Fiction in translation

Book SynopsisHere are some of Sciascia's greatest stories - brief and haunting, the realist tradition at its best. In one tale a couple of men talk, cynically yet earnestly, about the etymology of the word 'mafia' - who they are, and why their interest is so piqued by the word, becomes apparent with frightening clarity. In another story a group of peasants are taken on board ship and promised that they will be put ashore illegally at Trenton, New Jersey; after a long time at sea, their landfall is far from what they expected. And Mussolini himself takes an interest in the case of Aleister Crowley, whose presence in Sicily has become an embarrassment.Trade ReviewFew writers managed to capture the taciturn Sicilian character better than Sciascia, who always understood the power of implication in his work. [A] superb collection * The Times *Brief, haunting and unforgettable * Sunday Tribune *A well-written and instructive collection * Time Out *There are 13 stories in The Wine-Dark Sea... I guarantee you will wish there were more * Big Issue in the North *

Read more less

Book SynopsisFrom the author of the international bestseller The Elegance of The Hedgehog comes a mouth-watering tale delving into the life of a monstrous food criticAfter a lifetime of presiding over cowering chefs and pursuing sensual delights, France's greatest food critic is dying. Given just forty-eight hours to live, Pierre Arthens has one last ambition - to recall the most delicious food to ever pass his lips, an elusive taste from his childhood. From his luxury penthouse at Number 7, Rue de Grenelle, Pierre casts his mind back over a lifetime of flavour: eating grilled sardines with his grandfather, the warm, crumbly pastry of an apple tart, his first taste of velvety sashimi. But orbiting around him are a cast of family and acquaintances, each with their own story to tell about the greed and ruthlessness that has paved the way to Pierre's search for the perfect meal.

Read more less

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 *

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe Last Watch is the stunning sequel to the Night Watch trilogy, following the fortunes of the Others. Indistinguishable from normal people but possessed of supernatural powers and capable of entering the Twilight, a shadowy world that exists in parallel to our own, each Other owes allegiance either to the Dark, or to the Light...While on holiday in Scotland, visiting ''The Dungeons of Edinburgh'', a young Russian tourist is murdered. As the police grapple with the fact that the cause of the young man''s death was a massive loss of blood, the Watches are immediately aware that there is a renegade vampire on the loose. Anton - the hero of the Night Watch trilogy - is detailed to this seemingly mundane investigation, but begins to realise that there is much more to the story than a wildcat vampire and a single murder, and discovers that a team of unlicensed Others are hunting for a fabled magical treasure, hidden in the sixth level of the Twilight by Merlin himself...<Trade ReviewAs satisfying, violent and morally ambivalent as its predecessors. * Telegraph *...the book maintains the high standards set by it precursors admirably, and we can't help but hope that it will not be the last in this exceptional series. * SciFi Now Magazine *

Read more less

Book SynopsisThis is the first unexpurgated English edition of Curzio Malaparte’s legendary work The Skin. The book begins in 1943, with Allied forces cementing their grip on the devastated city of Naples. The sometime Fascist and ever-resourceful Curzio Malaparte is working with the Americans as a liaison officer. He looks after Colonel Jack Hamilton, “a Christian gentleman . . . an American in the noblest sense of the word,” who speaks French and cites the classics and holds his nose as the two men tour the squalid streets of a city in ruins where liberation is only another word for desperation. Veterans of the disbanded Italian army beg for work. A rare specimen from the city’s famous aquarium is served up at a ceremonial dinner for high Allied officers. Prostitution is rampant. The smell of death is everywhere.Subtle, cynical, evasive, manipulative, unnerving, always astonishing, Malaparte is a supreme artist of the unreliable, both the product and the prophet of a world gone rotten to the core.

Read more less

Book SynopsisFrom one of twentieth-century China''s greatest writers and the author of Lust, Caution, this is an unforgettable story of a love affair set in 1930s Shanghai. Manzhen is a young worker in a Shanghai factory, where she meets Shijun, the son of wealthy merchants. Despite family complications, they fall in love and begin to dream of a shared life together - until circumstances force them apart. When they are reunited after a separation of many years, can they start their relationship again? Or is it destined to be the romance of only half a lifetime? This affectionate and captivating novel tells the moving story of an enduring love affair, and offers a fascinating window onto Chinese life in the first half of the twentieth century.Eileen Chang was born in Shanghai in 1920. She studied literature at the University of Hong Kong but returned to Shanghai in 1941 during the Japanese occupation, where she estTrade ReviewIt took 46 years, but at long last English-language readers are now able to enjoy one of Eileen Chang's most popular works, Half a Lifelong Romance. A dramatic story of love, betrayal, opportunism and family oppression set in 1930s Shanghai, it is an enveloping, haunting and insightful read, rich in Chang's trademark passionate prose * Wall Street Journal *Eileen Chang is the fallen angel of Chinese literature -- Ang LeeA dazzling and distinctive fiction writer * New York Times Book Review *Chang's world is a stark and mysterious place where people strive to find their way in love but often fail under the pressures of family, tradition, and reputation * New Yorker *Karen S. Kingsbury's capable new translation of the novel * The Times Literary Supplement *

Read more less

Book SynopsisGabriel García Márquez, winner of the 1982 Nobel Prize for Literature and author of One Hundred Years of Solitude, explores the loneliness of power in Autumn of the Patriarch.''Over the weekend the vultures got into the presidential palace by pecking through the screens on the balcony windows and the flapping of their wings stirred up the stagnant time inside''As the citizens of an unnamed Caribbean nation creep through dusty corridors in search of their tyrannical leader, they cannot comprehend that the frail and withered man lying dead on the floor can be the self-styled General of the Universe. Their arrogant, manically violent leader, known for serving up traitors to dinner guests and drowning young children at sea, can surely not die the humiliating death of a mere mortal?Tracing the demands of a man whose egocentric excesses mask the loneliness of isolation and whose lies have become so ingrained that they are indistinguishable fromTrade ReviewIt asks to be read more than twice, and the rewards are dazzling * Observer *Delights with its quirky humanity and black humour and impresses by its total originality * Vogue *

