Fiction in translation

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Book SynopsisThis novel focuses on a group of characters who are all in different ways endeavouring to take control of their fate. Their desire to lead a genuine existence forces them to confront difficult decisions, and to break out of comfortable routines.Karl and Marina have been together for ten years and have a young son, Simón. Karl is a German-born oboist at Argentina’s national orchestra, and Marina is a meteorologist. On a field trip, she meets fellow researcher Zárate, and what might have been just a fling starts to erode the foundations of her marriage. Then there is Amer, a dynamic and successful taxidermist. At a group therapy session for smokers, Amer falls for the younger Clara. While the relationship between Karl and Marina disintegrates, the love story between Amer and Clara is just beginning – or is it already at an end? One of Argentina’s leading contemporary writers, Jorge Consiglio portrays the inner worlds of these characters through the minute details of their everyday lives, laying bare their strivings and their frustrations with a wry gaze, and seeking in this close-up texture a deeper truth.Trade Review"A moving testament to the beauty and banality of human relationships." —Publishers Weekly"A masterpiece that refuses to stay still."** —Culture Trip**"Fate could be likened to a pointillist painting by Seurat, with each dab of colour and each descriptive passage contributing to what is finally a beautifully structured and brilliantly shimmering whole."** —New York Magazine (The Strategist UK)"In the realm of fiction, an author has total authority over their characters, and they can inject interactions with meaning and pattern-play in a way therapists warn us not to in our day to day lives. It takes a particular level of craftsmanship to do this at the level of the sentence, with the effortlessness that Consiglio seamlessly achieves, and to sweep a reader so tenderly into the progress." —White Review**"A muted and unhurried novel that insists on the validity of the imperfect present."** —Kirkus**"The beauty of this novel...is that it provides no answers, but many questions. It can be reflected upon, re-read, and reconsidered."** —BookBlast**"The language of Fate has teeth and claws."** —Books and Bao**"Fate is a rich tapestry of language, a sharp depiction of the vagaries of fate and a thoughtful meditation on the human condition."** —The Monthly Booking**"Consiglio’s writing aches with poetry through its attention and complexity."** —The Skinny**"Packed full of sensuality and written in fresh, candid prose."** —The Quietus**** Praise for Jorge Consiglio**"Employing a language that is sharp, concise and visceral, it proves his talent as a natural storyteller and as a social chronicler and poet of some refinement."** —Morning Star**"There is a timeless quality to Consiglio’s prose...a storyteller of rare ingenuity."** —Splice**"His stories are told with dispassionate realism while being varnished with a surrealist gloss, creating his own in-between style...Occasional poetic turns reminiscent of Pablo Neruda erupt within the narrative."** —Culture Trip**"[Consiglio] carves out a singular space by focusing on characters who do not quite have a place of their own."** —Full Stop**

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Book Synopsis

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Book SynopsisCandide, or the Optimist is Voltaire’s hilarious and deeply scathing satire on the Age of Enlightenment. This classic of French literature has been a bestseller for over two hundred years.Part of the Macmillan Collector’s Library, a series of stunning, clothbound, pocket-sized classics with gold-foiled edges and ribbon markers. These beautiful books make perfect gifts or a treat for any book lover. This classic of French literature features an introduction by Dr Marine Ganofsky.Young nobleman Candide lives a sheltered and comfortable life under the tutorship of the ridiculous Dr Pangloss who espouses the prevailing 18th-century philosophy of Optimism. Following an indiscretion, Candide is cast out into the world which according to Pangloss is ‘the best of all possible worlds’. But this is not so, Candide and his companions encounter nothing but ludicrous calamities in their madcap travels around the world – war crimes, earthquakes, inquisitions and chain gangs – all based with horrible closeness on real events of the 18th century.Trade ReviewCandide remains politically topical and its McCarthy-era satire has, unfortunately, lost little relevance -- John Allison * Telegraph *It was no fable inhabiting some make-believe or symbolic location; rather, it was a report on the current state of the world, deliberately set among the headlines of the day -- Julian Barnes * Guardian *

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Book SynopsisThe Story of the Stone (c. 1760), also known by the title of The Dream of the Red Chamber, is the great novel of manners in Chinese literature.Divided into five volumes, of which The Warning Voice is the third, it charts the glory and decline of the illustrious Jia family (a story which closely accords with the fortunes of the author''s own family). The two main characters, Bao-yu and Dai-yu, are set against a rich tapestry of humour, realistic detail and delicate poetry, which accurately reflects the ritualized hurly-burly of Chinese family life. But over and above the novel hangs the constant reminder that there is another plane of existence - a theme which affirms the Buddhist belief in a supernatural scheme of things.Trade Review“Filled with classical allusions, multilayered wordplay, and delightful poetry, Cao’s novel is a testament to what Chinese literature was capable of. Readers of English are fortunate to have David Hawkes and John Minford’s The Story of the Stone, which distills a lifetime of scholarship and reading into what is probably the finest work of Chinese-to-English literary translation yet produced. You will be rewarded every bit of attention you give it, many times over.” —SupChina, “The 100 China Books You Have to Read, Ranked” (#1)Table of ContentsThe Story of the Stone Volume 3Note on SpellingPrefaceChapter 54:Lady Jia ridicules the cliches of romantic fiction; And Wang Xi-feng emulates the filifal antics of Lao Lia-ziChapter 55:A foolish concubine seeks to humiliate her own daughter; And an ill-natured stewardess tries to outwit her young mistressChapter 56:Resourceful Tan-chun abolilshes abuses in the interests of econoomy; And sapient Bao-chai shows how small consessions can be made without loss of dignityChapter 57:Nightengale tests Jade Boy with a startling message; And Aunt Xue comforts Frowner with words of loving kindnessChapter 58:In which the cock-bird who mourns his mate is found to be a hen; And a true heart is able to sympathize with a strange kind of loveChapter 59:By Willow Walk the conververs of property resort to violence and abuse; And at Green Delights the defenders of law and order invoke a higher authorityChapter 60:As a substiture for rose-orris Jia Huan is given jasmine face-powder; And in return for rose essence Cook Liu is given lycoperdon snowChapter 61:Bao-yu owns up to a crime he did not commit; And Patience bends authority in order that the innocent may be sparedChapter 62:A tipsy Xiang-yun sleeps on a peony-petal pillow; And a grateful Caltrop unfastens her pomegranate skirtChapter 63:Flower-maidens combine for nocturnal birthday revels; And a grass widow copes with funeral arrangments single-handedChapter 64:Five fair women make subjects for a chaste maid's verse; And nine jade dragons make a love-gift for a flirtChapter 65:Jia Lian's second marriage is celebrated in secret; And the future marriage of San-jie becomes a matter of speculationChapter 66:Shame drives a warm-hearted young woman to take her life; And shock leads a cold-hearted young gentleman to renounce the worldChapter 67:Frowner sees something that makes her homesick; And Xi-feng hears something that rouses her suspicionsChapter 68:Er-jie takes up residence in Prospect Garden; And Xi-feng makes a disturbance in Ning-guo HouseChapter 69:A scheming woman kills with a borrowed knife; And one who has ceased to hope swallows gold and diesChapter 70:Lin Dai-yu resuscitates the Poetry Club; And Shi Xiang-yun tries her hand at a song lyricChapter 71:Lady Xing deliberately humiliates her daughter-in-law; And Faithful inadvertently iterrupts a pair of love-birdsChapter 72:Wang Xi-fen refuses to see a doctor; And Brightie's wife seeks help with a betrothalChapter 73:A half-witted servant girl picks up a highly embarrassing object; And an easy-going young mistress refuses to inquire into a theftChapter 74:Lady Wang authorizes a raid on Prospect Garden; And Jia Xi-chun breaks off relations with Ning-guo HouseChapter 75:Midnight revellers are startled by a sound of evil omen; And Mid-Autumn moon-watchers listen to quantrains of unequal meritChapter 76:Flute-playing at Convex Pavillion provokes too much melancholy; And linked verses at Concave Pavilion betray a morbid sensitivityChapter 77:A wronged maid takes a loving last leave of her master; And three young actresses seek to escape matrimony in the cloisterChapter 78:Jia Zheng commissions the Ballad of the Winsome Colonel; And Bao-yu composes an Invocation to the Hibiscus SpiritChapter 79:Xue Pan finds to his sorrow that he is married to a termagant; And Ying-chun's parents betroth her to a Zhong-shan wolfChapter 80:Unfortunate Caltrop is battered by a philandering husband; And One Plaster Wang presribes for an insufferavle wifeAppendix I: Sandal, Musk, and SkybrightAppendix II: Suncloud, Sunset and MoonriseAppendix III: You San-jie, Liu Xiang-lian and Jia Lian's JourneysAppendix IV: Old Mrs. You and the ZhangsAppendix V: Fivey, Bao Er and The MattressAppendix VI: Euergesia and the Little ActressesCharacters in Volume 3Genealogical Tables

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Book SynopsisWhat makes us who we are? And why do we lead one life and not another? The year is coming to a close and Asle, an ageing painter and widower who lives alone on the southwest coast of Norway, is reminiscing about his life. His only friends are his neighbour, Åsleik, a traditional fisherman-farmer, and Beyer, a gallerist who lives in the city. There, in Bjørgvin, lives another Asle, also a painter but lonely and consumed by alcohol. Asle and Asle are doppelgängers – two versions of the same person, two versions of the same life, both grappling with existential questions about life, death, love, light and shadow, faith and hopelessness. Written in melodious and hypnotic ‘slow prose’, The Other Name: Septology I-II is an indelible and poignant exploration of the human condition by Jon Fosse, ‘a major European writer’ (Karl Ove Knausgaard), in which everything is always there, and past and present flow together.Trade Review‘Jon Fosse is a major European writer.’ — Karl Ove Knausgaard, author of My Struggle‘Fosse has written a strange mystical moebius strip of a novel, in which an artist struggles with faith and loneliness, and watches himself, or versions of himself, fall away into the lower depths. The social world seems distant and foggy in this profound, existential narrative, which is only the first part of what promises to be a major work of Scandinavian fiction.’ — Hari Kunzru, author of White Tears‘There is, in this book’s rhythmic accumulation of words, something incantatory and self-annihilating — something that feels almost holy.’ — Wall Street Journal‘Over the past two decades, Jon Fosse, a playwright, poet, essayist and children’s author as well as a novelist, has won almost every award going in Norway, while his “slow prose” has gained him a cult following in English translation. He has been compared to Ibsen and Beckett, and his writing has elements of both the former’s severity and the latter’s use of insistent repetition.... The work simply loops and flows. The style is formal, yet with a sense of restlessness. As for plot, there is plenty.... Fosse’s fusing of the commonplace and the existential, together with his dramatic forays into the past, make for a relentlessly consuming work: already Septology feels momentous.’ — Catherine Taylor, Guardian‘Fosse’s portrait of intersecting lives is that rare metaphysical novel that readers will find compulsively readable.’ — Publishers Weekly, starred review‘Deeply enigmatic though never obscure, the novel presents questions [...] But to understand how completely these things elude comprehension, and to clothe their fundamental mystery in such gorgeous raiment, is an achievement no less profound.’ — Dustin Illingworth, The Nation

