Short Stories from Bunin to
Book SynopsisA landmark anthology that will introduce many extraordinary, unknown Russian writers to an English-language readership for the first time Fleeing Russia amid the chaos of the Russian Revolution and subsequent Civil War, many writers went on to settle in Paris, Berlin and elsewhere and forged new lives in exile. Much of their subsequent work, published in Russian language magazines and books, is entirely unknown in the West and has only been recently discovered in Russia itself. As well as including stories by the most famous émigré writers, Vladimir Nabokov and Ivan Bunin, this collection introduces many lesser known voices: Yuri Felzen, known as the Russian Proust, Nadezhda Teffi, the hugely popular and funny story writer, and Georgy Ivanov, whose work of poetic prose The Atom Explodes is a brilliant, haunting response to the upheaval and trauma of emigration. Exploring themes of displacement, nostalgia, loss and new beginninTrade ReviewA brilliant, poignant anthology -- Alexis Levitin * Los Angeles Review of Books *A rich anthology ... Editor and lead translator Bryan Karetnyk has done a marvellous job ... The translations maintain a high standard of literary quality and precision. Admirably equipped with biographical and explanatory notes, this anthology presents to the Anglophone reader, for the first time, a unified representation of the authors and disparate, yet interlinked cultural contexts of first-wave Russian emigration -- Judges, Read Russia Prize 2018Compelling ... Karetnyk's anthology transports the reader into the motley lives and imaginations of Russian émigrés in Paris, Berlin and beyond. Highly recommended reading for anyone fascinated by prerevolutionary Russian culture as preserved among the ranks of the two million-odd Whites that formed the first wave of emigration from Bolshevik Russia. -- Anna Gunin * The Riveter *Ably translated ... Bryan Karetnyk has produced that most welcome artefact in this age of the floating text: an 'enhanced' paperback whose fictive stories are fully equipped with their histories. Writers' biographies, historical chronology, a list of Russian émigré venues, and well-researched footnotes serve to anchor each narrative in its own peripatetic time and space -- Caryl Emerson * Times Literary Supplement *A powerful reminder of the trauma of civil war and hardships of displacement ... The stories evoke a lost world with attendant nostalgia, sorrow, fear and anger ... Rarely has the term 'unjustly neglected' rung more true * Country Life *Brilliantly translated by Bryan Karetnyk ... A truly wonderful selection * Los Angeles Review of Books Radio Hour *
£11.69
Penguin Books Ltd Perfume
Book SynopsisPatrick Süskind''s Perfume is a classic novel of death and sensuality in Paris, published as a Penguin Essential for the first time. ''In eighteenth-century France there lived a man who was one of the most gifted and abominable personages in an era that knew no lack of gifted and abominable personages. His name was Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, and if his name has been forgotten today, it is certainly not because Grenouille fell short of those more famous blackguards when it came to arrogance, misanthropy, immorality, or, more succinctly, wickedness, but because his gifts and his sole ambition were restricted to a domain that leaves no traces in history: to the fleeting realm of scent . . .''''An astonishing tour de force both in concept and execution'' Guardian''A fantastic tale of murder and twisted eroticism controlled by a disgusted loathing of humanity ... Clever, stylish, absorbing and well worth reading'' Literary Review''A meditation on the nature of death, desire and decay ... a remarkable début'' Peter Ackroyd, The New York Times Book Review''Unlike anything else one has read. A phenomenon ... Everyone seems to want to get a whiff of this strange perfume, which will remain unique in contemporary literature'' Figaro''An ingenious and totally absorbing fantasy'' Daily Telegraph''Witty, stylish and ferociously absorbing'' Observer
£9.49
Hodder & Stoughton The Sisters
Book Synopsis
£18.00
Foundry Editions Just a Little Dinner
Book SynopsisIn tired, hot Paris at the end of August, a group of friends, who'd rather still be at the sea, meet for a dinner in one couple's apartment.Taking us behind the shutters of the Sixth Arrondissement, with a cast of characters that both delight and repel, fractured relationships, manipulation, bad behaviour and desperation are all laid bare in this very contemporary take on a Parisian huis clos story.What starts as just a little dinner ends up having monumental consequences for everyone.The book was shortlisted for the 2024 Prix Goncourt du Premier Roman and won the 2023 Prix Littéraire Gisèle Halimi for women's writing.