Read more less

Book Synopsis''My title speaks not merely of war, but also of the crumbling of a regime and the end of a world.'' Émile ZolaThe penultimate novel of the Rougon-Macquart cycle, La Débâcle (1892) takes as its subject the dramatic events of the Franco-Prussian War and the Commune of 1870-1. During Zola''s lifetime it was the bestselling of all his novels, praised by contemporaries for its epic sweep as well as for its attention to historical detail.La Débâcle seeks to explain why the Second Empire ended in a crushing military defeat and revolutionary violence. It focuses on ordinary soldiers, showing their bravery and suffering in the midst of circumstances they cannot control, and includes some of the most powerful descriptions Zola ever wrote. Zola skilfully integrates his narrative of events and the fictional lives of his characters to provide the finest account of this tragic chapter in the history of France. Often compared to War and Peace, La Débâcle has been described as a ''seminal'' work for

Read more less

Book SynopsisLONGLISTED FOR THE MAN BOOKER INTERNATIONAL PRIZE 2017 It's 1970, and in the People's Republic of Congo a Marxist-Leninist revolution is ushering in a new age. But over at the orphanage on the outskirts of Pointe-Noire where young Moses has grown up, the revolution has only strengthened the reign of terror of Dieudonné Ngoulmoumako, the institution's corrupt director. So Moses escapes to Pointe-Noire, where he finds a home with a larcenous band of Congolese Merry Men and among the Zairian prostitutes of the Trois-Cents quarter. But the authorities won't leave Moses in peace, and intervene to chase both the Merry Men and the Trois-Cents girls out of town. All this injustice pushes poor Moses over the edge. Could he really be the Robin Hood of the Congo? Or is he just losing his marbles? Black Moses is a larger-than-life comic tale of a young man obsessed with helping the helpless in an unjust world. It is also a vital new extension of Mabanckou's extraordinary, interlinked body of work dedicated to his native Congo, and confirms his status as one of our great storytellers.Trade ReviewHeartbreaking... Black Moses abounds with moments of black humor but the levity is balanced by Mabanckou's portrait of a dysfunctional society rent by corruption * The New York Times *Black Moses exhibits all the charm, warmth and verbal brio that have won the author of Broken Glass and African Psycho so many admirers - and the informal title of Africa's Samuel Beckett. Helen Stevenson, his translator, again shakes Mr Mabanckou's cocktail of sophistication and simplicity into richly idiomatic English * Economist *Alain Mabanckou addresses the reader with exuberant inventiveness in novels that are brilliantly imaginative in their forms of storytelling. His voice is vividly colloquial, mischievous and often outrageous as he explores, from multiple angles, the country where he grew up, drawing on its political conflicts and compromises, disappointments and hopes. He acts the jester, but with serious intent and lacerating effect. -- Man Booker International Prize 2015, judges’ citationAfrica's Samuel Beckett ... one of the continent's greatest living writers * Guardian *A Congolese rewriting and reimagining of Dickens * Scotsman *

Read more less

Book SynopsisGonzalo is a frustrated would-be poet in a city full of poets; poets lurk in every bookshop, prop up every bar, ready to debate the merits of Teillier and Millan (but never Neruda - beyond the pale). Then, nine years after their bewildering breakup, Gonzalo reunites with his teen sweetheart, Carla, who is now, to his surprise, the mother of a young son, Vicente. Soon they form a happy sort-of family - a stepfamily, though no such word exists in their language. In time, fate and ambition pull the lovers apart, but when it comes to love and poetry, what will be Gonzalo's legacy to his not-quite-stepson Vicente? Zambra chronicles with tenderness and insight the everyday moments - absurd, painful, sexy, sweet, profound - that constitute family life in this bold and brilliant new novel.Trade ReviewErotic and erudite, tender and wise, this novel tumbles through Chilean literary history via an intimate portrait of a young artist's yearnings; it will delight every lover and poet alike. -- Preti TanejaA very funny, warm and beautiful novel -- Sheila HetiHis clever irony, his lighthearted yet powerful prose, his gift for capturing this life that passes through and yet still escapes us - everything Zambra has already put into practice in his novellas and short stories explodes with vitality in Chilean Poet. Contemporary, ingenious, magnificent -- Samanta Schweblin, author of * Little Eyes *Every beat and pattern of being alive becomes revelatory and bright when narrated by Alejandro Zambra. He is a modern wonder -- Rivka Galchen, author of * Everyone Knows Your Mother is a Witch *Zambra writes with wit and warmth, and his characters are penned with compassion and humour... An uplifting and at times laugh-out-loud read -- Jo Lateu * New Internationalist *[Chilean Poet] treats the thorny topic of collective identity not as tragedy, but as a familial comedy. Its laughs are forged across languages * New York Times Book Review *A tender and funny story about love, family and the peculiar position of being a stepparent ... [Chilean Poet] broadens the author's scope and quite likely his international reputation * Los Angeles Times *Splendid . . . [it has] one of the best endings to a novel that I have read in years, a scene of beautiful emotional improvisation * Wall Street Journal *The thing that has always made Zambra's writing irresistible (to me, anyway) is his attention to the seemingly inconsequential matters that render our lives so flush with consequence... wonderfully original -- Il'ja Rákoš * The Millions *[Zambra is] an artist who does not simply notate the numbing details of daily life but spins the quotidian into art * Vulture *...cleareyed and tender * Kirkus Reviews *Excruciatingly funny... a highly entertaining, engaging and complex detailing of why words matter -- translated fiction round-up by Michael Cronin * The Irish Times *So convincing, so tenderly wrought, and so laugh-out-loud funny, that one begins to suspect Chilean Poet might be the best thing [Zambra has] ever written... it is, in short, a complete joy -- Jane Graham * Big Issue *A heartwarming comedy about parenthood and poetry... deft, poignant and emotionally acute -- Houman Barekat * FT *Superb... [Zambra is] one of the sharpest writers in Spanish today... Chilean Poet, happily, is accomplished at all it does -- Cal Revely-Calder * Sunday Telegraph *The pursuit of a poetic life becomes the vehicle for a wry and poignant story of masculine self-discovery ... A sharp-eyed, warm-hearted modern-family romance in the vein of a David Nicholls or Nick Hornby from the Southern Cone... [a] genial, shrewd and tender novel -- Boyd Tonkin * ArtsDesk *In this profound, at times absurd and often very funny investigation of family and failure, Zambra proves himself to be an important voice in contemporary Latin American literature * Monocle *