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Book SynopsisA fifteen-year-old girl and her father, Johannes, take a cruise to Greece on the SS Proleterka. Jaeggy recounts the girl's youth in her distinctively strange, telescopic prose: the remarried mother, cold and unconcerned; the father who was allowed only rare visits with the child; the years spent stashed away with relatives or at boarding school. For the girl and her father, their time on the ship becomes their `last and first chance to be together.' On board, she becomes the object of the sailors' affection, receiving a violent, carnal education. Mesmerised by the desire to be experienced, she crisply narrates her trysts as well as her near-total neglect of her father.Proleterka is a ferocious study of distance, diffidence and `insomniac resentment.'Trade Review`"Incorruptible crystal" is an apt description of Jaeggy's style. Her sentences are hard and compact, more gem than flesh. Images appear as flashes, discontinuous, arresting, then gone . . . this feels appropriate for a writer who is a "stranger" and an "enemy" to the familial.' Sheila Heti, The New Yorker ---- `Jaeggy's works are a translator's dream: short, lucid and complex. Her distinctive vocabulary and syntax move elegantly and it would seem effortlessly into the English language.' Margaret Drabble, The New Statesman ---- `. . . an elegantly structured and stubbornly moving study of innocence destroyed and love denied. Very accomplished indeed.' Kirkus Reviews ---- `. . . an elegantly structured and stubbornly moving study of innocence destroyed and love denied. Very accomplished indeed.' Kirkus Reviews ---- `[Jaeggy] has a startling ability to go beyond: beyond the sentimental heart, the writerly niceties, the conventions that bind us, and the messy effusions of contemporary life.' The New Yorker ---- `[Jaeggy] has a startling ability to go beyond: beyond the sentimental heart, the writerly niceties, the conventions that bind us, and the messy effusions of contemporary life.' The New Yorker --- Praise for Fleur Jaeggy --- `Fleur Jaeggy's pen is an engraver's needle depicting roots, twigs, and branches of the tree of madness-extraordinary.' Joseph Brodsky ---- 'The fierceness of her words erupts from the seams of her tiny sentences ... Jaeggy's highly unusual work is finally gaining recognition in the English-speaking world.' Emily Rhodes, The Spectator---`Proleterka is a ferocious study - a masterclass in distance , diffidence, death, and `insomniac resentment.’ Barbara Epler

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Book SynopsisA cult classic of Italian literature, published in English for the first time, with an afterword by André Aciman, author of Call Me By Your Name.'A masterpiece' - Le Figaro'Dazzling in every detail' - ElleIn the late 1960s, Leo Gazzara leads a precarious life in Rome. He spends his time in an alcoholic haze, bouncing between hotels, bars, uninspiring jobs, romantic entanglements and the homes of his rich friends. Leo drifts, aimless and alone.But on the evening of his thirtieth birthday, he meets Arianna. All night they drive the city in Leo’s run-down Alfa Romeo, talking and talking. They eat brioche for breakfast, drink through the dawn, drive to the sea and back. A whirlwind beginning. What follows is the story of the year Leo fell in love and lost everything.Intense, romantic, witty and devastating, Last Summer in the City is a forgotten classic of Italian literature which offers an intoxicating portrait of two lonely people, pushing and pulling each other away and back again.'The most beautiful love story of the year' - Il GiornaleTrade ReviewThe true quality of this novel is the way it enlightens, with a desperate clearness, a relationship between a man and a city, that is, between crowd and loneliness -- Natalia GinzburgThe most beautiful love story of the year * Il Giornale *A masterpiece * Le Figaro *Dazzling in every detail * Elle *[A] sublime text, of extraordinary languid beauty and sadness * Sud Ouest *Calligarich’s time capsule of love and existential drift in a lost Rome, translated into sparkling prose by Curtis, is ripe for a rediscovery * New York Times Book Review *A sad, seductive declaration of love for Rome * Il Messaggero *A short, gorgeous, moving and magnificent story of love and solitude -- Il Sole 24 OreThis book, at once painful and ironic, remains a small gem * La Repubblica *A heartrending marvel * L’Echo *Charming, decadent, and emotionally ruthless . . . equal parts Fitzgerald and Antonioni . . . It's wonderful to have this devastating gem at large in the world again -- Andrew Martin, author of Cool for AmericaDeeply haunting . . . A marvel of a novel * Booklist *Calligarich’s rendering turns la dolce vita into something more akin to Camus’s L’Etranger in a contemporary-ish urban setting. Out of print for years, this welcome new translation is elegiac and heart-rending * Vogue, Best Books to Read This Summer 2021 *The account of a lost generation in Rome in the early 1970s (possibly the children of the children of Hemingway’s lost generation) carries the weight of both family history and generational saga * Kirkus *Evocative . . . Calligarich conjures Italy’s piazzas, parties, beaches, and bars with a mood reminiscent of A Movable Feast . . . the feeling that Leo is alone in the world is poignantly conveyed * Publishers Weekly *

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Book SynopsisJean-Paul Didierlaurent lives in the Vosges region of France. His short stories have twice won the International Hemingway Award. The Reader on the 6.27 is his first novel. A bestseller in France, it has been sold in over twenty-five territories.Trade ReviewA delightful tale about the kinship of reading . . . Already a bestseller in France, The Reader on the 6.27 looks set to woo British readers and become a book club favourite. * Independent on Sunday *Charming . . . It is a clever, funny, and humane work that champions the power of literature * Sunday Times *This contemporary fable was acquired by more than twenty countries. A beautiful testimony to the universality of the love of books * Livres Hebdo *The humanity of the characters . . . the re-enchantment of everyday life, the power of words and literature, tenderness and humor . . . The Reader on the 6.27 is a must. * L'Express *I read it in one sitting, I couldn't put it down! * Literary Loveliness - Hello Magazine Online *

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Book Synopsis''Who possesses me will possess all things,But his life will belong to me...''Raphael de Valentin, a young aristocrat, has lost all his money in the gaming parlours of the Palais Royal in Paris, and contemplates ending his life by throwing himself into the Seine. He is distracted by the bizarre array of objects in a chaotic antique shop, among them a strange animal skin, a piece of shagreen with magical properties. It will grant its possessor his every wish, but each time a wish is bestowed the skin shrinks, hastening its owner''s death. Around this fantastic premise Balzac weaves a compelling psychological portrait of his hero, a prisoner of his own Promethean imagination, and explores profound ideas about the human will, vice and virtue, love and death. Helen Constantine''s new translation captures the energy and exuberance of Balzac''s novel, one of the most engaging of his ''Études philosophiques'' from the Comédie humaine. The accompanying introduction and notes offer fresh insights into this remarkable work. 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.Trade ReviewThe novel has been elegantly translated by Helen Constantine, who is both faithful and creative * Nicholas White, Times Literary Supplement *A model of its kind * Nineteenth-Century French Studies *

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Book SynopsisThe international bestseller, longlisted for the Dublin Literary Award 2021. Fernando Aramburu's Homeland is an epic and heartbreaking story of two best friends whose families are divided by the conflicting loyalties of terrorism.‘It’s been a long time since I’ve read a book that was so persuasive and moving’ – Mario Vargas Llosa, author of Time of the Hero.The Basque Country, Spain, 2011.Miren and Bittori have lived side by side in a small Basque town all their lives. Their husbands play cards together, their children play and eventually go out drinking together. The terrorist threat posed by ETA seems to affect them little.When Bittori’s husband starts receiving threatening letters – demanding money, accusing him of being a police informant – she turns to her friend for help. But Miren’s loyalties are torn: her son has just been recruited as a terrorist and to denounce them would be to condemn her own flesh and blood. Tensions rise, relationships fracture, and events move towards a tragic conclusion . . . ‘Is Aramburu the Tolstoy of the Basque country, author of a Spanish language War and Peace?’ – GuardianTrade ReviewFew books make me cry these days but by the final page I found my eyes prickling with tears. By examining his society in such close detail, Aramburu encourages us to reflect on the bitter divisions in our own world and the opportunities we have for reconciliation. * Sunday Times *It’s been a long time since I’ve read a book that was so persuasive and moving, so intelligently conceived. -- Mario Vargas LlosaIs Aramburu the Tolstoy of the Basque country, author of a Spanish language War and Peace that lays bare the pain of forty pointless years of separatist terrorism? * Guardian *A powerful novel which has a strong claim to be the definite fictional account of the Basque troubles . . . Aramburu skillfully spins their stories in short, punchy chapters that dart back and forth in time. Its message is ultimately redemptive. * Economist *A magnificent novel which is becoming a publishing, political and literary phenomenon. A story imbued with a spine-tingling sense of realism. * Vanguardia *Homeland is, above all, a great and considered novel . . . combing evocation and analysis . . . War and Peace by Tolstoy did it. The work of Fernando Aramburu achieves the same thing. * El País *Homeland is a sweeping novel that explores so many aspects of life . . . Aramburu brings [ethnic nationalism] under the microscope to show its effects on a few individuals. The results are brilliant and unnerving. * Herald *Phenomenal . . . [Aramaburu is as] magnanimous as he is passionate. * Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung *A work of tremendous power . . . [One is] reminded how overwhelming and powerful literature can be. * Die Zeit *An event: Aramburu masterfully manages to tell of great things in small ways. * Stern *Shedding the occasional tear doesn’t matter. It is in any case difficult to read Homeland and remain dry-eyed. * Corriere della Sera *Gripping . . . A palpable hit. * Spiegel *Worth every page. * Vogue (Germany) *As humorous as it is heartbreaking, Homeland explores how various factions of Basque and Spanish society were violently pitted against one another for fifty years. * Millions *Aramburu recounts the lives of ordinary people shattered by events that are ongoing in Spain today even years after ETA has suspended its armed campaign . . . A humane, memorable work of literature. * Kirkus (starred review) *A brilliant and important book. Our planet is covered with lines of various kind, and Aramburu masterfully examines the bodies and souls those lines cut through like razors. * Nadeem Aslam *