£11.69
Vintage Publishing The Pyramid
Book Synopsis** The inspiration for the NETFLIX original series Young Wallander - out now **When Kurt Wallander first appeared in Faceless Killers, he was a senior police officer, just turned forty, with his life in a mess. His wife had left him, his father barely acknowledged him; he ate badly and drank alone at night.The Pyramid chronicles the events that led him to such a place. We see him in the early years, doing hours on the beat whilst trying to solve a murder off-duty; witness the beginnings of his fragile relationship with Mona, the woman he has his heart set on marrying; and learn the reason behind his difficulties with his father. These thrilling tales provide a fascinating insight into Wallander''s character, from the stabbing of a neighbour in 1969 to a light aircraft accident in 1989, every story is a vital piece of the Wallander series, showing Mankell at the top of his game. Featuring an introduction from the author, The PyraTrade ReviewMankell is the master of Scandinavian crime, much imitated, never bettered * Independent *An excellent collection * New York Times *[A] brilliant collection of stories from the grand master of chilly Scandinavian crime * Daily Mirror *Absorbing... A good book for newcomers to start with * Daily Telegraph *The master of the long, dark night * Crime Time *
£9.49
Vintage Publishing Operation Napoleon
Book Synopsis1945: a lost German bomber crashes on the Vatnajökull glacier in Iceland.Inexplicably, in the midst of World War Two, there are both German and American officers on board.Trade ReviewRather than using excessive language and unnecessary description, Indriðason chooses a minimal style, which drip-feeds the details and keeps the reader guessing... Operation Napoleon is an intriguing novel, bleak and harsh in its description of cold, military narratives -- Sophie Gordon * Aesthetica *There are hints of some of Indridason's trademark motifs-emotionally distant parents, brotherhood, the harsh Icelandic wilderness-but it's clear that he is using Operation Napoleon to address what seems to be a deeply controversial factor in Icelandic life: the US military presence at Keflavik * Euro Crime *An international literary phenomenon - and it's easy to see why. His novels are gripping, authentic, haunting and lyrical -- Harlan Coben
£9.49
Vintage Publishing The Complete Novels
Book SynopsisThe complete novels of one of the greatest German writers of all time, collected together in one literary masterpiece.Kafka's characters are victims of forces beyond their control, estranged and rootless citizens deceived by authoritarian power. Filled with claustrophobic description and existential profundity, Kafka has been compared to a literary Woody Allen.In The Trial Joseph K is relentlessly hunted for a crime that remains nameless. The Castle follows K in his ceaseless attempts to enter the castle and to belong somewhere.In Amerika Karl Rossmann also finds himself isolated and confused when he is ''packed off to America by his parents''. Here, ordinary immigrants are also strange, and ''America'' is never quite as real as it seems. THE CLASSIC TRANSLATION BY WILLA AND EDWIN MUIRTrade ReviewHe is the greatest German writer of our time. Such poets as Rilke or such novelists as Thomas Mann are dwarfs or plaster saints in comparison to him -- Vladimir NabokovKafka described with wonderful imaginative power the future concentration camps, the future instability of the law, the future absolutism of the state, the paralysed, inadequately motivated, floundering lives of the many individual people; everything appeared as a nightmare and with the confusion and inadequacy of a nightmare -- Bertolt Brecht
£16.14
Fitzcarraldo Editions My Documents
Book SynopsisMy Documents is the latest work from Alejandro Zambra, the award-winning Chilean writer whose first novel was heralded as the dawn of a new era in Chilean literature. My Documents is unflinchingly human and essential evidence of a sublimely talented writer working at the height of his powers.Trade Review‘People kept mentioning his name, but I was slow to encounter the Chilean writer Alejandro Zambra. I hadn’t read anything by him before opening his new story collection, My Documents […] My Documents is the fourth book by Alejandro Zambra to be translated into English (this one very ably by Megan McDowell). All of them are very short and strikingly original, and display a wry self-consciousness about the obligations, difficulties, and pleasures of writing fiction. […] In his new book, Zambra returns to the twin sources of his talent—to his storytelling vitality, that living tree which blossoms often in these pages, and to his unsparing examination of recent Chilean history. These come together magnificently.’ — James Wood, New Yorker ‘[An] excellent collection […] rich and thought-provoking […] If you are going to read Alejandro Zambra, which you should, don't just read My Documents, read everything he's done.’ — Chris Power, Guardian‘These stories are graceful, grave, comical, disabused. I guess what I mean is: My Documents represents a new form. When I think about Alejandro Zambra, I feel happy for the future of fiction.’ — Adam Thirlwell, author of Lurid and Cute‘Alejandro Zambra’s My Documents is also his best: an eclectic, disconcerting, at times harrowing read. His voice is unique, honest and raw, and there is poetry on every page. Zambra’s fiction doubles as a kind of personal history, full of anguish, humour and verve. A truly beautiful book.’ — Daniel Alarcón, author of At Night We Walk in Circles ‘Zambra is the author of small classics – short in length, but enormous in every other way. My Documents elevates him to a entirely new level.’ — Valeria Luiselli, author of Faces in the CrowdTable of ContentsPart I My Documents | Part II Camilo, Long Distance, True or False, Memories of a Personal Computer | Part III National Institute, I Smoked Very Well | Part IV Thank You, The Most Chilean Man in the World, Family Life, Artist's Rendition
£11.69
Vintage Publishing Norwegian Wood