Read more less

Book Synopsis"There is absolutely no necessity to learn how to read; meat smells a mile off, anyway. Nevertheless, if you live in Moscow and have a brain in your head, you'll pick up reading willy-nilly, and without attending any courses. Out of the forty thousand or so Moscow dogs, only a total idiot won't know how to read the word 'sausage'." When a stray dog dying on the streets of Moscow is taken in by a wealthy professor, he is subjected to medical experiments in which he receives various transplants of human organs. As he begins to transform into a rowdy, unkempt human by the name of Poligraf Poligrafovich Sharikov, his actions distress the professor and those surrounding him, although he finds himself accepted into the ranks of the Soviet state. A parodic reworking of the Frankenstein myth and a vicious satire of the Communist revolution and the concept of the New Soviet man, A Dog's Heart was banned by the censors in 1925 and circulated only in samizdat form. Nowadays this hugely entertaining tale has become very popular in Russia, and has inspired many adaptations across the world.Trade ReviewThis is a story which is full of metaphorical and ironic prose and is a mixture of the comical and the terrifying. It provides a chilling reminder that if you do monstrous things you are likely to create monsters. This underlying message remains as true today as it was back in the 1920s, and so feels both timely and contemporary. * Nudge Books * One of the great writers of the twentieth century. -- A.S. Byatt

Read more less

Book SynopsisThomas Bernhard was born in Holland in 1931 but grew up in Austria. His interest in music and theatre led him to study at the Akademie Mozarteum in Salzburg. He has written a quantity of poetry, several novels, short stories and plays and three volumes of autobiography. He died in 1989.Trade ReviewAstonishingly original, a composition of strange new beauty * The Nation *If against its own vision Correction offers us only a Teutonic injunction to take courage, we must do so from Bernhard's own example, from his determination to look more steadily than any who have come before into the perishing of the soul * Chicago Tribune *Thomas Bernhard is one of the masters of contemporary European fiction. After Kafka's and Canetti's, his sensibility is one of the most acute, the most capable of exemplary images and gestures, in modern literature -- George Steiner * Times Literary Supplement *

Read more less

Book Synopsis''A book of excruciating sobriety and warmth and a magical concreteness of observation... I know of no book which conveys more about that complex fate, being a European at the end of European civilization'' Susan Sontag At first The Emigrants appears simply to document the lives of four Jewish émigrés in the twentieth century. But gradually, as Sebald''s precise, almost dreamlike prose begins to draw their stories, the four narrations merge into one overwhelming evocation of exile and loss.''An unconsoling masterpiece... Exquisitely written and exquisitely translated...a true work of art'' SpectatorTrade ReviewStrange, beautiful and terribly moving * A.S. Byatt *This deeply moving book shames most writers with its nerve and tact and wonder * Michael Ondaatje *An unconsoling masterpiece...It is exquisitely written and exquisitely translated...a true work of art * Spectator *A spellbinding account of four Jewish exiles. Its restrained and meditative tone has stayed with me all year * Nicholas Shakespeare *A sober delicate account of displacement, and a classic of its kind. Modest and remote, it resurrects older standards of behaviour, making most contemporary writing seem brash and immature. No book has pleased me more this year * Anita Brookner, Spectator *

Read more less

Book SynopsisTwo prostitutes are murdered in Tokyo.Twenty years previously both women were educated at the same elite school for young ladies, and had seemingly promising futures ahead of them. But in a world of dark desire and vicious ambition, for both women, prostitution meant power. Grotesque is a masterful and haunting thriller, a chilling exploration of women''s secret lives in modern day Japan.Trade ReviewDelves so deep beyond its own shock horror premise that much contemporary crime fiction looks like cheap, exploitative rubbish by comparison ....an utterly absorbing novel that gives as vivid - and disturbing - a picture of contemporary Japan as you could imagine * Metro *Suicide, paedophilia, incest and murder combine with subtle touches of humour to form a story that will leave you questioning your own morality * Dazed and Confused *This is a rich, complex read. Be prepared for a book utterly unlike anything we are used to in crime fiction * Independent *It is one of the most unexpected and playful novels to emerge from Japan in recent years...a triumph. In its boldness and originality, it broadens our sense of what modern Japanese fiction can be * Telegraph *Unclichéd contemporary noir at its most absorbing and relevant...a masterful and haunting achievement * Tangledweb.co.uk *

Read more less

Book Synopsis''As good as anything Tolstoy ever wrote... Self-assured, vital, unforgettable'' Guardian The title story of this collection is about a man battling a mysterious illness. His family visit his bedside, their faces masks of concern. His colleagues pay their respects but only think of the advantages created by his death. This intensely moving story of Ivan Ilyich''s lonely end is one of the masterpieces of Tolstoy''s late fiction.The ten other stories in this collection include ''The Kreutzer Sonata'', ''The Devil'', and ''Hadji Murat'' which has been described by Harold Bloom as ''the best story in the world''.Trade ReviewAs good as anything Tolstoy ever wrote... Self-assured, vital, unforgettable * Guardian *The simplicity and power of this novella, the story of the terrible encroachment of death on a shallow man spiritually unprepared for it, has staggered millions * Sunday Telegraph *I don't read Russian, but I think Tolstoy's writing comes over whatever translation you read...he wrote the great, terrible story The Death of Ivan Illyich -- Redmond O'Hanlon * Independent *An indubitable masterpiece -- Yann MartelFor me, the best insight into the process of dying comes from Leo Tolstoy in his short story, The Death of Ivan Ilych, which examines the life and death of the most ordinary man -- Oliver James * Mail on Sunday *

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe thought-provoking new novel from the international bestselling author whose words change lives. Linda knows she''s lucky. Yet every morning when she opens her eyes to a so-called new day, she feels like closing them again.Her friends recommend medication.But Linda wants to feel more, not less.And so she embarks on an adventure as unexpected as it is daring, and which reawakens a side of her that she - respectable wife, loving mother, ambitious journalist - thought had disappeared.Even she can''t predict what will happen next...Trade ReviewAdultery perfectly illustrates the faint line between madness and insanity, happiness and unhappiness as well as the eternal search for our own “personal legend” * Daily Express *

Read more less

Book SynopsisBorn to drunken parents in the slums of Paris, Nana lives in squalor until she is discovered at the Théâtre des Variétés. She soon rises from the streets to set the city alight as the most famous high-class prostitute of her day. Rich men, Comtes and Marquises fall at her feet, great ladies try to emulate her appearance, lovers even kill themselves for her. Nana''s hedonistic appetite for luxury and decadent pleasures knows no bounds - until, eventually, it consumes her. Nana provoked outrage on its publication in 1880, with its heroine damned as ''the most crude and bestial sort of whore'', yes the language of the novel makes Nana almost a mythical figure: a destructive force preying on a corrupt society.

