Fiction in translation
Penguin Books Ltd The Frolic of the Beasts
Book SynopsisThe gripping story of an affair gone horribly wrong, from one of Japan''s greatest twentieth-century writersKoji, a young student, has fallen hopelessly in love with the beautiful, enigmatic Yuko. But she is married to the literary critic and serial philanderer Ippei. Tormented by desire and anger, Koji is driven to an act of violence that will bind this strange, terrible love triangle together for the rest of their lives. A starkly compelling story of lust, guilt and punishment, The Frolic of the Beasts explores the masks we wear in life, and what happens when they slip.''One of the greatest avant-garde Japanese writers of the twentieth century'' New YorkerTrade ReviewThis morose little gem boasts its share of sensuous depravity * Wall Street Journal *Mishima was one of literature's great romantics, a tragedian with a heroic sensibility, an intellectual, an esthete, a man steeped in Western letters who toward the end of his life became a militant Japanese nationalist * New York Times *Mishima is the Japanese Hemingway * Life Magazine *A writer of immense energy and ability * Time Out *A sexually and psychologically complex novel... in a honed translation by Andrew Clare * TLS *
£9.49
Penguin Books Ltd In Evil Hour
Book SynopsisIn Evil Hour is the thrilling story of a Colombian society menaced by rumour and paranoia by the Nobel Laureate Gabriel García Márquez, author of the One Hundred Years of Solitude and Love in the Time of Cholera. As a small South American town sweats under an oppressive heat, an unknown person creeps through the night sticking malicious posters to walls and doors. When the contents of one poster lead to a murder, everyone knows that the town is threatened by a malevolent presence - but is there anything that the mayor, the doctor or the priest can do about it?''In Evil Hour was the book which was to inspire my own career as a novelist. I owe my writing voice to that one book!'' Jim Crace''Belongs to the very best of Márquez''s work...should on no account be missed'' Financial Times''A splendid achievement'' The TimesTrade ReviewA masterly book * Guardian *
£9.49
Penguin Books Ltd Berta Isla
Book Synopsis''The most subtle and gifted writer in contemporary Spanish literature'' Boston Globe''No one else, anywhere, is writing quite like this'' Daily Telegraph A thrilling new literary offering from the acclaimed author of The Infatuations and A Heart So White''For a while, she wasn''t sure that her husband was her husband. Sometimes she thought he was, and sometimes not...''Berta Isla and Tomás Nevinson meet in Madrid. Young and in love, they quickly decide to spend their lives together - never suspecting that they will grow to be total strangers, both living under the shadow of disappearances. Tomás, half-Spanish and half-English, has an extraordinary gift for languages and accents. Leaving Berta to study at Oxford, he catches the interest of a certain government agency, and its mysterious agent, Bertram Tupra. Tomás is determined to evade the agent''s attentions but his fate is sealed by an escalating series of events that will affect the rest of his life - and that of his beloved Berta. Finishing his time at Oxford, he returns to Madrid to marry her, already knowing that the life they planned has been lost forever.Darkly gripping, Berta Isla examines a relationship condemned to secrecy and concealment, to pretence and conjecture, to resentment mingled with loyalty. With meticulous insight and understanding of the human soul, Marías examines the urge to change our destiny, and the hopeless exile we bring upon ourselves.Trade ReviewMarías weaves a thrilling and desolate meditation on the psychic costs of the deep state's dark arts. * 1843 Magazine *Magical...finest novel to date * Alex Clark *Compelling * Tatler *A twisty, thought-provoking tale that puts notions of truth and morality under pitiless scrutiny * The Guardian *elegant, discursive, persuasively vivid novel...powerful and indelible * The National *
£10.44
Little, Brown Book Group Into the Labyrinth
Book Synopsis''Intriguing and very scary'' Ken Follett Abducted at thirteen.Returned at twenty-eight.Is it time to go back into the labyrinth?A young woman named Samantha Andretti wakes up in a hospital bed.Samantha was abducted when she was thirteen.She was kept prisoner for fifteen years.The man by her side, Dr. Green, believes that Samantha''s memories contain the clues that will lead to the capture of her abductor. But why does she keep referring to a labyrinth?Outside the hospital, private investigator Bruno Genko does not have long to live. Bruno was assigned to Samantha''s case many years ago, and now it is his chance to make amends.Can Samantha be persuaded to go back into the labyrinth? And how did the man at its centre vanish so quickly?Praise for The Girl in the Fog by Donato Carrisi:''A coldly brilliant exposé of the depths of human nature'' Sunday Times''CompeTrade ReviewIntriguing and very scary -- Ken Follett
£9.49
Faber & Faber Night as It Falls
Book SynopsisTranslated from the French, a multilayered novel of high passion and low light, tracing two young lovers who must both come to terms with their inherited bonds and the paths that shape the future.