Book SynopsisIn 1978, Haruki Murakami was 29 and running a jazz bar in downtown Tokyo. One April day, the impulse to write a novel came to him suddenly while watching a baseball game. That first novel, Hear the Wind Sing, won a new writers' award and was published the following year. More followed, including A Wild Sheep Chase and Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World, but it was Norwegian Wood, published in 1987, which turned Murakami from a writer into a phenomenon. His books became bestsellers, were translated into many languages, including English, and the door was thrown wide open to Murakami's unique and addictive fictional universe.Murakami writes with admirable discipline, producing ten pages a day, after which he runs ten kilometres (he began long-distance running in 1982 and has participated in numerous marathons and races), works on translations, and then reads, listens to records and cooks. His passions colour his non-fiction output, from What I Talk About When I Talk About Running to Absolutely On Music, and they also seep into his novels and short stories, providing quotidian moments in his otherwise freewheeling flights of imaginative inquiry. In works such as The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, 1Q84 and Men Without Women, his distinctive blend of the mysterious and the everyday, of melancholy and humour, continues to enchant readers, ensuring Murakami's place as one of the world's most acclaimed and well-loved writers.Trade ReviewNorwegian Wood is Japan's The Catcher in the Rye * Daily Telegraph *Everyone who reads Norwegian Wood runs out to buy copies for friends and lovers... Drawing on Fitzgerald, Capote, Chandler and the Japanese tradition, his books are at once disarmingly direct and slyly, charmingly evasive. They are playful and melancholy; full of wrong turns and red herrings, corridors that lead nowhere and - above all - girls who disappear * Guardian *A masterly novel. . . . Norwegian Wood bears the unmistakable marks of Murakami's hand * The New York Times Book Review *This book is undeniably hip, full of student uprisings, free love, booze and 1960s pop, it's also genuinely emotionally engaging, and describes the highs of adolescence as well as the lows * Independent on Sunday *Catches the absorption and giddy rush of adolescent love... It is also, for all the tragic momentum and the apparently kamikaze consciousness of many of its characters, often funny and quirkily observed. Quietly compulsive and finally moving * Times Literary Supplement *
£9.49
Pan Macmillan Hour of the Wolf The Van Veeteren series 7
Book SynopsisA Swedish crime writer as thrilling as Mankell, a detective as compelling as Wallander . . . Van Veeteren faces a chilling case in Håkan Nesser's Hour of the Wolf, the seventh book to feature Chief Inspector Van Veeteren. In the dead of night, in the pouring rain, a drunk driver smashes his car into a young man. He abandons the body at the side of the road, but the incident will set in motion a chain of events which will change his life forever. Soon Chief Inspector Van Veeteren, now retired from the Maardam police force, will face his greatest trial yet as someone close to him is, inexplicably, murdered. Van Veeteren's former colleagues, desperate for answers, struggle to decipher the clues to this appalling crime. But when another body is discovered, it gradually becomes clear that this killer is acting on their own terrifying logic . . .Hour of the Wolf is followed by book eight in the series, The WeepinTrade Review‘Hakan Nesser, the godfather of Swedish crime … His Van Veeteren novels have a puckishness and sprightliness that too often elude his younger, gloomier pretenders … Nesser has thus far only been a minor player in the British Nordic crime scene: Hour of the Wolf should be the book to change that’ Metro‘The Swedish novelist Hakan Nesser is in another league, exhibiting a skill and consistency rare in crime ¬fiction. Hour of the Wolf, translated by Laurie Thompson is one of his finest novels, starting with a road accident and unravelling its terrible consequences. The victim is a 16-year-old boy, struck by a car while walking home late at night, and the accident sets in motion a series of murders. One of the victims is related to Nesser’s detective, Chief Inspector Van Veeteren, who has retired to become an antiquarian bookseller. The ex-policeman’s old team rallies to obtain justice for their much-loved former boss in a novel that combines a clever plot with authentic emotion’ Sunday Times‘All the tropes of Scandinavian crime: physical and metaphysical gloom, desolate landscapes and circumscribed lives. However, it is a grown-up, rather than a depressing read. The investigating cops are skilfully differentiated and their banter is amusing. As for the plot … it contains enough twists to keep you reading through the Bergmanesque darkness’ Mark Sanderson, Evening Standard‘Of the Nordic crime writers currently holding readers’ attention in an unbreakable grip, Håkan Nesser is comfortably the most anglocentric. Nesser himself has a notably dry and ironic sense of humour, more redolent of this island than Sweden, and intermittently makes London his home. He also has something in common with another great generator of suspense, Leytonstone-born Alfred Hitchcock: a preoccupation with guilt and the way in which crime draws everyone connected with it into a dark moral miasma – as in the latest book to reach these shores, Hour of the Wolf . . . All this is dispatched with the assurance that readers have come to expect from the author of such quietly compelling crime fiction as The Return and Woman With Birthmark. As before with Nesser, we are reminded of the writer Ruth Rendell in the coolly methodical fashion in which lives are destroyed by a crime, those of both the victims and the perpetrators . . . there is not a single misstep as the grim implications of the narrative are teased out. And — as with Hitchcock — the guilt of a single character becomes a kind of amorphous mass, affecting everyone involved, muddying moral distinctions’ Independent‘Nesser, an award-winning writer who has sold millions worldwide, has an easy style which pulls the reader along nicely...Comparisons with other Scandinavian thriller writers don’t work as Nesser has a style all his own, making him a writer who needs to be on the bookshelves of all crime fans. And in Van Veeteren he has created a hero who is easy to like' Edinburgh Evening News ‘All too chillingly plausible tale’ Daily Mail‘If Scandinavian gloom lights your candle, Håkan Nesser’s Hour of the Wolf will have you howling with pleasure . . . Desolate landscapes and quirky characters are described with impressive skill’ Evening Standard ‘Best books for summer 2012‘
£9.49
Oxford University Press The Metamorphosis and Other Stories
Book SynopsisThis new translation includes Kafka's most famous story, The Metamorphosis, together with two other stories, The Judgement and In the Penal Colony, and Meditation and the autobiographical Letter to his Father. The edition includes a detailed introduction, notes, and other helpful items.Trade ReviewThis edition contains a fascinating introduction by Ritchie Robertson, offering Buddhist, Freudian and expressionist readings of the text. * Guardian online, WB Gooderham *Bracing surprises for buffs as well as an easy passage into the labyrinth for newcomers. * Boyd Tonkin, The Independent *Table of ContentsMeditation ; The Judgement ; The Metamorphosis ; In the Penal Colony ; Letter to his Father
£8.54
Oxford University Press Fathers and Sons
Book SynopsisTurgenev's masterpiece about the conflict between generations is as fresh, outspoken, and exciting today as it was in when it was first published in 1862.