Read more less

Book SynopsisThree stories by a French masterFirst published in 1877, these three stories are dominated by questions of doubt, love, loneliness, and religious experience—together they confirm Flaubert as a master of the short story. “A Simple Heart” relates the story of Félicité, an uneducated serving-woman who retains her Catholic faith despite a life of desolation and loss. “The Legend of Saint Julian Hospitator,” inspired by a stained-glass window in Rouen cathedral, describes the fate of a sadistic hunter destined to murder his own parents. The blend of faith and cruelty that dominates this story may also be found in “Herodias,” a reworking of the tale of Salome and John the Baptist.This new edition is a completely new translation with a new introduction by Geoffrey Wall, Flaubert's acclaimed biographer. It features a chronology, further reading, and explanantory notes.For more than seventy years, Penguin has

Read more less

Book SynopsisTahar Ben Jelloun was born in 1944 in Fez, Morocco, and emigrated to France in 1961. He is one of North Africa's foremost novelists. Tahar Ben Jelloun's novels include The Sacred Night which received the Prix Goncourt in 1987 and Corruption.

Read more less

Book SynopsisBotchan is a modern young man from the Tokyo metropolis, sent to the ultra-traditional Matsuyama district as a Maths teacher after his the death of his parents. Cynical, rebellious and immature, Botchan finds himself facing several tests, from the pupils - prone to playing tricks on their new, naïve teacher; the staff - vain, immoral, and in danger of becoming a bad influence on Botchan; and from his own as-yet-unformed nature, as he finds his place in the world. One of the most popular novels in Japan where it is considered a classic of adolescence, as seminal as The Catcher in the Rye, Botchan is as funny, poignant and memorable as it was when first published, over 100 years ago.In J. Cohn''s introduction to his colourful translation, he discusses Botchan''s success, the book''s clash between Western intellectualism and traditional Japanese values, and the importance of names and nicknames in the novel.Trade ReviewSoseki's lightest and funniest work -- Donald KeeneThis rollicking rebel, and the spice and pace of the narrative, will appeal to parent, teacher, and schoolchild alike * Times Literary Supplement *

Read more less

Book Synopsis''K. kept feeling that he had lost himself, or was further away in a strange land than anyone had ever been before''A remote village covered almost permanently in snow and dominated by a castle and its staff of dictatorial, sexually predatory bureaucrats - this is the setting for Kafka''s story about a man seeking both acceptance in the village and access to the castle. Kafka breaks new ground in evoking a dense village community fraught with tensions, and recounting an often poignant, occasionally farcical love-affair. He also explores the relation between the individual and power, and asks why the villagers so readily submit to an authority which may exist only in their collective imagination.Published only after Kafka''s death, The Castle appeared in the same decade as modernist masterpieces by Eliot, Joyce, Woolf, Mann and Proust, and is among the central works of modern literature. This translation follows the text established by critical scholarship, and manuscript variants are mentioned in the notes. The introduction provides guidance to the text without reducing the reader''s own freedom to make sense of this fascinatingly enigmatic novel. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World''s Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford''s commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.

Read more less

Book Synopsis''Your Face Tomorrow is already being compared with Proust and rightly so'' Observer''One of contemporary literature''s major works ... you have to open this book'' Ali SmithThe concluding part in Javier Marías'' spy trilogy masterwork Jacques Deza is back in London and once again working for the secret intelligence agency run by Bertram Tupra. Deza finds himself forced to watch Tupra''s collection of incriminating videotapes of important public figures. The recordings document unconventional private lives - and horrific acts. The scenes enter him like a poison, contaminating everything good, yet he is powerless to counteract them. Set against a background of brutality, Poison, Shadow and Farewell asks whether violence can ever be justified and completes the extraordinary journey that has led us on a descent into hell and a re-emergence, not entirely unscathed, into life.Trade ReviewYour Face Tomorrow is already being compared with Proust and rightly so. It is a novel of extraordinary subtlety and pathos. The next thing Marias deserves is the Nobel Prize * Observer *

Read more less

Book SynopsisArkady Strugatsky (Author) Arkady Strugatsky (1925 - 1991) and Boris Strugatsky (1933 - 2012) are Russia's most acclaimed and popular science-fiction writers. Their unique style - at once hilarious and pitch black - encompassed a remarkable variety of different genres: from space opera to alien invasion, from locked-room mystery to dystopian apocalypse. While their initial output was uncritical of Soviet life, over time their work became much more subversive - science fiction being the perfect vehicle to hide their critiques from censors. In 1981 they shared the Aelita Award, Russia's most prestigious science-fiction prize.Boris Strugatsky (Author) Arkady Strugatsky (1925 - 1991) and Boris Strugatsky (1933 - 2012) are Russia's most acclaimed and popular science-fiction writers. Their unique style - at once hilarious and pitch black - encompassed a remarkable variety of different genres: from space opera to alien invasion, fromTrade ReviewOne of the Strugatsky brothers is descended from Gogol and the other from Chekhov, but nobody is sure which is which ... A beautiful book -- Ursula K. Le GuinOne of the best and most provocative novels I have ever read, in or out of sci-fi -- Theodore SturgeonThey open windows in the mind and then fail to close them all, so that, putting down one of their books, you feel a cold breeze still lifting the hairs on the back of your neck. * The New York Times *

Read more less

Book SynopsisDiscover the new Penguin Crime and Espionage seriesA master criminal and a master detective are locked in battle. Who will win?They call her the ''Dark Angel''. Queen of Tokyo''s underworld, Mme Midorikawa is famed for her beauty, her jewels and the tattoo of a black lizard on her arm. Crime is so easy for her that she warns her victims in advance. When a wealthy jewel merchant receives letters saying his precious daughter Sanae is about to be kidnapped, he entrusts the renowned detective Akechi Kogoro to protect her. But he may have met his deadliest adversary yet...