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Book SynopsisAn exhilarating story of ambition, joy and failure in early manhood from the international phenomenon, Karl Ove Knausgaard.* Karl Ove Knausgaard''s dazzling new novel, The Morning Star, is available to pre-order now *As the youngest student to be admitted to Bergen''s prestigious Writing Academy, Karl Ove arrives full of excitement and writerly aspirations. Soon though, he is stripped of his youthful illusions. His writing is revealed to be puerile and clichéd, and his social efforts are a dismal failure. He drowns his shame in drink and rock music.Then, little by little, things begin to change. He falls in love, gives up writing and the beginnings of an adult life take shape. That is, until his self-destructive binges and the irresistible lure of the writer''s struggle pull him back.''Breathtaking... Knausgaard has a rare talent for making everyday life seem fascinating'' The TimesTrade ReviewBracing, maddening and utterly compelling -- Robert Collins * The Sunday Times *Tremendous, maddening, addictive, gripping * Observer *It is a pen-and-paper virtual reality; after reading it you feel that another past has been downloaded into your mind -- Laurence Scott * Financial Times *Breathtaking... Knausgaard has a rare talent for making everyday life seem fascinating * The Times *For Knausgaard's obsessive fans, this cycle is the most exciting literary project of our times... Knausgaard is the most humane writer in the world… He writes beautifully… It is precisely in the commonness of the lovingly recorded details that these books spin their magic -- Daniel Swift * Spectator *Raw, fast, improvisatory, unfettered. It’s addictive high-wire writing in which he unflinchingly reveals everything about himself * Shortlist *[Some Rain Must Fall] is Knausgaard at his best… It’s a rare novelist who writes about student bars and the Happy Mondays at the same time as yearning for spiritual salvation -- Max Liu * Independent *Part of Knausgaard’s appeal is believability: his books may be called novels but we read them as memoirs. The meticulous detail seems to guarantee their authenticity… Childhood, sex, love, art, work and death are there too, writ small from his own perspective, but compellingly observed -- Blake Morrison * Guardian *Reverberates with life’s core questions… In its depiction of the torment of writer’s block and a young adult’s struggle to construct a sense of self, both on and off the page, it is brilliant -- Anita Sethi * Mail on Sunday *

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Book SynopsisAn isolated, snow-bound valley and a series of strange murders set the scene in this gripping French bestseller.Trade ReviewA publishing sensation in France, where it's rushed up the bestseller lists, this is Minier's first crime novel and this translation justifies its vast French reputation...With a villain possessing the intelligence of Thomas Harris's immortal Hannibal Lecter, this is great story-telling, with a creeping sense of dread that would not disgrace Stephen King at his best. * Daily Mail *A terrific thriller that will keep you up long past your bedtime. The French Pyrenees make a wonderfully atmospheric setting for this complex story of past crimes, madness and revenge. Servaz and Ziegler are a fascinating cop duo, and I hope to see more of them in the future. Excellent. -- Peter Robinson, author of the DCI Banks seriesRevenge is at the heart of this clever mystery, which involves a plot as cold-blooded as the slaying of the horse * Sunday Times *This densely written and very atmospheric thriller is Minier's first novel. It has been a bestseller in France and, in this well-translated English edition, deserves to be one here * Literary Review *An enjoyable and fast-paced thriller * Sunday Business Post *Chilling * Elle *The writing is razor sharp and nothing goes to waste. Enough to make other authors jealous. * Femme Actuelle *THE FROZEN DEAD is a boiling-hot success * Le Point *Remember the name Bernard Minier... he might well take his places among the masters of French thrillers * Le Figaro *

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Book SynopsisThérèse Raquin is a clinically observed, sinister tale of adultery and murder among the lower orders in nineteenth-century Paris. Zola''s dispassionate dissection of the motivations of his characters, mere `human beasts'' who kill in order to satisfy their lust, is much more than an atmospheric Second Empire period-piece. Many readers were scandalized by an approach to character-drawing which seemed to undermine not only the moral values of a deeply conservative society, but also the whole code of psychological description on which the realist novel was based.Together with the important `Preface to the Second Edition'' in which Zola defended himself against charges of immorality, Thérèse Raquin stands as a key early manifesto of the French Naturalist movement, of which Zola was the founding father. Even today, this novel has lost none of its power to shock.This new translation is based on the second edition of 1868. The Introduction situates the novel in the context of Naturalism, medicine, and the scientific ideas of Zola''s day. 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.Trade Review'Andrew Rothwell captures the tone of Th`rése Raquin, reproducing its meodramatic overstatements, accumulations and repetitions faithfully, yet at the same time his text is inventive and abounds in felicitous touches ... there is a thought-provoking discussion of the text's narrative structure, its symbolic and metaphorical patterns and the ways in which the author's exchanges with Manet and the Impressionists coloured his descriptions.' Joy Newton, University of Glasgow, French Studies, Vol. 47, Part 3'Three Classic tales of sexual passion, perversion, and corruption have been added to the rapidly increasing World's Classics collection, whose repertoire of nineteenth-century French novels is now impressive. The price and format of these volumes make them an obvious choice for the reader approaching them in translation, the more so since each is accompanied by a helpful general introduction ... the reader is likely to get better vaqlue here than from other translations currently in print.' Timothy Unwin, University of Western Australia, MLR, 89./2, 1994

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Book Synopsis 'Incredibly funny, incredibly insightful and incredibly moving' Fiona Mozley, author of Hot Stew A darkly comic and explosive tale of a world at war and one island girl's struggle to survive Eighty-year old Herra Björnsson lies alone in her garage waiting to die. Oh, she has two weeks left, maybe three - she has booked her cremation appointment, at a blistering 1,000 degrees, so it won't be long. But until then she has her cigarettes, her laptop, a World War II grenade, and her memories to sustain her. One of the most original narrators in literary history, Herra takes readers with her on a dazzling ride of a novel as she reflects - in a voice by turns darkly funny, poignant and always, always smart - on the mishaps, tragedies and turns of luck that shaped her life. And with a bawdy, uncompromising spirit, she has survived it all. As hilarious as it is heartbreaking, Hallgrímur Helgason tells the deeply moving story of a woman swept up by the forces of history. Trade Review‘Published in 13 languages, this novel about one feisty Icelandic woman's proximity to history's big moments is a thoroughly entertaining ride.’ * People magazine *‘A blitzkrieg of a novel… Funny, shrewd and reliably rude… This hugely entertaining tale is surely destined for classic status.’ * Guardian *‘In this black-humoured novel...the narrator recounts her misshapen life with engaging vividness.’ * The New Yorker *‘Breathtaking… Herra’s life, and voice, is deeply compelling.’ * Financial Times *‘The hottest new book from Iceland… [Herra’s] perspective might be just what we need in these uncertain times: She survives and shares her story on her terms. And what a story it is, one worth reading to further understand the complexity of World War II — and to enjoy the quick wit of a woman you won’t forget.’ * Washington Post *‘The Woman at 1,000 Degrees is incredibly funny, incredibly insightful and incredibly moving.’ * Fiona Mozley, author of Elmet *‘What a novel! Helgason’s Woman at 1,000 Degrees is a gutsy, brilliant book: I could not tear myself away from it. Octogenarian Herra Björnsson’s dying recollections, as she lies nursing a hand grenade between her legs in an Icelandic garage, hurtle the reader headfirst into an epic narrative of war, loss, desire and survival, across years and continents. Both funny and deeply moving, I finished it utterly dazzled, my ears ringing.’ * Hannah Kent, author of Burial Rites *‘One of the most original novels of the year.’ * Irish Independent *‘An explosive experience.’ * Elle *‘By turns funny, sweet, gripping and sad but never sentimental, Helgason's work...is a sensitive tale of a nearly lived life.’ * Monocle *‘Herra…is exceedingly quick-witted and has a wickedly colorful way with words… Brilliantly written with flashing insights.’ * Kirkus *'The Woman at 1,000 Degrees is a bold work of fiction that gnaws at the silence blanketing the blackest holes of humanity to lay bare the author's dark vision of truth.' * Washington Independent Review of Books *'This novel is a shock, a laugh, an evocation of grief, and a tribute to survival and imagination.' * Affinity Konar, author of Mischling *'Helgason’s sad and funny novel begins in 2009, as 80-year-old Herra Björnsson lies dying in a Reykavík garage, still in possession of a live hand grenade from World War II...In her unsentimental, unsparing narrative, she offers insights into Icelandic culture and character, including a riff on reticence and a brief summary of Iceland’s financial meltdown. Like the Icelandic landscape, she can be both appealing and treacherous.' * Publishers Weekly, starred review *‘Compelling…uplifting…required reading for those who want sour along with the sweet of life.’ * New York Journal of Books *‘A very enjoyable story…a terrific read. Herra is a great character; she is bawdy, at times outright vulgar and mischievous.’ * The Bookshelf, ABC Radio Australia *'Gripping, darkly comic, and utterly original.' * Valerie Martin, author of Property *'Icelandic novelist Helgason shares with John Irving a knack for masterful plotting and clever, sarcastic humour...anyone willing to...revel in its flights of language will find much to enjoy.' * Booklist *‘Helgason’s characters are rare beauties. One falls for his absurd fantasies immediately.’ * Spiegel.de *‘Long after I read it, the story and its prickly protagonist has stayed with me.’ * Esmeralda Santiago, author of When I Was Puerto Rican, New York Magazine *‘You don’t know her yet, but she already despises you… With a biting humour, she examines love, marriage, sex, politics, and those who practice them.’ * Le Figaro Magazine *‘Extraordinarily absorbing and enjoyable. The story revolves around a woman who lived ahead of her time. Many young women would idealize Herra Björnsson. At the same time, it gives an insight into life during World War II.’ * Washington Book Review *'This is a profoundly, triumphantly feminist book... There’s nothing like it in our language.' * Toronto Star *‘Helgason’s novel is superbly written, with characters and events that grab your attention and make it hard to put down.’ * Tulsa Book Review *‘Unpredictable and endearing.’ * Jacksonville Journal-Courier *‘It's a sophisticated work, combining elements of Bildungsroman, comic burlesque, fictional biography and historical commentary… The novel's sheer invention, talkativeness and linguistic zest recall Joyce, while the plot itself, with its logical progression into the absurd, is not too distant from the labyrinths of Kafka.’ * David McDuff, literary translator and critic *‘A magnificent novel about maybe the most memorable character in Icelandic fiction.’ * Fréttablaðið *‘A mind-blowing doorstopper’ * Le Monde des Livres *‘This novel is toxic. The cover, the crumpled lady with the pink wig should have been warning enough, still one is stunned. This novel charges at you like a little terrier after you have opened a garden gate. It barks short, hoarse sentences. However, you don’t want to put this book down again!’ * Der Spiegel 1 *‘A ride through the 20th century of the ice island through the Nazi German Reich to Argentina and back again – wildly, tough, and devilishly clever. “Like” it? It rocks!’ * Stern *‘The most surprising, funny, bonkers novel of the season’ * Lire *‘Passionate, explosive and fiery…’ * El Periodico *‘Book of the year!’ * SWR3 Radio *‘Irresistible.’ * Paris Match *‘A caustic and human story that is tragic with a great sense of humour at the same time.’ * ABC Libros *‘If this had been written by a different, non-Icelandic author, it would be a pulp Charles Dickens, with a bit of Chuck Palahniuk thrown in.’ * Il Giornale *‘Playing with time and with history, this is a tragicomic and hard-hitting novel in which the author gets to the heart of a global situation and the vagaries of Icelandic politics.’ * El Diario *