£8.54
Oxford University Press Notes from the Underground and The Gambler
Book SynopsisTrade ReviewJane Kentish's translation of The Gambler captures the seething resentment and desperation of the narrator's tone and faithfully conveys the voices of the other characters. * Kenneth Lantz, University of Toronto, Scottish Slavonic Review, No. 20, 1993 *
£8.54
Yale University Press After the Circus
Book SynopsisA classic novel from recent Nobel Prize winner Patrick Modiano, now available to English-language readers in a superb new translationTrade Review“Mr. Modiano’s novels are pervaded by a sexual and moral ambivalence and by social and political ambiguity. Improbable aristocrats, likeable eccentrics, would-be actresses, circus performers and cabaret workers—no one is ever who they appear to be. And Paris features as a character in her own right, refusing to surrender the secrets of her past.”—The Economist“A timely glimpse at [Modiano’s] fixations. . . . In Mark Polizzotti’s spare and elegant translation, the writing conveys a sense of dreamy unease in which the real, the hypothesized, and the half-forgotten blend into a shimmering vagueness.”—Sam Sacks, Wall Street Journal“Elegant . . . quietly unpretentious, approachable. . . . Though enigmatic and open-ended, Modiano’s remembrances of things past and his probings of personal identity are presented with a surprisingly light touch. He is, all in all, quite an endearing Nobelist.”—Michael Dirda, Washington Post“Mr. Modiano writes clear, languid, and urbane sentences in Mr. Polizzotti’s agile translation. . . . These novellas have a mood. They cast a spell.”—Dwight Garner, New York Times“[After the Circus] transposes Modiano’s favorite themes into a taut, hard-boiled crime story. . . . Modiano is writing metaphysical mystery stories, in which the search for answers is never afforded an easy solution. The more of Modiano’s work you read, the more familiar and inevitable his peculiar set of obsessions starts to feel—which is one sign of a major writer.”—Adam Kirsch, Daily Beast“This brief, polished, ultimately poignant story is classic Modiano . . . superbly lean . . . moody, even noir . . . smart and strangely moving. . . . Modiano at his best.”—Barbara Hoffert, Library Journal (starred review)“After the Circus is a little masterpiece in the French minimalist and ironic noir tradition, reminiscent of Godard’s Breathless or Truffaut’s Shoot the Piano Player.”—Colin Nettelbeck, Australian Book Review“At its opaque centre, this is the story of two lovers pitting themselves against the world in the vein of Faulkner’s The Wild Palms or Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms. . . . In keeping with the territory, Modiano’s syntax is closer to Hemingway than Faulkner. A simple sentence can hold a beautiful heaviness. . . . The overall effect is like staring through the shutters of a gambling den and watching a seedy mystery unfold.”—Nick Major, Glasgow Herald“Modiano’s understated prose, which is beautifully translated from the French by Mark Polizzotti, truly captures the exhilaration and confusion of young love. . . . It’s a wonderful read, the kind of novel you can get completely caught up in as it transports you to another time and place, helped in part by the lovely languid writing and the dreamlike recollection of a different era.”—Reading Matters“After the Circus is a beautifully detailed evocation of an era and a state of mind. . . . Modiano is a master at exploring the emotions that resonate and remain with us. After the Circus is an excellent place to start if you want to discover this most private and subtle of French authors. If you already like his work, this new translation will only increase your admiration.”—Shoshi Ish-Horowicz, Jewish Renaissance"What makes the novel distinctive is its atmosphere of mystery and elusiveness… gripping throughout."—David Herman, Jewish Chronicle
£12.59
Pan Macmillan The Restaurant of Lost Recipes
Book SynopsisHisashi Kashiwai, the author of The Restaurant of Lost Recipes, was born in 1952 and was raised in Kyoto. He graduated from Osaka Dental University. After graduating, he returned to Kyoto and worked as a dentist. He has written extensively about his native city and has collaborated on TV programmes and magazines. The first book in the series was The Kamogawa Food Detectives.
£9.49
HarperCollins Publishers SPIRAL
Book SynopsisStunning Japanese thriller with a chilling supernatural twist – the follow-up to Ring.Trade Review'Suzuki blends the dispassionate, inquisitive, sometimes terrifying urban character-types to be found in Haruki Murakami's work with the plot mechanics of a Stephen King or Michael Crichton' Kim Newman’ Independent 'Spiral is a truly spooky read' Metro Praise for Ring: ‘The pace doesn't slacken for a moment … a guaranteed page-turner’ Observer ‘Suzuki builds tension brilliantly’ Guardian ‘Bristles with menace and fear’ Uncut
£10.44
Columbia University Press Meeting with My Brother
Book SynopsisYi Mun-yol's Meeting with My Brother is a sobering yet hopeful depiction of the volatile relationship between the divided Koreas. Yi, the narrator, is a South Korean university professor searching for his father, who defected to the North at the outbreak of war. Instead he finds his half-brother, and their tense meeting takes a surprising turn.Trade ReviewYi Mun-yol is one of South Korea's most gifted writers, and this translation gives his simple style all of the elegant force it can bring to bear. This story of two brothers who find each other only after their defector father has died balances the weight of the country's history on their meeting as effortlessly as only a master could achieve. Compelling and essential reading. -- Alexander Chee, author of the novels The Queen of the Night and Edinburgh Meeting with My Brother is renowned writer Yi Mun-yol's fictional account of the different politics and desires coalescing along the Chinese side of the North Korean border, where people are both dreading and ardently wishing for national reunification between the two Koreas. The reunion of two brothers in Yi's story is deeply moving. Yi refuses to romanticize blood ties or to take recourse to melodrama. Instead, nuance and sensitivity color this story, which should be read by all those interested in a possible reunification. -- Janet Poole, translator of Eastern Sentiments by T'aejun Yi I've always wondered why more Korean literature in translation isn't available in the United States. Heinz Insu Fenkl's stylish translation of beloved Korean author Yi Mun-yol's complexly layered novella might change that. Meeting with My Brother trenchantly explores the ruptures of Korea's partition and hopes of reunification. -- Marie Myung-Ok Lee, author of the novel Somebody's Daughter A haunting, powerful story about a divided family and country by one of South Korea's most important writers. -- Krys Lee, author of the novel How I Became a North Korean A modest but quietly controversial look at two very different Koreas, questioning long-held orthodoxies... Yi's novella complicates our understanding of relations between North and South. Kirkus Reviews Yi's exploration of identity, family, citizenship, and nationhood is urgently profound and deeply compelling. Booklist (starred review)Table of ContentsIntroduction Acknowledgments Meeting with My Brother
£16.19
Vintage Publishing In the Absence of Men
Book SynopsisFROM THE BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF LIE WITH MEIt is the summer of 1916 and, with German Zeppelins on the skyline, the men of Paris are off at war. For Vincent, the sixteen-year-old son of a prestigious family, the tranquillity of the city sits at odds with the salons and soirees he attends. But, after an electrifying encounter with the enigmatic writer, Marcel P, draws Vincent's desires out into the light, his ever-riskier liaisons with a young solider begin to shape Vincent's future. Translated by Frank Wynne'A short, bold and original novel which beautifully captures the romance and amorality of gilded youth' IndependentElegant novellas-in-translation, VINTAGE EDITIONS celebrate the audacity and ambition of the written word, transporting readers to wherever in the world literary innovation may be found.