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe first Thora Gudmundsdottir novel from Yrsa Sigurdardottir - ''Queen of Icelandic crime''.''Yrsa is one of the most exciting new voices in the crime thriller world.'' - Peter JamesA young man is found brutally murdered, his eyes gouged out. A student of Icelandic history in Reykjavik, he came from a wealthy German family who do not share the police''s belief that his drug dealer murdered him. Attorney Thora Gudmundsdottir is commissioned by his mother to find out the truth, with the help - and hindrance - of boorish ex-policeman Matthew Reich. Their investigations into his research take them deep into a grisly world of torture and witchcraft both past and present, as they draw ever closer to a killer gripped by a dangerous obsession...Trade ReviewI can see why so many people are enthusiastic about Yrsa's work. It's very engaging, fresh and exciting. -- James PattersonA grisly chiller set in the depths of winter ... Her mystery is absorbing and, untypically, instead of the usual gloomy middle-aged man, her sleuth is a young woman ... It's an accomplished debut, with credible characters and a personable heroine. * Sunday Telegraph *Dark, deep and icy as an Icelandic fjord; this is a rich and rewarding debut novel of ancient mysteries and very modern murder. -- Mark BillinghamAn intricately plotted tale that keeps the reader guessing whodunit, or indeed whether it was murder at all, right until the very end. * Sunday Express *

Read more less

Book SynopsisWhen a man''s body is discovered at the base of some cliffs in the small resort town of Hari Cove, the police at first suspect a tragic accident, a misstep that cost the man his life. However, when the victim is found to have been a former policeman and that the cause of death was actually carbon monoxide poisoning, they begin a murder investigation. Manabu Yukawa, the physicist known as ''Detective Galileo'', is in Hari Cove to speak at a conference on a planned underwater mining operation, and finds himself drawn into the case. Did the murder have something to do with the fight of the small community to rebuild itself, or does it have its roots in the town''s history? In a series of twists as complex and surprising as any in Higashino''s brilliant, critically acclaimed work, Yukawa uncovers the hidden relationship behind the tragic events that led to this murder.Trade ReviewAn engaging mystery full of surprising shifts and twists from one of Japan's most successful thriller writers. Highly recommended. * Irish Independent *A Midsummer's Equation satisfyingly builds on the achievement of his [Higashino's] earlier works and adds some new elements . . . the novel throws off a series of jaw-dropping narrative twists . . . has some surprising resonances with the golden age of British crime fiction but there's nothing wrong with that. What is fully in place, however, is the narrative acumen that has distinguished early entries in the series. -- Barry Forshaw * Independent *

Read more less

Book SynopsisDetective Huldar and psychologist Freyja are once again on the trail of a serial killer in this brilliant new novel from the internationally acclaimed author of Gallows Rock and The Silence of the Sea.Trade ReviewI love the Children's House series and Yrsa delivers again with The Doll. Such engaging characters and a compelling, twisted and creepy mystery-I couldn't put it down! * Shari Lapena *Yrsa is a wonderful storyteller. Her stories are atmospheric, mysterious and brilliantly plotted . . . you will never see the twists coming * Mari Hannah *Broody Icelandic thriller * Peterborough Telegraph *

Read more less

Book SynopsisSpain has produced two books that changed world literature: Don Quixote and Lazarillo de Tormes, the first picaresque novel ever written and the inspired precursor to works as various as Vanity Fair and Huckleberry Finn. Banned by the Spanish Inquisition after publication in 1554, Lazarillo was soon translated throughout Europe, where it was widely copied. The book is a favorite to this day for its vigorous colloquial style and the earthy realism with which it exposes human hypocrisy.The bastard son of a prostitute, Lazarillo goes to work for a blind beggar, who beats and starves him, while teaching him some very useful dirty tricks. The boy then drifts in and out of the service of a succession of masters, each vividly sketched and together revealing the corrupt world of imperial Spain. Its miseries are made all the more apparent by the candor and surprising good cheer with which young Lazarillo recounts his ever more curious fate.This version of Lazarillo, by the prizewinning poet and translator W.S. Merwin, brings out the wonderful vitality and humor of this universal masterwork.The author of Lazarillo de Tormes is unknown.

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book SynopsisIt felt like the slipknot on a rope round my chest was being tightened without pity Trouble is the last thing Albert needs. Travelling back to his childhood home on Christmas Eve to mourn his mother's death, he finds the loneliness and nostalgia of his Parisian quartier unbearable... Until, that evening, he encounters a beautiful, seemingly innocent woman at a brasserie, and his spirits are lifted. Still, something about the woman disturbs him. Where is the father of her child? And what are those two red stains on her sleeve? When she invites him back to her apartment, Albert thinks he's in luck. But a monstrous scene awaits them, and he finds himself lured into the darkness against his better judgment. Unravelling like a paranoid nightmare, Bird in a Cage melds existentialist drama with thrilling noir to tell the story of a man trapped in a prison of his own making.Trade ReviewMelancholy and atmospheric, with a twist worthy of Agatha Christie at her devious best, this brief tale has the hallmark of classic French noir Guardian Hugely atmospheric The Times The French master of noir Observer Alongside the Maigret novels of Georges Simenon there is a rich vein of period French crime still to be tapped. Frederic Dard is a case in point Daily Mail Disturbing from the outset with strong echoes of Dard's hero Simenon Sunday Times Crime Club (star pick) This short, sly novel of the night has more than enough substance and mystery to keep readers awake and engrossed The National It's exceedingly clever - when surprising things happen they slap you in the face for being so obvious, so necessary and so vital yet so surprising at the same time, and you can only squirm more enjoyably into your seat as you read on Bookbag A typically tense and yearning tale... One eagerly awaits forthcoming translations to see whether he can do the trick over again Wall Street Journal It's a brilliant book, and though Frederic Dard may have been 'one of the best known and loved French crime writers of the twentieth century' he's new to me, so this was a real discovery and treat all rolled into one Desperate Reader It's a short, sharp story featuring a handful of brilliantly portrayed characters, and is structured as intriguingly and cunningly as an Escher drawing Thriller Books Journal It is a tribute to the quality of the writing that Dard can contain so much tension, surprise and mystery in so few words Crime Review Imbued with a tantalising mix of Patricia Highsmith and Alfred Hitchcock Raven Crime Reads If you're a fan of Film Noir, you'll love Bird in a Cage... if all the novels in the Vertigo series are this good, I predict I'll be needing more bookshelves -- Lee Randall Randall Writes A slick novella... the ending is deliciously ambiguous... a triumph The Worm Hole The literary descendant of Simenon and Celine Le Figaro No question: for me, he was the greatest -- Philippe Geluck His language is cutting, his point-of-view original and his verdict uncompromising... One of the few twentieth-century authors to win both critical acclaim and great popularity Solidarite Militaire France's most popular post-war author L'Express