£8.54
Faber & Faber You Will Never Be Found
Book SynopsisA man is locked inside an abandoned house - but he's not the only one. This atmospheric, edge-of-your-seat rural crime starring local detective Eira Sjodin will keep you guessing till the end.
£8.54
Quercus Publishing All Human Wisdom
Book Synopsis In 1927, the great and the good of Paris gather at the funeral of the wealthy banker, Marcel Péricourt. His daughter, Madeleine, is poised to take over his financial empire (although, unfortunately, she knows next to nothing about banking). More unfortunately still, when Madeleine's seven-year-old son, Paul, tumbles from a second floor window of the Péricourt mansion on the day of his grandfather's funeral, and suffers life-changing injuries, his fall sets off a chain of events that will reduce Madeleine to destitution and ruin in a matter of months. Using all her reserves of ingenuity, resourcefulness, and a burning desire for retribution, Madeleine sets about rebuilding her life. She will be helped by an ex-Communist fixer, a Polish nurse who doesn't speak a word of French, a brainless petty criminal with a talent for sabotage, an exiled German Jewish chemist, a very expensive forger, an opera singer with a handy flair for theatrics, and her own Trade ReviewAn epic inhabited by flamboyant characters and imbued with an all-consuming drama * Figaro *Literature with conviction; a furious talent * L'Obs *Confirms the genius of a great novelist and storyteller * Express *Terrific . . . Easily the most purely entertaining novel I have read so far this year -- David Mills * The Sunday Times *A perfectly orchestrated comédie humaine * Journal du Dimanche *Lemaitre is always readable and his caustic wit shines through -- Antonia Senior * The Times *Pierre Lemaitre: unleashed * Libération *
£10.44
Quercus Publishing Vernon Subutex Three
Book SynopsisA literary phenomenon The TimesDespentes'' writing is intelligent, outspoken, witty, shocking, propulsive and streetwise Times Literary SupplementTHE FINAL VOLUME IN THE EPIC ROCK AND ROLL TRILOGY BY CULT AUTHOR VIRGINIE DESPENTESAlthough it means leaving behind the community of disciples who have followed him on his travels and assembled at his raves and gatherings, Vernon Subutex is compelled to return to Paris to visit the dentist.Once back in the city, he learns that Charles, his old friend from his days on the Paris streets, has died and left him half of a lottery win. But when Vernon returns to his disciples with news of this windfall, it does not take long before his followers start to turn on each other, and his good fortune provokes ruptures in his once harmonious community.Meanwhile, storm clouds are gathering for Aïcha and Céleste: Laurent Dopalet is determined to make them pay for their attack Trade ReviewInvigorating ... there isn't really anything else like it right now * Observer *A literary phenomenon . . . [an] outrageous, often funny and frequently foul-mouthed trilogy * The Times *Brings the story of Vernon to a sometimes bleak, often very funny and possibly optimistic conclusion * The i *Despentes' writing is intelligent, outspoken, witty, shocking, propulsive and streetwise * Times Literary Supplement *Raw and rewarding * New European *Oddly magnificent * The Sunday Times *Despentes' achievement is French realism rebooted: a modern-day Comédie humaine stacked with profanity and fury * The Times *Either you're already onboard with this series and need no convincing, or you've somehow missed the fact that a cool French writer has been pumping out hilarious and corrosive novels about contemporary urban life at the center and fringes of Paris. Despentes writes like Armistead Maupin, but about aging Gen-Xers instead of hippies and New Agers. -- Molly Young * Vulture *Three addictive, intelligent volumes. Comedy, a way with words, and the collision of registers of language combine to make Vernon irresistible -- RAPHAËLLE LEYRIS * Le Monde *Reflecting our chaotic times, Vernon Subutex 3 is a powerful, shocking, captivating work. Despentes completes her epic with a rare mastery. Where will she take us next? -- BRUNO CORTY * Figaro *A zigzagging novel that likes to let the intrigue wander, all the better to tug it back by the hair a few portraits later -- CLAIRE DEVARRIEUX * Libération *A final volume even more explosive than the previous ones -- NELLY KAPRIÈLIAN * Les Inrockuptibles *An analysis of a startling harshness, which does not lessen the relentless, furious humanity pulsing through every page, every sentence -- NATHALIE CROM * Télérama *One of the most striking literary epics of the early 21st century -- MARIANNE PAYOT * L’Express *