£9.49
Penguin Books Ltd The Path to the Spiders Nests
Book SynopsisPin is a bawdy, adolescent cobbler''s assistant, both arrogant and insecure who - while the Second World War rages - sings songs and tells jokes to endear himself to the grown-ups of his town - particularly jokes about his sister, who they all know as the town''s ''mattress''. Among those his sister sleeps with is a German sailor, and Pin dares to steal his pistol, hiding it among the spiders'' nests in an act of rebellion that entangles him in the adults'' war.Italo Calvino, one of Italy''s finest postwar writers, has delighted readers around the world with his deceptively simple, fable-like stories. He was born in Cuba in 1923 and raised in San Remo, Italy; he fought for the Italian Resistance from 1943-45. His major works include Cosmicomics (1968), Invisible Cities (1972), and If on a winter''s night a traveler (1979). He died in Siena in 1985. Martin L. McLaughlin is Professor of Italian and Fiat-Serena Professor of Italian Studies at the University of Oxford where he is a Fellow of Magdalen College. In addition to his published academic works he is the English translator of Umberto Eco and Italo Calvino among many others.Trade Review'An insight into the making of a European' Observer 'The crucial novel of Calvino's early years' Mail on Sunday
£9.49
Penguin Books Ltd Old Man Goriot
Book SynopsisMonsieur Goriot is one of a disparate group of lodgers at Mademe Vauquer's dingy Parisian boarding house. At first his wealth inspires respect, but as his circumstances are mysteriously reduced he becomes shunned by those around him, and soon his only remaining visitors are his two beautifully dressed daughters.
£9.49
Columbia University Press River of Fire and Other Stories
Book SynopsisTrade ReviewRiver of Fire and Other Stories tracks the career of one of South Korea's most consummate writers, subtly suggesting the violent undertones of life under military dictatorship and the malaise of urban life, and coming to a close with a moving meditation upon aging. The themes here are universal, yet their expression is unique to the controlled precision and delicate interior description that are so characteristic of O Chonghui's style. A highly enjoyable read. -- Janet Poole, University of Toronto A strong addition to any international fiction collection, not to be overlooked. Midwest Book Review A wonderful collection of stories... a great writer, great translators and a beautiful-looking book - it all makes for an excellent addition. Tony's Reading ListTable of ContentsThe Toy Shop Woman One Spring Day A Portrait of Magnolias River of Fire Morning Star Fireworks Lake P'aro The Release The Old Well Afterword
£23.80
Penguin Books Ltd Confessions of a Mask
Book SynopsisTrade ReviewMishima is lucid in the midst of emotional confusion, funny in the midst of despair -- Christopher IsherwoodNever has a "confession" been freer from self-pity and emotional over-indulgence * Sunday Times *A writer of immense energy and ability * Time Out *A terrific and astringent work of beauty... a work of art * Times Literary Supplement *
£9.49
Orion Publishing Co Black City
Book SynopsisCRIMEA, 1914 When the Tzar''s head of security is assassinated, Erast Fandorin is called to investigate: the killer has been overheard mentioning a ''black city'' so Fandorin and his trusty companion, Masa, head to Baku, the burgeoning Russian capital of oil. But from the moment they arrive in the city - a hotbed of corruption and greed by the Caspian Sea - they realise someone is watching their every move, and they will stop at nothing to derail their investigation. Having suffered a brutal attack and with Masa''s life hanging by a thread, Fandorin is forced to rely on the help of an unexpected new ally, and he begins to suspect the plot might be part of something larger - and much more sinister. With war brewing in the Balkans and Europe''s empires struggling to contain the threat of revolution, Fandorin must try and solve his most difficult case yet - before time runs out.Trade ReviewThe Erast Fandorin detective novels are always meaty, packed with historical detail, old-fashioned in the best sense and intricately plotted. Readers can expect prime Akunin - ingenious, twisty, at times digressive, exotic - a challenge to which his translator, Andrew Bromfield, rises magnificently. * Daily Mail *One of the most distinctive characters in historical crime fiction... Twenty years after his debut, Fandorin remains a thoroughly engaging hero * Sunday Times *
£9.49
Random House USA Inc The Eternal Husband and Other Stories
Book SynopsisFrom Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky, the highly acclaimed translators of War and Peace, Doctor Zhivago, and Anna Karenina, which was an Oprah Book Club pick and million-copy bestseller, The Eternal Husband and Other Stories brings together five of Dostoevsky’s short masterpieces. Filled with many of the themes and concerns central to his great novels, these short works display the full range of Dostoevsky’s genius. The centerpiece of this collection, the short novel The Eternal Husband, describes the almost surreal meeting of a cuckolded widower and his dead wife’s lover. Dostoevsky’s dark brilliance and satiric vision infuse the other four tales with all-too-human characters. The Eternal Husband and Other Stories is sterling Dostoevsky—a collection of emotional power and uncompromising insight into the human condition.