Read more less

Book SynopsisLife and Fate is an epic tale of twentieth-century Russia told through the fate of a single family, the Shaposhnikovs, from the Sunday Times bestselling author of Stalingrad.As the battle of Stalingrad looms, Grossman's characters must work out their destinies in a world torn by ideological tyranny and war.Completed in 1960 and then confiscated by the KGB, this sweeping panorama of Soviet Society remained unpublished until it was smuggled into the West in 1980, where it was hailed as a masterpiece.'One of the finest Russian novels of the 20th century' Daily Telegraph'Compelling... Grossman's portrait is timelessly relevant... Life and Fate is worth all the audience it can find' The TimesVINTAGE CLASSICS RUSSIAN SERIES - sumptuous editions of the greatest books to come out of Russia during the most tumultuous period in its history.Trade ReviewOne of the greatest masterpieces of the twentieth century * Times Literary Supplement *It is only a matter of time before Grossman is acknowledged as one of the great writers of the 20th century... Life and Fate is a book that demands to be talked about * Guardian *One of the finest Russian novels of the 20th century * Daily Telegraph *Vasily Grossman's novel is burnt in my memory, not only by its huge canvas, its meditation on tyranny, and its dazzling description of war, but also because this is the novel that made me cry - not just a few leaked tears, but a full-scale sobbing episode - in Montpellier airport... Grossman lost his mother in a concentration camp. In Life and Fate, he writes with tenderness, and pain, not only of that experience but of what it is like to survive tyranny. A classic indeed -- Gillian Slovo * Independent *One of the great writers of the last century * Observer *

Read more less

Book SynopsisMadame Bovary is one of the greatest, most beguiling novels ever written.Emma Bovary is an avid reader of sentimental novels; brought up on a Normandy farm and convent-educated, she longs for romance. At first, Emma pins her hopes on marriage, but life with her well-meaning husband in the provinces leaves her bored and dissatisfied. She seeks escape through extravagant spending sprees and, eventually, adultery. As Emma pursues her impossible reverie she seals her own ruin.'A great novel that is also an inexhaustible pleasure to read' GuardianA NEW TRANSLATION BY ADAM THORPEVINTAGE FRENCH CLASSICS - six masterpieces of French fiction in collectable editions.Trade ReviewA work of brilliance * Daily Mail *

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe Obscene Madame D is the electrifying masterpiece by one of modern Brazilian literature's most significant and controversial writers. At sixty years old, Hillé decides to abandon conventional life and devote the rest of her days to contemplation in a recess under the stairs. There, she is haunted by her perplexed, recently deceased lover, Ehud, who cannot understand her rejection of common sense, sex and a simple life in favour of vain metaphysical speculations. In a stream-of-consciousness monologue, Hillé speaks of her search for spiritual fulfilment from a space of dereliction. In thrilling prose that is part Joyce, part Lispector and part de Sade, Hilda Hilst takes us into the disorder and beauty of a mind restlessly testing its own limits.

Read more less

Book SynopsisArtistic freedom comes at a price 1960s China, and society is commanded to rebel against tradition. Amid the political turmoil, three young artists look out from their attic salon onto the streets of the northern port city of Tianjin. Lacking the opportunity to craft anything meaningful, they take solace in debating bourgeois ideals and listening to banned Western music. Not much separates the trio – Luo Qian is capable of greatness if only he’d get out of his own way, while Luo Fu’s rote diligence is only matched by his charismatic showmanship. Binding them together is Chu Yuntian, whose privileged background lives alongside an earnest desire for deeper truths. When economic reforms turn society on its head, they are given licence to indulge their artistic passions. Deluged by the increasingly materialistic masses, they paint themselves onto separate paths as they lose track of once sacred certainties. In this warming age where everything is fluid, can the bonds of winter hold?

Read more less

Book SynopsisAs ideological ferment grips Russia, a small group of revolutionaries, led by Pyotr Verkhovensky and inspired by Nikolai Stavrogin, plan to spread destruction and anarchy throughout the country. Morally bankrupt, they are prepared to use whatever means necessary to achieve their goal, including murder and incitement to suicide. But when they are forced to test the limits of their doctrine and kill one of their own to secure the secrecy of their mission, the ragtag group breaks up in mutual recrimination.Devils is at once a compelling political statement and a study of atheism and its calamitous effect on a country that is teetering on the edge of an abyss. Seen as Dostoevsky's most powerful indictment of man's propensity to violence, this darkly humorous work, shot through with grotesque comedy, is presented here in Roger Cockrell's masterful new translation.Trade Review"It is a merciless expose of certain aspects of the Russian revolutionary movements of the mid-19th century, and of the various kinds of revolutionary and terrorist psychology." - Dr Rowan Williams

Read more less

Book SynopsisFound in the Codex Atlanticus of Leonardo da Vinci’s writings and drawings, ‘The Prophecies’ are a collection of enigmatic divinatory pronouncements, some punning and playful, others dire and ominous. While the author’s intentions behind these utterances are unclear, they clearly attest to the artist’s fevered and troubled imagination and offer a glimpse into a world very similar to that depicted in his lost painting The Battle of Anghiari. This volume also contains a further selection of Leonardo da Vinci’s fragmentary writings, in the form of fables and aphorisms. Taken together, these pieces provide an invaluable insight into the thought processes of one of the Renaissance’s most productive minds.