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Book SynopsisNo one has written more feelingly and more beautifully than Nescio about the madness and sadness, courage and vulnerability of youth: its big plans and vague longings, not to mention the binges, crashes, and marathon walks and talks. No one, for that matter, has written with such pristine clarity about the radiating canals of Amsterdam and the cloud-swept landscape of the Netherlands. Who was Nescio? Nescio—Latin for “I don’t know”—was the pen name of J.H.F. Grönloh, the highly successful director of the Holland–Bombay Trading Company and a father of four—someone who knew more than enough about respectable maturity. Only in his spare time and under the cover of a pseudonym, as if commemorating a lost self, did he let himself go, producing over the course of his lifetime a handful of utterly original stories that contain some of the most luminous pages in modern literature. This is the first English translation of Nescio’s stories.

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Book SynopsisLeni crossed her arms, said nothing, and watched the fight unfold. She was like a bored onlooker at a boxing trial, wasting no energy on the undercard, saving her passion for the moment when the real champions would step into the ring. And yet, at some point, she began to cry. Just tears, without any sound. Water falling from her eyes as water was falling from the sky. Rain disappearing into rain.The Wind That Lays Waste begins in the great pause before a storm. Reverend Pearson is an evangelist preaching the word of God across northern Argentina with Leni, his teenage daughter, in tow. When their car breaks down, fate leads them to the workshop of an ageing mechanic, Gringo Brauer, and his assistant, a boy called Tapioca. Over the course of a long day, curiosity and a sense of new opportunities develop into an unexpected intimacy. Yet this encounter between a man convinced of his righteousness and one mired in cynicism and apathy will become a battle for the very souls of the young pair: the quietly earnest and idealistic mechanic’s assistant, and the restless, sceptical preacher’s daughter. As tensions among the four ebb and flow, beliefs are questioned and allegiances tested, until finally the growing storm breaks over the plains.Selva Almada’s exquisitely crafted debut, with its limpid and confident prose, is profound and poetic, a near-tangible experience of the landscape amid the hot winds, wrecked cars, sweat-stained shirts and damaged lives, told with the cinematic precision of a static road movie, like a Paris, Texas of the south. With echoes of Carson McCullers, The Wind That Lays Waste is a contemplative and powerfully distinctive novel that marks the arrival in English of an author whose talent and poise are undeniable.Trade ReviewEdinburgh International Book Festival First book Award (Winner)Book Cover of the Year (Saltire Awards) (Winner)"Like Flannery O’Connor and Juan Rulfo, Almada fills her taut, eerie novel with an understanding of rural life, loneliness, temptation and faith." —BBC Culture"Billed as a ‘promising voice’ in Latin American literature, this tale delivers readily on that promise." —Booklist"The drama of this refreshingly unpredictable debut . . . smolders like a lit fuse waiting to touch off its well-orchestrated events. . . . A stimulating, heady story." —Publishers Weekly"The story packs a punch in its portraits of a man who exalts heaven and another who protests." —Kirkus"A dynamic introduction to a major Latin American literary force." —Shelf Awareness, starred review"[The Wind That Lays Waste] delivers exactly that compressed pressurised electricity of a gathering thunderstorm: it sparks and sputters with live-wire tension." —TANK Magazine"The Wind That Lays Waste is elegant and stark, a kind of emblem or vision fetched from the far edges of things, arrested and stripped to its essence, as beautiful as it is unnerving. "" —Paul Harding , author of TINKERS"The Wind That Lays Waste is a mesmerizing novel, at once strange and compelling."" —Bonnie Jo Campbell , author of MOTHERS, TELL YOUR DAUGHTERS"The quality and resolve of her prose produce a power of suggestion that is unique to Selva Almada." —El País"The best novel written in Argentina in the last few years? Don’t know, and don’t care, but you must read Selva Almada." —El País"Almada’s prose has a touch of the Faulkner of As I Lay Dying but passed through the filters of the dirty light of the cotton fields and the clean clothes worn by country people to Sunday mass."" —Germán Machado"A distinctive debut: atmospheric, tension-packed, and written in vivid, poetic language." —Books from Scotland"Perhaps most powerful in the book is Almada’s focus on detail―she skillfully renders the story of a day in brief chapters that reveal the thoughts and fleeting encounters of characters, who are largely living inside themselves." —Ploughshares"Almada’s nuanced approach leaves room to explore her characters’ pasts in some detail, but, crucially, these individuals . . . are not defined by their mistakes." —ZYZZYVA"What seems fantastical soon turns hyper-realistic, in a style that is reminiscent of Juan Rulfo or Sara Gallardo." —La Nación**********Praise for Selva Almada"Almada combines reportage, fiction, and autobiography to explore femicide in Argentina in her acute, unflinching latest." —Publishers Weekly, starred review"Almada’s prose is sparse, but the details count. Her ear for dialogue and especially gossip is pitch perfect. Her eye for detail is hawkish." —LA Review of Books"Part journalism, part history, part autobiography, part relentless nightmare." —Shelf Awareness, starred review"Not an easy book, but it feels like an important one – a work of investigative writing about how easily women’s lives are obscured." —The Scotsman"An unassuming yet intensely felt narrative. (4 stars)" —The Arts Desk"This is a powerful read...[Almada's] effective use of fiction ensures a deep empathy in her readers which strict reportage sometimes fails to evoke." —The Big Issue"Genre-defying, with beautifully crafted and reflective prose." —The F Word"You’ll walk away from this book with a vivid memory of where you were, how you were feeling, and what the weather was like on the day that you read Dead Girls." —Books and Bao"The literary quality of the text shines." —Sound and Vision"The prose strikes a perfect tone – clinical and punchy when necessary, angry and lyrical, brutal yet humanistic." —TN2"Exquisite prose that vibrates with a deep, melodious rage." —The Monthly Booking"It’s crisp, bracing, and beautiful." —White Review"It is a profound novel and call to action still relevant as activists continue to take to the streets throughout Latin America to decry, ‘ni una más’ (not one more)." —The Skinny"A tense, precise chronicle that treats seriously a still serious subject." —El Cultural"A powerful read, shedding a stark light on the horrors of gender violence." —The Big Issue"This is not a book that will make you feel at peace with the world, but that is precisely where its strength and persuasion lie." —Translating Women"Challenge[s] the true crime obsession in an indirect way. " —Pendora Magazine"What makes the book compelling is how the author explores issues of domestic violence, state complicity, machismo and family negligence, along with class and social inequalities, in a non-sentimental prose which is all the more effective as result." —Morning Star"Part coming-of-age, part detective work, partly a web of rumors, Almada’s story fuses a variety of genres to create a work that splits the seams of personal narrative, journalism, and fiction." —NACLA"The devastating conclusion of the narrator is that the women who survive are unlikely to have made it unscathed but they are lucky ones – lucky to be alive." —NB Magazine"Fate has in Dead Girls the perfume of a Greek tragedy: immutable, irreversible, lethal." —El País"Far from the detective story, this is an intimate tale, a certain negative of the autobiography of a young woman looking at other young women and how all of them are perceived by a society where misogyny and violence against them is still an everyday affair." —Pagina/12"Selva Almada reinvents the imaginative rural world of a country. She is an author gifted with a very uncommon power and sensitivity." —Rolling Stone (Argentina)"Dead Girls is a brutal, necessary story in which Almada describes the crimes, states the facts and lays bare the horror of these femicides." —Tony's Reading List"Gripping, shocking and sad." —The Book Satchel

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Book SynopsisAnother incredible novel from the #1 internationally bestselling author of The Alchemist.Centuries before, on the eve of the invasion of Accra, the citizens gathered. A man stood before them and invited the people share their fears that he might offer hope and comfort.His extraordinary insights on courage, solitude, loyalty and loss were transcribed and passed on.A timeless and powerful exploration of personal growth, everyday wisdom and joy.Trade Review‘One of the few to deserve the term “publishing phenomenon”’ Independent on Sunday ‘His books have had a life-enhancing impact on millions of people.’ The Times ‘His writing is like a path of energy that inadvertently leads readers to themselves, toward their mysterious and faraway souls.’ Le Figaro ‘Coelho’s writing is beautifully poetic but his message is what counts… he gives me hope and puts a smile on my face.’ Daily Express ‘An exceptional writer.' USA Today