£12.34
New Directions Publishing Corporation Laughter in the Dark
Book SynopsisThe classic novel from the author of Lolita, brilliantly portraying one man's ruin through love and betrayal.Trade Review"Nabokov writes prose the only way it should be written—that is, ecstatically." -- John Updike
£12.34
UEA Publishing Project Demons
Book SynopsisSet in a small rural village, seemingly everyday events take on a macabre meaning. We follow Kim Miyoung, a relatively new villager and the local primary school teacher, as she is slowly overcome by anxiety, with her daughter at the vulnerable young age of three, a difficult group of schoolboys under her wing and her mother-in-law trying to drag her into house-of-cards village politics. To top it all, she finds herself plagued by the idea of son: folklore spirits out to make people’s lives miserable. As the village gathers for the annual ‘meju-making day’, amid all the hubbub, Miyoung loses sight of her daughter Mina. Despite her cries for help, no one joins her to look for Mina, everyone seems to be against her.
£6.99
Orion Publishing Co For the Missing
Book Synopsis''A thriller that lingers in the memory'' SUNDAY TIMES CRIME CLUB''Dark Nordic noir'' THE i ''A global bestseller'' SUNDAY TIMES The award-winning, international bestselling Swedish crime debut about a missing girl, and the detective who must return home and confront her darkest secrets in order to find her - for fans of MISSING, PRESUMED by Susie Steiner, I''M TRAVELLING ALONE by Samuel Bjork, and THEN SHE WAS GONE by Lisa Jewell.______________________________________THE MISSINGNora''s daughter Annabelle has disappeared, last seen on her way home from a party.THE LOSTGullspång''s inexperienced police are wilting under the national media spotlight - and its residents desperate for answers.THE CLOCK IS TICKINGStockholm DI Charlie Lager must return home to find Annabelle, and then get out of town as soon as she can. Before everyone discovers the truth about her . . .If you liked MISSING, PRESUMED by Susie Steiner, I''M TRAVELLING ALONE by Samuel Bjork, and THEN SHE WAS GONE by Lisa Jewell you will love FOR THE MISSING, the international crime bestseller with a stunning ending.______________________________________WHAT REAL READERS ARE SAYING:''Oh My Gosh! This is epic!''''This is a great crime mystery''''An interesting and fascinating read''''Highly recommended''''I am just amazed when a debut author presents a crime thriller in a fresh way''''The tension grows and grows up to a stunning conclusion''Trade ReviewThis smash hit Swedish debut breathes new life into a few well-worn det-fic themes to create a thriller that lingers in the memory * SUNDAY TIMES CRIME CLUB *A powerful Scandi Noir debut by a promising new author ... Atmospheric, evocative and with a heroine who overcomes some of the genre's clichés, this is a first-class procedural with all shades of grey unveiled like onion peel as the narrative progresses. With various parallel story strands deepening the mystery before they all come together in a flurry of unwelcome truths, this makes for an altogether excellent thriller -- Maxim Jakubowski * CRIME TIME *This debut novel from a psychology teacher upholds the recent tradition of dark Nordic noir. A girl goes missing on her way home from the party in the forested village of Gullspang. Enter a Stockholm detective with a secret of her own * THE i PAPER *This may be the debut novel for Lina Bengtsdotter, but it immediately slots her into the pantheon of Scandi Noir greats. She is a seamstress. She weaves a wonderful, embracing picture of life in a down-at-heel, dying, remote and rusty, Swedish industrial eyesore; and gradually unpicks the different threads, laying each out, its sparse clarity giving the reader a myriad of separate storylines ... For The Missing begins with the speed and power of a hydrofoil on the dangerous lake, and delves deeply into a sea of contradictions: not just involving the search for the missing girl, but the enthralling personalities and twists that Bengstdotter creates ... the pace is fast and unrelenting, but the style allows the reader to relax and absorb the plot ... For The Missing takes crime fiction to a disturbingly personal, high level -- Tony R. Cox * SHOTS MAG *This debut novel is intelligent and arresting. And grim -- Mat Coward * MORNING STAR *A brilliant, dense crime novel * Dagens Nyheter (Sweden) *The next big Swedish crime sensation * Dagbladet (Norway) *A wonderful debut * Dziennik Zachodni (Poland) *The dark humour, compelling characters and exquisite writing means you're always in for a treat with Lina Bengtsdotter's novels * Camilla Läckberg *Lina Bengtsdotter's books are beautiful, dark and completely addictive. I love them! * Katrine Engberg *
£8.54
Ebury Publishing The Librarian of Auschwitz: The heart-breaking