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis What did the disintegration of the Soviet Union feel like for the people who lived through it? Award-winning writer Sasha Salzmann tells this story in a remarkable novel about two women in extraordinary times.__________As a child, Lena longs to pick hazelnuts in the woods with her grandmother. Instead, she is raised to be a good socialist: sent to Pioneer summer camps where she's taught to worship Lenin and sing songs in praise of the glorious Soviet Union. But perestroika is coming. Lena's corner of the USSR is now Ukraine, and corruption and patronage are the only ways to get by - to secure a place at university, an apartment, treatment for a sick baby.For Tatjana, the shock of the new means the first McDonald's in the Soviet Union and certified foreign whisky, but no food in the shops; it means terrible choices about how to love. Eventually both women must decide whether to stay or to emigrate, but the trauma they carry is handed down to their daughters, who struggle to make sense of their own identities.Glorious People is a vivid depiction of how the collapse of the Soviet Union reverberated through the lives of ordinary people. Engrossing, rich in detail and unforgettable characters, this is a captivating love letter to mothers and daughters.__________PRAISE FOR GLORIOUS PEOPLE:'An astute, deeply empathetic portrayal of the dislocation of first-generation immigrants and intergenerational trauma' Financial Times'A capacious novel... certainly not short on vibrancy and humour' TLS'A story of several generations of women that poignantly demonstrates the imprint of history on people's lives... elegant, engaging, marvellous' Victoria Belim, author of The Rooster House'Glorious People is hypnotic, sweeping, and more relevant than ever' Maria Kuznetsova, author of Something Unbelievable'An unflinching examination of mother-daughter ties... Masterful and haunting' Elena Gorokhova, author of A Train to Moscow

Read more less

Book Synopsis**THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO IS BACK!****The sixth in the Millennium series - more than 100 million copies sold worldwide**"Expertly told, the plot crackles with life" DAILY MAIL"Salander is centre stage . . . A pacy read" SUNDAY EXPRESS"Exciting and disturbing" LITERARY REVIEW**********************************************************************************THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO HAS FRESH OUTRAGE TO AVENGEAs Salander follows the scorched trail of her twin sister to Moscow, Blomkvist fears for her safety. He should, perhaps, be more concerned for himself. The murder of a homeless man on the streets of Stockholm has drawn him into a conspiracy that scales the heights of Everest and plunges to the depths of Russia's criminal underworld.And now Lisbeth will face her nemesis. For the girl with the dragon tattoo, the personal is always political - and ultimately deadly. "A unique concoction that should leave Salander's legion of followers clamoring for more" Tom Nolan, Wall Street JournalTranslated from the Swedish by George GouldingTrade ReviewA murder mystery inside an espionage conspiracy wrapped in an action thriller-a unique concoction that should leave Salander's legion of followers clamoring for more * Wall Street Journal *Larsson had grand ambitions for his Millennium series, projecting a total of 10 novels. In Lagercrantz's hands, the series is realizing grand ambitions of another sort. * Washington Post *He has developed Larsson's rage at right-wing perfidy and men who hate women, mixing it with his ability to depict physical beauty and superhuman survival skills to create fast-paced thrillers . . . The Girl Who Lived Twice is both exciting and disturbing * Literary Review *Lagercrantz's compassion for the underdog adds genuine emotion to his baroque plotting. There is much to admire in the way he has grasped a tricky assignment - to continue one of the biggest hits of recent years. Roll on the next "girl" * South China Morning Post *Salander is centre-stage again in Lagercrantz's latest sequel . . . This is a pacy read . . . while still finding room for some nice eccentric touches * Sunday Express *David Lagercrantz is a pro. This is stylish, straight forward, classic Swedish crime . . . supporting characters are distinctly illustrated, larger than life . . . the dialogue is voluble; full of knives, Berettas, rich Russians and divinely gifted hackers. * Svenska Dagbladet *A book to devour . . . Difficult, or near impossible to put down, the plot is lavish, complex, remarkably well-composed and filled with unbearable suspense in certain places * Le Parisien *Salander is what she's always been: a force to be reckoned with, and one of the most remarkable series leads in the history of crime fiction. Salander fans, who long ago put aside any misgivings about Lagercrantz taking over the Millennium series, will be eager to follow the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo as she attempts to sweep clean her family closet. * Booklist *A tantalizing ending hints at important changes for Blomkvist and Lisbeth ahead. Series fans will be pleased with the thoughtful way Lagercrantz develops the character of their beloved action heroine in this worthy outing. * Publishers Weekly *The Girl Who Lived Twice is the sixth, last and best from Stieg Larsson's universe. It is a vivacious and suitable conclusion of the Millennium saga * Aftenposten *David Lagercrantz has with professionalism and respect consolidated Lisbeth Salander as an archetype of current pop culture, and at the same time written very entertaining novels. * La Vanguardia *The result will satisfy any Lagercrantz fans, since the story goes on without pause until the last page, where the author uses fireworks to surprise the reader. * El Periodico *A great novel made of twists and turns, cliffhangers and detailed researches. Lagercrantz . . . An accomplished and elegant style . . . One of the most beautiful and innovative series of the last two decades. * La Repubblica *Lagercrantz perfectly knows how to embrace the atmosphere and the suspense of the Stieg Larsson saga. * Corriere della Sera *[A] fast-paced adventure * Irish Independent *