£10.44
Canongate Books The Fall of the Stone City
Book SynopsisShortlisted for the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize 2013.In September 1943, Nazi troops advance on the ancient gates of Gjirokastër, Albania. The very next day, the Germans vanish without a trace. As the townsfolk wonder if they might have dreamt the events of the previous night, rumours circulate of a childhood friendship between a local dignitary and the invading Nazi Colonel, a reunion in the town square and a fateful dinner party that would transform twentieth-century Europe. A captivating novel of resistance in a dictatorship, and steeped in Albanian folklore, The Fall of the Stone City shows Kadare at the height of his powers.Trade ReviewOne of the most important voices in literature today * * Metro * *A master storyteller -- John CareyOne of the world's greatest living writers -- Simon Sebag MontefioreThere are very few writers alive today with the depth, power and resonance of this remarkable novelist * * Herald * *His fiction offers invaluable insights into life under tyranny - his historical allegories point both to the grand themes and small details that make up life in a restrictive environment. He is a great writer, by any nation's standards * * Financial Times * *One of the great writers of our time * * Scotsman * *Ismail Kadare has sometimes been compared with Kafka, and you can see why * * Scottish Mail on Sunday * *There are books which seem less the second-time round; Kadare's seem more . . . one can relish his mastery of tone and the tireless probing intelligence of narrative -- Allan Massie * * The Scotsman * *Both in his deployment of material and in his vision of life, Kadare is the equal of the often invoked Kafka * * Literary Review * *Ismail Kadare is a great writer, by any nation's standards * * Financial Times * *He is seemingly incapable of writing a book that fails to be interesting * * New York Times * *One of the most compelling novelists now writing in any language * * Wall Street Journal * *Kadare is one of Europe's most consistently interesting and powerful contemporary novelists, a writer whose stark, memorable prose imprints itself on the reader's consciousness * * Los Angeles Times * *An outstanding feat of imagination delivered in inimitable style, alternating between the darkly elusive and the menacingly playful -- Peter Carty * * Independent on Sunday * *This novel is a perfect showcase for [Kadare's] wonderfully powerful, eccentric storytelling -- Kate Saunders * * The Times * *Brilliant but unsettling * * Irish Mail on Sunday * *The Fall of the Stone City is written with a persuasive lightness of touch. Kadare's authorial tone is invariably ironic and his fiction is playful, as if he has never lost sight of exactly how ridiculous humankind tends to be * * Irish Times * *A mysterious and masterful novel that captures a pivotal moment in Albania's history * * Independent * *[Kadare] is on brilliant but unsettling form here * * The Mail on Sunday * *The story is a tragic-comic satire of the inhuman senselessness of the Albanian (and any other) dictatorship . . . [Kadare's] work gives a unique insight into the history of this, the strangest corner of Europe -- Edward James * * Historical Novel Society * *A dreamworld where history and fiction come together. . . Ismail Kadare's subject, as always, is the presence of the past. . . more astonishing and truthful than any mere documentary chronicle * * Guardian * *In his latest novel, Kadare features many of his motifs-bloody Balkan histories; bleak totalitarianism lives under silky threads of magical realism-that have made him a perpetual shortlister for Noble Prize laureate. A thoughtful exploration of the colluding forces of fascism and communism and a country caught between them that is at once obscure and enigmatic, lucid and insistent * * Publishers Weekly * *Mesmerizing. . . A well-crafted translation of a European masterpiece * * Booklist (starred review) * *A harsh but artful study of power, truth and personal integrity... [The Fall of the Stone City is] an ironic, sober critique of the way totalitarianism rewrites history, from an Albanian author who's long been the subject of Nobel whispers * * Kirkus Reviews * *The Fall of the Stone City is playful, supremely sarcastic, mystifying, charming and bleak, by turns and all at once. Kadare raises ambiguity to an art form, and perfectly evokes the uncertainties of life under arbitrary rule * * New Zealand Herald * *