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Book SynopsisThe dramatic climax of The Sea of Fertility tetraology.It is the 1960s and Honda, now an aged and wealthy man, discovers and adopts a sixteen-year-old orphan, Toru. Honda believes that the boy is the reincarnation of the tragic protagonists of the three previous novels, each of whom died at the age of twenty. Honda raises and educates the boy, he makes him his heir, and watches him, waiting. But Toru is also watching Honda...''A surpassingly chilling, subtle and original novel'' New York Times''Mishima''s ritualistic suicide in 1970 will always overshadow his work, but his dark saga of 20th-century Japan is mesmerising'' Guardian Trade ReviewA major literary creation * New York Times *This tetralogy is considered one of Yukio Mishima's greatest works. It could also be considered a catalogue of Mishima's obsessions with death, sexuality and the samurai ethic. Spanning much of the 20th century, the tetralogy begins in 1912 when Shigekuni Honda is a young man and ends in the 1960s with Honda old and unable to distinguish reality from illusion. En route, the books chronicle the changes in Japan that meant the devaluation of the samurai tradition and the waning of the aristocracy * Washington Post *One of the great writers of the twentieth century * Los Angeles Times *Japan's foremost man of letters * Spectator *Mishima's novels exude a monstrous and compulsive weirdness, and seem to take place in a kind of purgatory for the depraved -- Angela Carter

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Book Synopsis''Rich, authentic and entertaining'' New StatesmanDiscover the darkly funny follow-up to cult classic Death and the PenguinViktor - last seen in Death and the Penguin fleeing Mafia vengeance on an Antarctica-bound flight booked for Penguin Misha - seizes a heaven-sent opportunity to return to Kiev with a new identity. Clear now as to the enormity of abandoning Misha, then convalescent from a heart-transplant, Viktor determines to make amends. Viktor falls in with a Mafia boss who engages him to help in his election campaign, then introduces him to men who might further his search for Misha, said to be in a private zoo in Chechnya. What ensues is for Viktor both a quest and an odyssey of atonement, and, for the reader, an experience as rich, topical and illuminating as Death and the Penguin.Trade ReviewDelicious – when Viktor finally finds Misha it is as if Woody Allen had gone to meet Kurtz * Spectator *There is more magic in his realism than in a library of witches and wizards * Scotland on Sunday *Rich, authentic and entertaining * New Statesman *This grotesque post-Soviet world is tinged with Dostoevskian absurdity * Independent *Death and the Penguin was praised for its brutal humour, tender humanity and all-out guts. Penguin Lost is a sequel equally superlative and twice as readable * Ink *

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Book SynopsisA beautiful, funny, vital novel of teenage years and teenage mistakes from the international phenomenon, Karl Ove Knausgaard.* Karl Ove Knausgaard''s dazzling new novel, The Morning Star, is available to pre-order now *Fresh out of high school, Karl Ove moves to a remote fishing village to work as a teacher. He has no interest in the job itself - or in any other job for that matter, his sole aim is to save money and start writing. All goes well to begin with but as the nights grow longer, his life takes a darker turn. Drinking causes him blackouts, his repeated attempts at losing his virginity end in humiliation, and to his own great distress he develops romantic feelings towards one of his 13-year-old students. And all the while the shadow of his father looms large.''Beautifully human... Being drawn into Knausgaard''s world is an ineluctable pleasure''The TimesTrade ReviewFires every nerve ending while summoning in the reader the sheer sense of how amazing it is to be alive -- Jeffrey Eugenides * New York Times *

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Book SynopsisCalled the book lost and found in time' by its author, Skylight is one of Saramago's earliest novels. The manuscript was lost in the publishers' offices in Lisbon for decades, and is only now being published in English. Lisbon, late-1940s. The inhabitants of an old apartment block are struggling to make ends meet. There's the elderly shoemaker and his wife who take in a solitary young lodger; the woman who sells herself for money, clothes and jewellery; the cultivated family come down in the world, who live only for each other and for music; and the beautiful typist whose boss can't keep his eyes off her. Poisonous relationships, happy marriages, jealousy, gossip and love Skylight brings together all the joys and grief of ordinary people.Trade ReviewA fluid and imaginative translation by Margaret Jull Costa… A masterly creation: pessimistic without being bleak, lyrical without being sentimental… Saramago tears back that curtain to reveal not only the stage on which life is performed but also backstage, under unflattering working lights; to show humanity at its most anxious, its most vulnerable and most true -- James Runcie * Independent *For admirers of his work...the rescue of this novel from oblivion is something to be grateful for. The translator, Margaret Jull Costa, as ever, does a splendid job * Times Literary Supplement *Not only does it illuminate the slow development of a radically original artist, but it is an interesting novel in its own right -- Ursula Le Guin * The Guardian *This is one of Saramago’s early works but his eye for psychological nuance and his gift for sympathy are already in evidence * New Statesman *Skylight is a deeply affecting novel, the work of an already adroit writer who marshals his characters with assurance * Evening Standard *

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Book SynopsisJon is on the run. He has betrayed Oslo's biggest crime lord: the Fisherman. Hiding out in a shepherd's cabin in the wilderness, all that stands between him and his fate are Lea, a bereaved mother and her young son, Knut. But while Lea provides him with a rifle and Knut brings essential supplies, the midnight sun is slowly driving Jon to insanity.Trade ReviewA perfectly-formed thriller, written in pure, unadorned prose, that pierces the heart with its icy brilliance -- Deirdre O'Brien * Sunday Mirror *A thrilling tale -- Cole Moreton * Mail on Sunday *Another success for Nesbo -- Geoffrey Wansell * Daily Mail *A short, lyrical tale where every word counts and the slow paces helps to build the tension[…] another brilliant thriller from the master storyteller -- Jon Coates * Daily Express *Short, brisk, emotionally compelling and stylishly written * Belfast Telegraph Morning *

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Book SynopsisSmurov, a fussily self-conscious Russian tutor, shoots himself after a humiliating beating by his mistress'' husband. Unsure whether his suicide has been successful or not, Smurov drifts around Berlin, observing his acquaintances, but finds he can discover very little about his own life from the opinions of his distracted, confused fellow-émigrés. Nabokov''s shortest novel, The Eye is both a satirical detective story and a wonderfully layered exploration of identity, appearance and the loss of self in a world of word-play and confusion.

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Book SynopsisBased on a real-life love triangle and later made into François Truffaut''s famous New Wave film, Henri-Pierre Roché''s Jules et Jim is a paean to youth set in free-spirited Paris before the First World War. Jules and Jim live a carefree, bohemian existence: they write in cafés, travel when the mood takes them, and share the women they love without jealousy. Like Lucie, flawless, an abbess, and Odile, impulsive, mischievous, almost feral. But it is Kate - with a smile the two friends have determined to follow always, but capricious enough to jump in the Seine from spite - who steals their hearts most thoroughly. Henri-Pierre Roché was in his mid-seventies when he wrote this, his autobiographical debut novel. The inspiration for the legendary film directed by François Truffaut, it captures perfectly with excitement and great humour the tenderness of three people in love with each other and with life.This Penguin Modern Classics edition is translated by Patrick

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Book Synopsis“One of the greatest writers of the twentieth century . . . Simenon was unequaled at making us look inside, though the ability was masked by his brilliance at absorbing us obsessively in his stories.” —The GuardianInspector Maigret finds himself caught in the middle of a husband and wife duo’s case of “he said/she said”—with murderous consequences An unusually quiet day for Inspector Maigret at the Quai des Orfèvres is disturbed by a visit from mild-mannered toy salesman Xavier Manton. Maigret is taken aback by Manton’s revelation that he suspects his wife of plotting to poison him. And when he receives a visit from Madame Manton expressing her own grave concerns later that day, he finds himself deeply conflicted, unsure of whom to trust. Maigret heeds the advice of his seniors and begins investigating the couple—and with every turn, new complications arise. When the case comes to aTrade ReviewOne of the greatest writers of the twentieth century . . . Simenon was unequalled at making us look inside, though the ability was masked by his brilliance at absorbing us obsessively in his stories * Guardian *A supreme writer . . . unforgettable vividness * Independent *The most addictive of writers . . . a unique teller of tales * Observer *

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewOne of the greatest writers of the twentieth century . . . Simenon was unequalled at making us look inside, though the ability was masked by his brilliance at absorbing us obsessively in his stories * Guardian *A supreme writer . . . unforgettable vividness * Independent *The most addictive of writers . . . a unique teller of tales * Observer *

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Book Synopsis'His artistry is supreme' John Banville'There was no lack of picturesque individuals in a neighbourhood like Quai de Valmy. But he had seldom encountered the kind of inertia he had seen in that woman. It was hard to explain. When most people look at you, there is some sort of exchange, however small. A contact is established, even if that contact is a kind of defiance. With her, on the contrary, there was nothing.'The discovery of a dismembered body in the Canal Saint Martin leads Maigret into a tangled, baffling case involving a taciturn bistro-owner and a mysterious inheritance. 'One of the greatest writers of the twentieth century . . . Simenon was unequalled at making us look inside, though the ability was masked by his brilliance at absorbing us obsessively in his stories' Guardian'Trade ReviewNot just the world's bestselling detective series, but an imperishable literary legend . . . he exposes secrets and crimes not by forensic wizardry, but by the melded powers of therapist, philosopher and confessor. -- Boyd Tonkin * The Times *One of the greatest writers of the twentieth century . . . Simenon was unequalled at making us look inside, though the ability was masked by his brilliance at absorbing us obsessively in his stories. * Guardian *One of Simenon's masterpieces ... Simenon's subject is how people who are pushed to the edge push themselves over it; the force of the sleuthing is that of psychoanalysis, not police interrogation. -- Adam Gopnik * The New Yorker *One of Simenon's masterpieces . . . photographic . . . a superior stylist . . . . . . Simenon's subject is how people who are pushed to the edge push themselves over it; the force of the sleuthing is that of psychoanalysis, not police interrogation -- Adam Gopnik * New Yorker *One of the greatest writers of the 20th century . . . no other writer can set up a scene as sharply and with such economy as Simenon does . . . the conjuring of a world, a place, a time, a set of characters - above all, an atmosphere. -- John Banville * Financial Times *A supreme writer . . . unforgettable vividness * Independent *Gem-hard soul-probes . . . not just the world's bestselling detective series, but an imperishable literary legend . . . he exposes secrets and crimes not by forensic wizardry, but by the melded powers of therapist, philosopher and confessor -- Boyd Tonkin * The Times *The most addictive of writers . . . a unique teller of tales * Observer *