Read more less

Book Synopsis**SHORTLISTED FOR THE MAN BOOKER INTERNATIONAL 2018**WHO IS VERNON SUBUTEX?An urban legend.A fall from grace.The mirror who reflects us all.Vernon Subutex was once the proprietor of Revolver, an infamous music shop in Bastille. His legend spread throughout Paris. But by the 2000s his shop is struggling. With his savings gone, his unemployment benefit cut, and the friend who had been covering his rent suddenly dead, Vernon Subutex finds himself down and out on the Paris streets.He has one final card up his sleeve. Even as he holds out his hand to beg for the first time, a throwaway comment he once made on Facebook is taking the internet by storm. Vernon does not realise this, but the word is out: Vernon Subutex has in his possession the last filmed recordings of Alex Bleach, the famous musician and Vernon''s benefactor, who has only just died of a drug overdose. A crowd of people from record producers to online trolTrade ReviewBold and sophisticated, this thrilling, magnificently audacious picaresque is about France and is also about all of us; how loudly we shout, how badly we hurt. It is the story of now. -- Eileen Battersby * Irish Times *An enthralling read. The story of one man, one city, it speaks of our entire world. A compelling, vital read, beautifully and vibrantly translated. -- Nell LeyshonDisturbing and compelling . . . I loved and hated Vernon but I couldn't leave him alone . . . Relentlessly brilliant. Reading it was like being on a runaway train - you know it will probably end in disaster but you might as well enjoy the thrill of the ride - it's unputdownable. -- Victoria HislopAn energetic, diverting romp . . . Brimming with sex, violence and deviant behaviour . . . [and] a multitude of sharply delineated characters . . . Often surprises us with its psychological acuity. -- David Mills * Sunday Times. *Vernon Subutex is a great novel because, quite simply, it disturbs you. Despentes is an extraordinary writer -- François Busnel * Express *Part social epic, part punk rock thriller, Vernon Subutex is a remarkable portrait of contemporary society... written with a fury that hits right to the bone -- Christine Ferniot * Télérama *Sex, drugs and 90s punk rock: Vernon Subutex is the Comédie Humaine for our time, produced by the furious talent of Virginie Despentes -- Laurence Houot * Culturebox *A masterful blending of characters, voices and plots with an undeniable sense of changing rhythms. This is not just a novel, it's an electrocardiogram -- Etienne de Montety * Figaro *A mind-blowing portrait of contemporary French society -- Nelly Kaprièlian * Les Inrocks *A vast mural of the world today. We all knew Despentes could write, but we were not expecting this -- Frédéric Beigbeder * Figaro magazine *

Read more less

Book SynopsisBorn into wealth and privilege, Rudolf Kerkhoven is destined to follow his father's footsteps into the Dutch colonies, with its uncleared jungle foothills and potential for riches. When he arrives in Java he is immediately smitten by the landscape and the life, and over the seasons, Rudolf's dedication and diligence gradually transform the land into a productive estate for tea, coffee and quinine. When he meets the independent-minded Jenny and their two sons are born, Rudolf is happier than he thought possible. But for Jenny, the damp austerity of their home, her fertility, her father's secret, and the native spirits of the land grow to overshadow their marriage and the life they've strived for together. Lusciously atmospheric and masterfully drawn, this is an unforgettable story of aspiration, determination, rivalry and romance on a tropical plantation.Trade ReviewA graceful, marvellously achieved improvisation that only a novelist of the greatest imagination and sympathy could have written -- Julian Evans * Guardian *Put it at the top of your reading list * Stylist *Haasse has created a compelling piece of innovative historical fiction ... [She] effortlessly combines an evocation of the plantation's heady, lush vegetation with her articulation of the growing distance between man and wife. And her aptly chosen metaphors are all skillfully conveyed in Ina Rilke's translation * Sunday Times *Displays a knowledgeable and intimate empathy for plantation life, sucking you into the steaming Indonesian jungles and cut-glass propriety of Dutch colonial society without suspending judgement on colonialism itself -- Claire Allfree * Metro *The large cast of characters is convincingly displayed and deftly manipulated. The evocation of Java is vivid and full of feeling -- Allan Massie * Scotsman *Haasse's atmospheric historical novel receives an elegantly idiomatic translation from Ina Rilke ... an affecting portrait of a life devoted to duty, which asks whether the sacrifice was worth the emotional costs. -- Adrian Turpin * Financial Times *Translated into graceful prose, this morally challenging work, constructed from documents and letters, has already become a novel by which others, inside and outside its tradition, can be judged. -- Paul Binding * Independent *

Read more less

Book SynopsisMike Mitchell has revised his translation and a new introduction has been added.''A superbly atmospheric story set in the old Prague ghetto featuring the Golem, a kind of rabbinical Frankenstein''s monster, which manifests every 33 years in a room without a door. Stranger still, it seems to have the same face as the narrator. Made into a film in 1920, this extraordinary book combines the uncanny psychology of doppelganger stories with expressionism and more than a little melodrama... Meyrink''s old Prague ? like Dickens''s London ? is one of the great creation of city writing, an eerie, claustrophobic and fantastical underworld where anything can happen.'' Phil Baker in The Sunday Times

Read more less

Book SynopsisYukio Mishima was born into a samurai family and imbued with the code of complete control over mind and body, and loyalty to the Emperor - the same code that produced the austerity and self-sacrifice of Zen. He wrote countless stories and thirty-three plays, in some of which he performed. Several films have been made from his novels, including The Sound of Waves, Enjo which was based on The Temple of the Golden Pavilion and The Sailor Who Fell From Grace with the Sea. Among his other works are the novels Confessions of a Mask and Thirst for Love and the short story collections Death in Midsummer and Acts of Worship. The Sea of Fertility tetralogy, however, is his masterpiece. After Mishima conceived the idea of The Sea of Fertility in 1964, he frequently said he would die when it was completed. On 25 November 1970, the day he completed The Decay of the Angel, the last novel of the cycle, Mishima committed seppTrade ReviewJapan's foremost man of letters * Spectator *Thirst for Love contains all of the elements that make Mishima a compelling, disturbing writer * Columbus Dispatch *

Read more less

Book SynopsisAlienated from society, Harry Haller is the Steppenwolf, wild, strange and shy. His despair and desire for death draw him into an enchanted, Faust-like underworld. Through a series of shadowy encounters, romantic, freakish and savage by turn, Haller begins to rediscover the lost dreams of his youth.Trade ReviewThe gripping and fascinating story of disease in a man's soul, and a savage indictment of bourgeois society * New York Times *Existential masterpiece * The Times *A profoundly memorable and affecting novel * New York Times *

Read more less