£999.99
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Opheliamachine
Book SynopsisOphelia's story in a way you've never heard it before, and seven more ways as well.Ophelia is trapped, stuck inside the machinery that has created her consciousness, fighting to be heard. Hamlet, overwhelmed by the ceaseless flood of media, mindlessly watches TV, consuming a mish-mash of beauty and horror; a daily soup of innocence and violence. The two of them hopelessly confined, and separated by the Atlantic Ocean.A polemic response to Heiner Mueller's Hamletmachine, Opheliamachine is a postmodern tale of love, sex and politics in a fragmented world of confused emotions and global, virtual sexuality. Since its premiere in 2013, Magda Romanska's celebrated experimental play has been performed and studied around the world, with each culture and language feeding into and responding to Opheliamachine's collage of modern existence.This edited collection brings together eight different translations of the play, offering English, GermaTrade ReviewDifficult comedy of ideas and ideologies. * The Hollywood Reporter *An uncompromising vision. . . . fiercely confrontational new play. * Los Angeles Times *Relentlessly provocative and challenging. * LA Weekly *Table of ContentsHow to Lose a Guy in Ten Wars: Introduction to Opheliamachine by Ilinca Todorut From Elsinore to American Techno-Solitude by Maria Pia Pagani, translated by Margaret Rose Production History Opheliamachine (English) Opheliamaschine (German) Ophéliemachine (French) Opheliamachine (Italian) La Máquina de Ofelia (Spanish) Opheliamachine (Japanese) Opheliamachine (Korean) Opheliamachine (Romanian) Maszynofelia (Polish) Bibliography
£14.24
Hodder & Stoughton Checking Out
Book Synopsis''So biting and refreshingly honest that the real world feels just a little more ridiculous by comparison''Jinwoo Chong, author of Flux''Honest, intelligent and funny''Andrea Abreu, author of Dogs of SummerLife is like a supermarket.Her name is Meryem, but you''d be surprised at how difficult people find that to spell. Meryem is twenty-five years old and has just started working at the offices of Supersaurio: the most important supermarket chain in the Canary Islands. Watched over by the chain''s benevolent blue dinosaur logo, Meryem contends with co-workers who don''t mean to sound sexist, but aren''t women just harder work than men?, a boss who seems determined to make Meryem''s life as miserable as possible, and Omar - smart, funny, very-senior-but-nevertheless-seems-like-a-normal-person Omar, who also happens to be devastatingly handsome.We follow Meryem as she makes the transition from intern, to temp, to arrive finally at the promised land of fixed employment - only to find that she might have left part of her soul behind. ''My relationship with this book has been a bit like the friendships you make in the bathrooms of nightclubs. Meryem, I don''t know you but I love you as if you were my lifelong friend'' Goodreads reviewer, ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐''I want to meet Meryem for lunch''Goodreads reviewer, ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐''Down with work''Goodreads reviewer, ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
£17.09
Orion Publishing Co The Secret Life of Writers
Book SynopsisTHE NEW NOVEL FROM THE NO. 1 BESTSELLING AUTHORSet on a sun-kissed island off the coast of France, this a take on classics like Agatha Christie and Donna Tartt - with a deliciously meta twist.Trade ReviewPRAISE FOR THE REUNIONA MAIL ON SUNDAY '100 HOTTEST BOOKS OF SUMMER'Had me turning the pages well into the night' Harlan Coben'Extraordinary' Sunday Times'Breathtakingly good' Daily Mail'Stylish... More please!' The Times
£9.49
Pan Macmillan Last Summer in the City