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewPraise for Georges Simenon:“One of the greatest writers of the twentieth century . . . Simenon was unequaled at making us look inside, though the ability was masked by his brilliance at absorbing us obsessively in his stories.” —The Guardian “These Maigret books are as timeless as Paris itself.” —The Washington Post “Maigret ranks with Holmes and Poirot in the pantheon of fictional detective immortals.” —People “I love reading Simenon. He makes me think of Chekhov.” —William Faulkner “The greatest of all, the most genuine novelist we have had in literature.” —André Gide “A supreme writer . . . Unforgettable vividness.” —The Independent (London) “Superb . . . The most addictive of writers . . . A unique teller of tales.” —The Observer (London) “Compelling, remorseless, brilliant.” —John Gray “A truly wonderful writer . . . Marvelously readable—lucid, simple, absolutely in tune with the world he creates.” —Muriel Spark “A novelist who entered his fictional world as if he were a part of it.”lle —Peter Ackroyd “Extraordinary masterpieces of the twentieth century.” —John Banville"Gem-hard soul-probes . . . not just the world's bestselling detective series, but an imperishable literary legend . . . he exposes secrets and crimes not by forensic wizardry, but by the melded powers of therapist, philosopher and confessor" ― Times (London)"Strangely comforting . . . so many lovely bistros from the Paris of mid-20th C. The corpses are incidental, it's the food that counts." ― Margaret Atwood"One of the greatest writers of the 20th century . . . no other writer can set up a scene as sharply and with such economy as Simenon does . . . the conjuring of a world, a place, a time, a set of characters - above all, an atmosphere." ― Financial Times"Gripping . . . richly rewarding . . . You'll quickly find yourself obsessing about his life as you tackle each mystery in turn."-- Stig Abell ― The Sunday Times (London)

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewThe great modern novel of the comic-pathetic illusion of freedom * London Review of Books *

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Book Synopsis''Beautiful and deep ... a sumptuous treat for any book lover'' The Independent''Food for short story lovers everywhere'' Irish Times*A major celebration of the French short story and Spectator Book of the Year*The short story has a rich tradition in French literature. This feast of an anthology celebrates its most famous practitioners, as well as newly translated writers ready for rediscovery. The second volume takes the reader through the tumultuous twentieth century in the company of writers including Simone de Beauvoir and Maryse Condé, Patrick Modiano and Virginie Despentes, covering world wars, revolutions, and the horrors of the motorway service station. Along the way we meet electronic brains, she-wolves, a sadistic Cinderella, ancestors, infidels, dissatisfied housewives and lonely ambassadors, all clamouring to be heard. Funny, devastating and fresh at every turn, this is the place to start for lovers of French literature, new and old.Edited and with an introduction by Patrick McGuinness, academic, writer and translator.Trade ReviewBeautiful and deep ... a sumptuous treat for any book lover. -- Martin Chilton * The Independent *Outstanding. -- Philip Hensher * The Spectator Books of the Year 2022 *A French version of The Thousand and One Nights ... Both volumes tell us something new about writing in French ... Such a creative arrangement forces us to rethink what we expect a short story to be or do ... Perhaps all short fiction reminds us that the end is nigh, in which case not the least of Patrick McGuinness's achievements is that of showing us how to read and live accordingly. -- Annabel Kim * Times Literary Supplement *Patrick McGuinness's magisterial anthology teems with universes from each of its 84 authors ... There is so much to discover in these stories - both history and food for short story lovers everywhere. * Irish Times *It's hard to imagine a better introduction to French literature than this glorious two-volume bran tub of short fiction ... outstanding masterpieces all ... There's a welcome playfulness throughout. -- John Self * The Guardian *Impeccably edited by Patrick McGuinness. The first volume stretches from the 16th century to the early 20th century ... Volume two takes us from there to the early 21st century, featuring more women and non-white authors than the first volume. Treat yourself: buy both. -- Tomiwa Owolade * Sunday Times *What a collection it is ... Both volumes fizz with the enthusiasm with which McGuinness has assembled stories that range across centuries and continents ... This will surely turn out to be the definitive anthology of French-language short fiction. -- Charlie Connelly * The New European *Tales with a certain ooh la la ... an eclectic, often steamy collection charting the history of the French short story [with] some gems by less famous figures ... high marks for quality and variety. -- Matthew Reisz * The Observer *

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Book Synopsis''There were some weeks that were painful, nerve-racking. At the office or at home, in the middle of a meal, he would suddenly find his forehead bathed in sweat, a tightness in his chest, and at those times, feeling everyone''s eyes on him was unbearable.''During a chance meeting on the train from Venice to Paris, a stranger asks Justin Calmar to deliver a briefcase for him to an address in Switzerland. Soon this ordinary family man will become hopelessly, fatally, ensnared in a world of guilt, lies and paranoia.Originally published in 1965, shortly after Simenon moved into the new home he had built in Épalinges, Switzerland, this chilling novel is a powerful exploration of the fragility of the human psyche.

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Book SynopsisMemories of My Melancholy Whores is a powerful novel about a man who so far has never felt love from Nobel Laureate Gabriel García Márquez, author of the One Hundred Years of Solitude. ''The year I turned ninety, I wanted to give myself the gift of a night of wild love with an adolescent virgin''On the eve of his ninetieth birthday a newspaper columnist in Colombia decides to give himself ''a night of mad love with a virgin adolescent''. But on seeing this beautiful girl he falls deeply under her spell. His love for his ''Delgadina'' causes him to recall all the women he has paid to perform acts of love. And so the columnist realises he must chronicle the life of his heart, to offer it freely to the world. . . ''Márquez describes this amorous, sometimes disturbing journey with the grace and vigour of a master storyteller'' Daily Mail''Márquez is wonderful on the transformative and redemptive powers of love. . . storytelling magic'' Tatler''Márquez writes in this lyrical, magical language that no-one else can do'' Salman RushieTrade ReviewMárquez describes this amorous, sometimes disturbing journey with the grace and vigour of a master storyteller * Daily Mail *Profoundly haunting … one of literature's great figures pushes back the years and gives us fiction of the very highest order * TLS *There is not one stale sentence, redundant word or unfinished thought * The Times *

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Book SynopsisBestselling Japanese crime writer Keigo Higashino returns with another compelling and complex mystery that can only be solved by Detective Galileo, the much loved sleuth introduced in The Devotion of Suspect X, The Salvation of a Saint and A Midsummer's EquationTrade ReviewI set out to discover more Japanese murder mysteries. It wasn't long before I got to Keigo Higashino, and I've read nobody else since. His books are so cleverly put together. His Detective Galileo novels, in which a temperamental physics professor helps the police to solve apparently unsolvable cases, are particular smashers * Dan Rhodes, author of Sour Grapes *Fans of golden age puzzles will wish this one could go on forever * Kirkus Reviews *Stellar...a flawless blend of police procedural and fair-play detection * Publishers Weekly (starred review) *Realistic characters and beguiling descriptions...those looking for an uncommon mystery will be delighted * Library Journal (starred review) *

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Book SynopsisMo Yan's collection of eight darkly humorous short stories - surrealistic political fables, ghost stories, tales of failed and perverse love, and stories about the destructive effects of superstition and ignorance. Mo Yan addresses serious concerns of contemporary China with a light touch.

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Book Synopsis**Sunday Times Best Books of 2018**Funny, irreverent and scathing GuardianVirginie Despentes is a true original, a punk rock George Eliot ALEXANDRA KLEEMAN, author of You Too Could Have a Body Like MineRock star Alexandre Bleach might be dead, but he has a secret. It''s a secret that concerns several people, but the only person who can unlock it is Vernon Subutex, former record shop proprietor turned homeless messiah and guru, last seen hallucinating and feverish on a bench in the parc des Buttes Chaumont.Aïcha wants to know the truth behind the death of her mother, Vodka Satana. And if she finds the bastards responsible, she wants to make them pay, whatever Céleste thinks of her plan.Céleste wants Aïcha to get a grip and stop hanging around with Subutex''s gang of disciples. The Hyena wants to find the Bleach tapes. She wants to untangle her complicated feelings about Anaïs, her boss'' assistant. AnTrade ReviewAlternative Paris at its most compassionate, angry and funny . . . Spiky rants on the sick state of bourgeois society enliven and provoke - it's all très cool * The Sunday Times, "Best books of the last five years" *Funny, irreverent and scathing * Guardian *Virginie Despentes is a true original, a punk rock George Eliot with a keen taste for the pitiable innards of her characters: no one else has her slyly penetrating eye, her spiky sense of humor, her razor wit that cuts like wire through the accumulated crud of our age's default thought patterns. In her masterful hands,Vernon Subutex becomes a droll, hilarious, insightful record of our unfortunate times -- ALEXANDRA KLEEMAN * author of You Too Can Have a Body Like Mine *Vernon Subutex Two presents Paris in all its glory and its grime. Sharply translated by Frank Wynne, this is the best multi-volume fiction series since Elena Ferrante * 1843 *Virginie Despentes continues her picaresque tour de force with the same driving energy sustained by vicious wit, exasperation, stark insight and compelling empathy . . . In her seething Paris of messed-up losers and relentless operators, Despentes exposes a universal society gone mad on greed, fear and ruthlessness * Irish Times *Truthful, brash, brilliant and shocking. I was both appalled and mesmerised -- Victoria Hislop * The Week *Virginie Despentes Vernon Subutex trilogy savages contemporary life . . . Vernon Subutex Two is equally good and is my book of the year * The Sunday Times, "Best Books of 2018" *Virginie Despentes's Vernon Subutex trilogy is the zeitgeistiest thing I ever read . . . [It] has dupes and assholes and racists and the people they hate and a stunning diversity of internal monologues and trans true love. Like the last decade, it searches for a happy ending that isn't merely personal and can't find it . . . These novels with their depth and detail kick TV's sorry ass -- Nell Zink * Bustle, "Best Books of the 2010s" *It's bastards across the board in Virginie Despentes's brilliantly unshackled trilogy Vernon Subutex . . . What keeps you reading is the voice - acerbic, unconstrained, bitterly funny and, despite the book's intimations of enlightenment, perpetually pissed off. * Wall Street Journal *A satire on fading punk politics . . . Despentes at her most compassionate, and hopeful * The White Review *Like William S. Burroughs updated for the age of WhatsApp, Vernon Subutex Two straps our current world to a chair and interrogates the hell out of it * The Millions *A sexed-up epic * Publisher's Weekly, starred review *