Book SynopsisFor readers of The Tattooist of Auschwitz and The Choice: this is the story of the smallest library in the world - and the most dangerous.'It wasn't an extensive library. In fact, it consisted of eight books and some of them were in poor condition. But they were books. In this incredibly dark place, they were a reminder of less sombre times, when words rang out more loudly than machine guns...'Fourteen-year-old Dita is one of the many imprisoned by the Nazis at Auschwitz. Taken, along with her mother and father, from the Terezín ghetto in Prague, Dita is adjusting to the constant terror that is life in the camp. When Jewish leader Freddy Hirsch asks Dita to take charge of the eight precious books the prisoners have managed to smuggle past the guards, she agrees. And so Dita becomes the secret librarian of Auschwitz, responsible for the safekeeping of the small collection of titles, as well as the 'living books' - prisoners of Auschwitz who know certain books so well, they too can be 'borrowed' to educate the children in the camp. But books are extremely dangerous. They make people think. And nowhere are they more dangerous than in Block 31 of Auschwitz, the children's block, where the slightest transgression can result in execution, no matter how young the transgressor... The Sunday Times bestseller for readers of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, The Tattooist of Auschwitz and The Choice. From the author of The Prince of the Skies, based on the incredible and moving true story of Dita Kraus, holocaust survivor and secret librarian for the children's block in Auschwitz. Trade Reviewan unforgettable, heartbreaking novel * Publishers Weekly, starred review *Like Markus Zusak’s The Book Thief, it’s a sophisticated novel with mature themes, delivering an emotionally searing reading experience. An important novel that will stand with other powerful testaments from the Holocaust era. * Booklist, starred review *Though no punches are pulled about the unimaginable atrocity of the death camps, a life-affirming history. * Kirkus Reviews, starred review *this novel is one that could easily be recommended... alongside Elie Wiesel's Night and The Diary of Anne Frank ...once read, will never be forgotten...A hauntingly authentic Holocaust retelling * School Library Journal *an engrossing read, seamlessly translated from Iturbe's original Spanish. Iturbe retains the dignity and full horror of Dita's situation, while creating a narrative of hope and bravery in the face of fear. * Compass Magazine *
£9.49
Dedalus Ltd Baltic Belles: The Dedalus Book of Estonian
Book Synopsis
£9.99
Hodder & Stoughton The Forbidden Place
Book SynopsisBad things happen in Mossmarken... and now Nathalie has come home, they seem to be happening again. A dark, brilliant suspense novel from a fantastic new voice in international literature.Trade ReviewA bone-chillingly cool crime debut. -- Paula Hawkins, author of The Girl on the TrainThe 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 NyheterSusanne Jansson's debut novel is thrilling, at times both creepy and frightening...sent shivers down my spine. * Nya Wermlands Tidning *Jansson paints an atmospheric and mysterious portrait of the mire with the help of mist, light, and old legends. It becomes a place where life and death collide, a sort of anteroom to the realm of the dead...one of the absolute best suspense debuts this year * Crimegarden *A well-balanced combination of horror, suspense, folklore, and biology...it leaves you begging for more. * Johannas deckarhörna *Fans of Scandi Noir are sure to be hooked on this atmospheric and suspenseful thriller. -- Marika CobboldAn ominous read with a creepy ambience. * Prima *
£9.49
Alma Books Ltd Uncle's Dream: New Translation: Newly Translated
Book SynopsisThe small town of Mordasov is all abuzz at the arrival of Prince K—, a wealthy, ageing landowner, after an absence of several years. Maria Alexandrovna Moskalyova, a local gossip and fearsome schemer, decides that he would be an advantageous match for her daughter Zina. But in her endeavours to make such a union come about, she must contend with rival matchmakers and Zina’s wilfulness. Written soon after Dostoevsky was released from the prison camp that inspired The House of the Dead, Uncle’s Dream shares very little of that novel’s gloomy tone and contains many elements of a light, drawing-room farce. Beneath the surface, however, lies a sharply satirical voice which looks ahead in part to later novels such as Devils.Trade ReviewNo novelist ever wrestled with materialism more fiercely and intelligently than Dostoevsky. -- Jonathan FranzenThe only psychologist from whom I have anything to learn. -- Friedrich NietzscheThe novels of Dostoevsky are seething whirlpools, gyrating sandstorms, waterspouts which hiss and boil and suck us in. They are composed purely and wholly of the stuff of the soul. Against our wills we are drawn in, whirled round, blinded, suffocated, and at the same time filled with a giddy rapture. Out of Shakespeare there is no more exciting reading. -- Virginia WoolfThe real nineteenth-century prophet was Dostoevsky, not Karl Marx. -- Albert CamusDostoevsky gives me more than any scientist, more than Gauss! -- Albert Einstein
£7.59
Quercus Publishing Let the Old Dreams Die
Book SynopsisThe follow-up collection to the international vampire bestseller Let the Right One In**Includes the short story Border, now a major film**Whatever happened to Oskar and Eli? And what became of the beleaguered families in Handling the Undead? Find out in Let the Old Dreams Die. In other tales from this collection, a woman finds a dead body and decides to keep it for herself, a customs officer has a mysterious gift that enables her to see what others hide, and a man believes he knows how to deceive death. These are the stories of John Ajvide Lindqvist''s rich imagination. They are about love and death, and what we do when the two collide and the monsters emerge.Table of ContentsBorder. Village on the hill. Equinox. Can't see it! It doesn't exist! Substitute. Eternal / love. Let the old dreams die. To hold you while the music plays. Majken. Paper walls. The final processing. Afterword to the Swedish edition of 'Let the Old Dreams Die'. Afterword.