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Book SynopsisEVERYBODY NEEDS SOMEBODY, SOMETIMES . . .Lorenzo Cuni is a fourteen-year-old loner. His wealthy parents think he is away on a school skiing trip, but, in fact, he has stowed away in a forgotten cellar. He plans to live in perfect isolation for a week, keeping the adult world at bay. Then a visit from his estranged half-sister, Olivia, changes everything.Trade ReviewExuberant and audacious. * * Observer * *The new Italian word for talent is Ammaniti. * * The Times * *A fearsomely gifted writer. * * Independent * *A master storyteller. * * Guardian * *The story of a young boy who's heading towards adulthood. This book amazed me -- Bernardo BertolucciNear perfect [...] this small gem of storytelling has the balance just about right. * * Scotland on Sunday * *Ammaniti's matter-of-fact, unadorned prose captures Lorenzo's angst-ridden, incomprehending world-view with a confident clarity, and as resolution back in the present day beckons, he plots the course of their filial relationship with a deft, understated skill -- Bram E Gieben * * The Skinny * *Me and You is a slim volume which takes only a couple of hours to read. But thanks to the skilfully presented Lorenzo and the poignant reconciliation of the boy with his half-sister, it lingers in the memory for much, much longer -- Alastair Mabbott * * The Herald * *

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Book SynopsisA bracing and tender novel about sons, fathers and the hidden legacies of heartbreak.

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Book Synopsis'The darkness dwells, the desperation grows between the characters and the walls close in until you're caught in the trap.' - Lars KeplerA breathless page-turner from an international master of suspense, The Woman Inside by M. T. Edvardsson is a story about dependency, justice, and the sometimes fine line between right and wrong. Three young people.Bill, a widower and single dad, is in a financial mess with bills to pay when he rents out a room in his apartment to Karla.Karla left home to study law and to earn some money begins working as a cleaner at the palatial home of Steven and Regina Rytter. But inside their house it is clear that something is wrong with the doctor and his wife, who never leaves her bedroom.Jennica is single and careerless when she meets Steven on Tinder. But just as she thinks her luck is changing, it soon becomes clear that Steven is hiding secrets of his own . . .Two murders.By the end of the summer Steven and Regina Rytter will be found dead in their home and the questions will begin . . .One truth.Ordinary people will do things they never thought possible when faced with extraordinary circumstances, and the truth is that the woman inside may hold the key to it all . . .Praise for A Nearly Normal Family:‘Deceptive and riveting’ - Karin Slaughter, bestselling author of Girl, Forgotten‘Taut page-turner *****’ - The Sun‘A cracking read!’ - T. M. Logan, bestselling author of The Vacation‘A compulsively readable tour de force’ - Wall Street Journal‘A canny, intensely suspenseful legal thriller’ - Scott Turow, author of Presumed InnocentTrade ReviewA super well-composed chamber drama, where the darkness dwells, the desperation grows between the characters and the walls are closing in until you're caught in the trap. -- Lars Kepler, #1 internationally bestselling author of The SandmanA deceptive and riveting novel. A Nearly Normal Family will make you question everything you know about those closest to you -- Karin Slaughter on A Nearly Normal FamilyTore through this in a matter of days! Deadly secrets, divided loyalties and a dysfunctional family under unbearable strain as layers of deceit are peeled away one by one. A cracking read! -- T M Logan on A Nearly Normal FamilyAn utterly compelling premise with wonderful writing. The characters . . . are so achingly real that one holds one’s breath with them. This is a layered, intelligent novel that will force any parent to consider exactly how far they would go to protect their child -- Fiona Cummins on A Nearly Normal FamilyA canny, intensely suspenseful legal thriller -- Scott Turow on A Nearly Normal FamilyAny parent . . . and every teenager . . . will be gripped by this book. I couldn't put it down and the author skillfully keeps you guessing until the very last line -- Michelle Frances on A Nearly Normal FamilyPage-turner . . . peels away the compromises we make with ourselves to be the people we believe our beloveds expect, revealing just how flimsy those pretenses can be - one of the top seven thrillers for the summer -- The New York Times on A Nearly Normal Family

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Book SynopsisIn La Vita Nuova, Italy's greatest poet recounts the famous story of his passionate love for Beatrice. The drama of their relationship unravels through stunning poetry and prose in this, one of the most celebrated love stories in history.Part of the Macmillan Collector’s Library; a series of stunning, clothbound, pocket-sized classics with gold foiled edges and ribbon markers. These beautiful books make perfect gifts or a treat for any book lover. From the first time the poet sets eyes on Beatrice, he proclaims that ‘love quite governed my soul’ and his devotion to her knows no end. By recalling each meeting with Beatrice this short book is at once a heartfelt account of youthful love and a religious allegory. La Vita Nuova serves as an important precursor to Dante’s masterpiece, The Divine Comedy.This edition is the English translation by Dante Gabriel Rossetti from the original Italian. It was first published in The Early Italian Poets in 1861 and then reissued in 1874 by Dante and his circle. It was met with great acclaim acknowledging Rossetti’s skill as a meticulous and poetic translator.

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Book SynopsisThe Prize-winning International Bestseller When a mother allows her thirty-something daughter to move into her apartment, she wants for her what many mothers might say they want for their child: a steady income, and, even better, a good husband with a good job with whom to start a family.But when Green turns up with her girlfriend Lane in tow, her mother is unprepared and unwilling to welcome Lane into her home. In fact, she can barely bring herself to be civil. Having centred her life on her husband and child, her daughter’s definition of family is not one she can accept. Her daughter’s involvement in a case of unfair dismissal involving gay colleagues from the university where she works is similarly strange to her.And yet when the care home where she works insists that she lower her standard of care for an elderly dementia patient who has no family, who travelled the world as a successful diplomat, who chose not to have children, Green’s mother cannot accept it. Why should not having chosen a traditional life mean that your life is worth nothing at all?In Concerning My Daughter, translated from Korean by Jamie Chang, Kim Hye-jin lays bare our most universal fears on ageing, death and isolation to offer, finally, a paean to love in all its forms.'An admirably nuanced portrait of prejudice . . . one that boldly takes on the daunting task of humanizing someone whose prejudice has made her cruel.' - The New York TimesTrade ReviewAn acerbic and wise book. -- Catherine Taylor * Irish Times *An admirably nuanced portrait of prejudice . . . one that boldly takes on the daunting task of humanizing someone whose prejudice has made her cruel. -- Imogen West Knights * The New York Times *I can't help but be moved by a story about women meeting, fighting, helping each other, looking after one another, and raising their voices against the prejudice and criticism they are subject to. -- Cho Nam-joo, author of Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982Concerning My Daughter is one of the best character studies I've read in years - thoughtful, complicated and surprisingly kind, it raises important questions about ageing, family, and both the cost and the value of change. -- Jessie Greengrass, author of An Account of the Decline of the Great Auk and Sight Concerning My Daughter is a work that is unafraid of the human body in all its contradictions, at once philosophical and practical in its treatment of the aging body, the gendered body, the body’s capacity for acts of caretaking, protest, and love. Urgent, timely, tender. -- Yoon Choi, author of SkinshipConcerning My Daughter provides desperate narratives of its female characters. It’s the story of a mother and a daughter, but it goes beyond the relationship and is also ahead of our time. By accompanying the women’s journey overcoming pain and suffering in their lives, we will see our stereotypes broken in the end. The great power smashing our fixed old ideas! This book is filled with such energy. -- Kyung-sook Shin, author of Please Look After Mom and Violets

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Book Synopsis'The stories are cool, meticulously crafted, pithy and mordantly amusing . . . [an] extremely powerful book. Highly recommended' Irish Times'Psychologically raw . . . [von Schirach's] unfussy prose is icily effective' Financial Times'One of the most distinctive voices in European literature' Daily TelegraphA young lawyer puts aside her sense of justice to succeed at her new firm. A man who values silence is driven to murder by his noisy neighbours. A cheated wife seeks revenge.How do you decide what punishment fits the crime?Our narrator is a man you'd never want to meet unless you really needed him. A nameless criminal defence lawyer, he coolly narrates the fate of twelve characters who cross his path. In spare, gripping prose, he tells their stories, uncovering the loneliness and alienation, desire and desperation which drive their choices and shape the consequences they face. Drawn from Ferdinand von Schirach's eminent career as a criminal defence lawyer, Punishment masterfully treads the line between fiction and truth, each meticulously crafted story crackling with white-knuckle suspense and vivid characters who stay with you long after the final page. Translated from the German by Katharina HallTrade ReviewThe stories are cool, meticulously crafted, pithy and mordantly amusing . . . this is an unsettling, affecting, extremely powerful book. Highly recommended -- Declan Hughes * Irish Times *Translated with economical elegance by Hall . . . and informed by insider knowledge . . . it's a chilling insight into a flawed justice system, the people who work in it and the guilty and guileless who find themselves judged * Daily Mail *Psychologically raw . . . delivered in a crisp translation by Katharina Hall, his unfussy prose is icily effective . . . it suggests that all justice systems are flawed, that they are all just processes. And, with immense empathy, von Schirach's stories show what happens to people when they are processed. -- Christian House * Financial Times *An impressive page-turner with substance and bite * Bookmunch *Thrilling and edgy, often carrying a twist in the tale * To the Ends of the Word blog *