£9.49
Granta Books The Black Lake
Book SynopsisAmid the lush abundance of Java's landscape, two boys spend their days exploring the vast lakes and teeming forests. But as time passes the boys come to realize that their shared sense of adventure cannot bridge the gulf between their backgrounds, for one is the son of a Dutch plantation owner, and the other the son of a servant. Inevitably, as they grow up, they grow estranged and it is not until years later that they meet again. It will be an explosive and emblematic meeting that marks them even more deeply than their childhood friendship did.Trade ReviewUnostentatious charm... an instant classic -- Emma Hagestadt * Independent *A book that truly breathes... It can break, haunt and stir you... Haasse has a fine, exact way with her story... Mesmerisingly lovely and then suddenly shocking; you have to react. After 60 or more years, and in a quite different world, it is still a wake-up call... Perfect -- Michael Pye * Scotsman *Distinguished, composed with intense concentration, with a cruel heart-breaking climax and a brave, passionate coda... [It] demands several readings... Immaculately constructed -- Paul Binding * Times Literary Supplement *An understated little gem of a book and this fresh and vibrant translation is an event worthy of a wholehearted welcome * New Internationalist *A translation as fresh as any Booker nominee... beautifully judged and a genuinely intriguing insight into the end of a European empire -- Thomas Quinn * Big Issue *Beautiful... conceived and executed with intelligence and grace * Three Percent *A classic * Good Reading Copy *
£9.49
Oneworld Publications What Hell Is Not
Book Synopsis From the bestselling Italian author comes a novel based on the true story of a priest who refused to surrender... The school year is finished, exams are over and summer stretches before seventeen-year-old Federico, full of promise and opportunity. But then he accepts a request from one of his teachers to help out at a youth club in the destitute Sicilian neighbourhood of Brancaccio. This narrow tangle of alleyways is controlled by local mafia thugs, but it is also the home of children like Francesco, Maria, Dario, Totò: children with none of Federico's privileges, but with a strength and vitality that changes his life forever. Written in intensely passionate and lyrical prose, What Hell Is Not is the phenomenal Italian bestseller about a man who brought light to one of the darkest corners of Sicily, and who refused to give up on the future of its children. Perfect for fans of Elena Ferrante and Roberto Saviano.Trade Review‘A beautifully written novel, translated from the Italian, with a heartwarming story... The language soars like a symphony. The notes are in perfect pitch.’ * New York Journal of Books *‘If, like me, you are a fan of Elena Ferrante's Neapolitan Quartet, I urge you to check out What Hell is Not.’ * Literary Hub *‘A mature work that looks the theme of evil and violence in the eye.’ * Libero *‘Rich in figurative language... [the story is] equally rich in characterization and setting.’ * Booklist *‘D'Avenia convincingly conveys the extent of the deprivation and of the reach of the Mafia's influence and control... [He] has a lyrical touch amid the violence and the squalor.’ * Herald Scotland *‘The dark story of Father Pino’s passion and death is a long shriek of grief, but it is not in vain: it is also a hymn to love that becomes beauty.’ * Antonia Arslan, author of Skylark Farm *‘What Hell Is Not celebrates resilience in the face of deprivation and the transformative power of small acts of love.’ * Fra Noi, Chicago *‘Each short chapter of this book is a work of poetic beauty, some showing the transformative power of love and some showing the devastation that hate brings into the world.’ * Marjorie's World of Books, blog review *
£8.54
Penguin Books Ltd A Woman
Book Synopsis''A groundbreaking, earthquaking vision, a story and a manifesto, and a literary performance so energetic it almost demands to be read aloud'' Guardian ''To love, to sacrifice oneself, and to submit! Was this what all women were destined for?''When her carefree, aspirational childhood in a seaside town is brought brutally to an end, the nameless narrator of Sibilla Aleramo''s blazing autobiographical novel discovers the shocking reality of life for a woman in Italy at the dawn of the twentieth century. As she begins to recognize the similarities between her own predicament and the plight of her mother and the women around her, she becomes convinced that she must escape her fate. Unashamed and remarkably ahead of its time, A Woman is a landmark in European feminist writing.''Aleramo was ahead of her time'' Times Literary SupplementTrade ReviewA groundbreaking, earthquaking vision, a story and a manifesto, and a literary performance so energetic it almost demands to be read aloud . . . Readers who like to underline striking passages will need to keep their pencils sharp -- John Self * Guardian *What makes A Woman stand out is the rawness of its story ... and the fact that Aleramo was ahead of her time -- Caroline Moorehead * TLS *Searing . . . astonishingly sharp . . . such a modern book it's hard to believe it was written more than 100 years ago -- Laura Waddell * Scotsman *She blurred the boundaries of autobiography and the novel, singular self and narrative other -- Selby Wynn SchwartzThe first Italian feminist novel ... her voice brings us back to the present, with the dose of courage needed to freely choose one's destiny * La Repubblica *Powerful -- Luigi Pirandello
£9.49
Quercus Publishing The Black Notebook
Book SynopsisA writer discovers a set of notes in his notebook and sets off on a journey through the Paris of his past, in search of the woman he loved forty years previously.Set in the Montparnasse district of Paris, the author, Jean, retraces his nocturnal footsteps around the left bank during France''s period of decolonisation during the 1960''s. He tries to remember what brought him into contact with a gang that frequented the hotel Unic in the area. His quest through seedy cafés and cheap hotels becomes an enquiry into a woman, Dannie, whom Jean loved and who once tried to admit to a terrible crime. Over the course of several voyages between past and present, we meet various shady characters, and discover that Dannie may have killed someone. As his memories overlap with the discovery of an old vice squad dossier, Jean reinvestigates the closed case of a crime where he could well be the last remaining witness.Translated from the French by Mark PolizzottiTrade ReviewNever before has Modiano produced a novel as lyrical as this ... the Baroque excess and violence of his earlier works has given way to a more pared-down, modest style that is both intricately wrought and magnificently fluid, sustained by pure poetry -- Denis Cosnard * Le Monde *1960's Paris, a mysterious girl, a group of shady characters, danger ... Modiano's folklore is set out from the beginning of The Black Notebook. And sheer magic follows once more -- Nelly Kaprièlian * Vogue *One can open this novel at any page, as if flicking through a collection of prose poems ... the smallest passage is enough to transport its reader. A rare, undefinable pleasure -- Norbert Czarny * Quinzaine Littéraire *Modiano takes up his struggle with memory again, resuscitating people and places in one magnificent, impressionistic, tracking shot -- Marianne Payot * Express *Modiano's characters are deliberately elusive, his settings, by contrast, scrupulously and atmospherically drawn -- Lucy Popescu * Financial Times *A compelling meditation on identity and memory, and an evocative portrait of [Paris] * The Lady *
£8.54