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Book SynopsisYou escaped. But he will never let you go.NOW A MAJOR NETFLIX SERIES: A page-turning thriller perfect for fans of Room and Gone GirlA windowless shack in the woods. Lena's life and that of her two children follows the rules set by their captor, the father: meals, bathroom visits, study time are strictly scheduled and meticulously observed. He protects his family from the dangers lurking in the outside world and makes sure that his children will always have a mother to look after them.One day Lena manages to flee - but the nightmare continues. It seems as if her tormentor wants to get back what belongs to him. And then there is the question whether she really is the woman called 'Lena', who disappeared without a trace over thirteen years ago. The police and Lena's family are all desperately trying to piece together a puzzle that doesn't quite seem to fit.'Chilling, original and mesmerising. Hausmann is a force to be reckoned with' David Baldacci'A peerless exercise in suspense' Financial Times'Will haunt you long after the last page' Alice Feeney'Keeps you guessing' Sunday Express'Intelligent and original' Sunday Independent'Outstanding' Publishers Weekly'Claustrophobic, terrifying and fiercely compelling' Daily Mail'Disturbingly good' Lesley Kara'Gripping, suspenseful and beautifully written' Jo SpainTrade ReviewA chilling, original and mesmerizing work. Hausmann is a force to be reckoned with. You can't stop reading * David Baldacci *A peerless exercise in suspense . . . Whether treated as a study in trauma and identity or a dark, well-crafted crime narrative from multiple perspectives, it is a nail-biting fare * Barry Forshaw, Financial Times *Claustrophobic, terrifying and fiercely compelling, this is heartbreaking * Daily Mail *Dear Child is an accomplished thriller, beautifully written, intriguing and very compelling * Peter James *I read Dear Child in one sitting, holding my breath. Such a gripping, suspenseful and beautifully written debut. I loved it! * Jo Spain, author of The Confession *Hausmann makes you care about her characters even while they keep you guessing * Sunday Express *Told from multiple viewpoints which gives a satisfying complexity . . . An intelligent and original book * Sunday Independent *Equal parts mystery, thriller and family story . . . [A] tantalizingly disturbing debut . . . the overall experience is as enthralling as it is thought-provoking. Hausmann creates a dark solar system studded with twinkling stars . . . At the core of Dear Child is the constant hope that characters will be drawn back to people who mean the most to them, no matter how far apart they've been pulled. That glint of optimism is the light guiding readers as they fly through this book * New York Times *German bestseller Dear Child by Romy Hausmann is tipped to be one of the UK's must-reads of the summer * S Magazine *Nothing is quite what it seems in this mesmerising debut * Daily Express *One of the best thrillers I've read this year. Flawlessly plotted with a pace that refuses to let the reader come up for air - not that you'd want to * Stephanie Wrobel, author of The Recovery of Rose Gold *Wow! Such a disturbingly good read. Romy's knack of getting under a character's skin is impressive. I loved it * Lesley Kara, author of The Rumour *If you read only one thriller this year, choose this one. Room meets Gone Girl in this gripping novel, which will haunt you long after the last page * Alice Feeney, author of Sometimes I Lie *Outstanding . . . The multiple points of view and numerous plot twists sustain the breakneck pacing, but the book's real power lies in the author's insightful and sensitive portrayal of the characters involved in the tragedy. This darkly disturbing thriller definitely marks Hausmann as a writer to watch. * Publishers Weekly *A mesmerising and flawlessly plotted debut * Sunday Express S Magazine *

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Book Synopsis"A novel par excellence that is destined to become a classic' of almost byzantine splendour . . . At its best worthy of comparison with Gabriel García Márquez" Catherine Taylor, Irish Times"Afonso Cruz is one of the strongest voices in contemporary Portuguese literature" Antonio Saez Delgado, El PaisAt the age of forty-two, Bonifaz Vogel begins to hear a voice.But it doesn't belong to the mice or the woodworm, as he first imagines. Nor is it the voice of God, as he comes to believe. It belongs to young Isaac Dresner, who takes refuge in the cellar of Vogel's bird shop on the run from the soldier who shot his best friend. Soon Vogel comes to rely on it for advice: he cannot make a sale without first bending down to confer with the floorboards. Thus begins the story of two Dresden families, fractured and displaced by the devastating bombing of the city 1945, their fates not only intertwined, but bound also to that of a life-sized doll commissioned by the artist Oskar Kokoschka in the image of his lost lover.Based on a curious true story, Kokoschka's Doll is an imaginative and playful novel that transports the reader to Dresden, Paris, Lagos and Marrakesh, introducing them to an unforgettable cast of characters along the way.Translated from the Portuguese by Rahul BeryRahul Bery's translations from Portuguese and Spanish have been published in Granta, The White Review, Words Without Borders and the T.L.S. His first full-length translation, Rolling Fields by David Trueba, was published in 2020. From 2018 to 2019 he was translator-in-residence at the British Library.With the support of the Creative Europe Programme of the European UnionTrade ReviewWhat truly distinguishes Cruz is how he can combine philosophical thinking with surprising writing, rich with imagery. -- Ana Dias Ferreria * Time Out. *Highly recommended for its imaginative, playful character, though it tells many tales of sad love. -- Pedro Mexia * Publico. *A novel par excellence that is destined to become a classic' of almost byzantine splendour . . . At its best worthy of comparison with Gabriel García Márquez. -- Catherine Taylor * Irish Times. *

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Book SynopsisThe fourth novel in a historical series that began with the International Booker-shortlisted The Unseen "Taken together, Jacobsen has given us an epic of Norway's experience of the first half of the 20th century that is subtle and moving" David Mills, Sunday Times"Jacobsen can make almost anything catch the light . . . One of Norway's greatest writers on the working class" Times Literary SupplementA childless island is no island at all.Ingrid Marie Barrøy has returned to the island that bears her name, bringing up her daughter with the other children that came with the war, who will someday raise their own children until an island that was empty is singing once more with life.And soon another will arrive, a child of the war and an orphan of the peace, whom Ingrid will fight to make her own, and whose interests may, in time, collide with those of certain others on the island, forcing her to make a choice she will long regret.The sea brings the island all it has - herring for salting, eider ducks for down - but Ingrid knows, has alwaysknown, that one day it may wish to take something back. But until that day, she continues to live by one simple truth:There is no limit to what you can do with an island, the imagination sets the only limits, as with the sea.Translated from the Norwegian by Don Bartlett and Don ShawReviews for The Unseen"Even by his high standards, his magnificent new novel The Unseen is Jacobsen's finest to date, as blunt as it is subtle and is easily among the best books I have ever read" Eileen Battersby, Irish Times"A beautifully crafted novel . . . Quite simply a brilliant piece of work . . . Rendered beautifully into English by Don Bartlett and Don Shaw, The Unseen is a towering achievement that would be a deserved Booker International winner" Charlie Connelly, New European."A profound interrogation of freedom and fate, as well as a fascinating portrait of a vanished time, written in prose as clear and washed clean as the world after a storm" Justine Jordan, Guardian"The subtle translation, with its invented dialect, conveys a timeless, provincial voice . . . The Unseen is a blunt, brilliant book" Tom Graham, Financial Times.

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Book Synopsis"One of the great novels to have been written in our language" MARIO VARGAS LLOSA"Beautifully written and gripping" GuardianHe thought that memories were invisible like light, and just as smoke made light show, there must be a way for memories to be seen... In October 2016, the real-life Colombian film director Sergio Cabrera is attending a retrospective of his films in Barcelona. It's a difficult time for him: his father, Fausto Cabrera, has just died; his marriage is in crisis; and his country has rejected peace agreements that might have ended more than fifty years of war. In the course of a few turbulent and intense days, Sergio will recall the events that marked the family's life, and especially his father's, his sister Marianella's and his own. From the Spanish Civil War to the exile of his republican family in Latin America, and from the Cultural Revolution in China to the guerrilla movements of 1960s Latin America, not only will do we discover a series of adventures extraordinary by any standards, but also a devastating portrait of the forces that for half a century turned the world upside down and created the one we now inhabit. Retrospective is a revelatory and unforgettable novel.Translated from the Spanish by Anne McLeanTrade ReviewOne of the great novels to have been written in our language -- Mario Vargas Llosa * El Pais *The story of their political indoctrination, active deployment, growing unease and ultimate disillusionment is both fascinating and terrifying -- Melissa Harrison * Guardian *Hours and hours of recordings and conversations over the years have resulted in an extraordinary novel of adventures and nightmares, a ruthless exploration of the delusions of political utopianism and moral totalitarianism, an excursion into the dark and buried side of history when history becomes political faith -- Jordi Gracia * El Pais *A true international writer -- Yiyun Li * New York Times *A fascinating novelistic narration of the adventures of the family of the filmmaker Sergio Cabrera, that travels through the twentieth century and three continents, from the flight of his father and grandfather in the Spanish Civil War to his own participation in the Colombian guerrilla after a Kafkaesque and bizarre revolutionary training in China * La Vanguardia *It bites, it hits, it hurts pain, it makes sparks fly. Literature struggles to become life and life struggles to be told. Such an incredible book! -- Manuel RivasWritten with an enviably full style and a superb control of the novelist's impulses * La Vanguardia *A lucid and subtle metaphor for how ideologies marked the private lives of the twentieth century * El Cultural *Vásquez is a Colombian writer with the talent to keep a magician's equilibrium between reality and fiction. . . . Beautifully written and gripping -- Gioconda Belli * Guardian *

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Book Synopsis"The limitless possibilities of fiction are brilliantly utilised . . . Ingenious" Irish Times"Agualusa's funny and lively tale turns increasingly ominous ahead of an explosive conclusion" Guardian***A Financial Times Fiction in Translation Book of the Year 2023***Daniel lives with artist Moira on her native Island of Mozambique. They are awaiting the birth of their child, while also organising the island's first literary festival. But as soon as the first festival guests arrive, the coast is hit by a cyclone.The island is spared, but the bridge to the mainland is left impassable, and telephone and internet connections are severed. The islanders - and the writers who have come for the festival - are cut off from the outside world. Left to their own devices, the authors forge new bonds and make the best of a situation that gets stranger each day. Some believe they're in an intermediate realm, a kind of limbo, and some have no choice but to write, as the boundaries between reality and fiction, past and future, and life and death begin to blur.Where do we go when it's all over? Perhaps to a small island. This is a novel about the nature of life and of time, and the extraordinary power of imagination and the written word, capable of creating anything and regenerating everything.Translated from the Portuguese by Daniel HahnTrade ReviewThe limitless possibilities of fiction are brilliantly utilised in José Eduardo Agualusa's novel The Living and The Rest . . . Ingenious. -- Declan O'Driscoll * Irish Times *Agualusa's funny and lively tale turns increasingly ominous ahead of an explosive conclusion. I give it four stars - and a half -- John Self * Guardian *Perfect for those who like their beach reads served with a spritz of postmodernism. * Strong Words *

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