Book SynopsisA cult classic of Italian literature published in English for the first time, with a foreword by André Aciman, author of Call Me By Your Name In the late 1960s, Leo Gazzara left his family in Milan and moved to Rome for work. Soon unemployed, he has spent his time in an alcoholic haze, bouncing between hotels, bars, romantic entanglements, and the homes of his rich and well-educated friends. Rome is indifferent. Leo drifts, aimless and alone.On the evening of his thirtieth birthday, he meets Arianna, a young woman who is both fragile and seductive. 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. This is the story of the year Leo fell in love and lost everything.Intense, brief, witty and devastating, Last Summer in the City is a newly rediscovered classic of Italian literature. Translated into English for the first time by Howard Curtis, Gianfranco Calligarich’s romantic and despairing debut is reminiscent of The Great Gatsby, The Sun Also Rises and The Catcher in the Rye.Trade 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 *Romantic, raw and lyrical, this is a novel of rare honesty which depicts with devastating accuracy a world of missed connections and failed intimacy -- Alice JollyA 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 *
£13.49
Pan Macmillan What You Need From The Night
Book Synopsis'One of the most exquisite debuts I've read' Daily Telegraph'Affecting and haunting' ObserverAfter the death of his wife, a father in a forgotten corner of France raises his two sons alone. But their town is not one of opportunity, and the boys are heading down different paths. Gillou sets his sights on university in Paris while Fus falls in with the local far-right group, searching for meaning and belonging with dangerous friends.How can a father and son find common ground when everything seems set to break them apart? A sudden act of violence will force them to find an answer.Tense, sharp and ultimately heartbreaking, Laurent Petitmangin's first novel, What You Need From The Night, asks what acts can truly be forgiven.'A tragedy of unconditional love' - L'Obs'Heartbreaking . . . haunts you long after you've put it down'- Libération'As sublime as it is painful' - Le ParisienTrade ReviewA triumph of tamped power and unsutured emotion . . . one of the most exquisite debuts I’ve read for some time * Daily Telegraph *Affecting and haunting * Observer *A short blast of a novel: a howl of pain, impotence and rage. The prose, fluently translated by Shaun Whiteside, is precise and unadorned * Spectator *Heartbreaking . . . haunts you long after you've put it down * Libération *A tragedy of unconditional love * L'Obs *As sublime as it is painful * Le Parisien *A poignant, modest, moving book * Télérama *It's impossible not to devour this heartbreaking and beautiful short text in one gulp * Psychologie Mag *An unforgettable first novel, Laurent Petitmangin writes as one lives. And it's dazzling * L'Est Républicain *Petitmangin tells his story of generational shock with a painful quality, a deep voice charged with sadness and a touching efficiency. Memorable * El País *A block of raw emotion * Paris Match *He describes with inifinite accuracy the violence of a father not being able to recognise his son anymore * Femme Actuelle *It shines with the dazzling yet minimalist style that probes hearts and consciences * La Provence *Magnificent! * France Inter *Everytime, Laurent Petitmangin finds the right word * Le Figaro *
£9.49
Vintage Publishing Untold Night and Day
Book Synopsis'As cryptic and compelling as a fever dream... Bae Suah is one of the most unique and adroit literary voices working today' Sharlene TeoFinishing her last shift at Seoul's only audio theatre for the blind, Kim Ayami heads into the night with her former boss, searching for a missing friend. The following day, she looks after a visiting poet, a man who is not as he seems. Unfolding over a night and a day in the sweltering summer heat, their world's order gives way to chaos, the edges of reality start to fray, and the past intrudes on the present in increasingly disorientating ways. Untold Night and Day is a hallucinatory feat of storytelling from one of the most radical voices in contemporary Korean literature.'Highly original... Once I finished it, much of it slipped into my subconscious' Daily TelegraphTrade ReviewHypnotic… an uncannily affecting and dreamlike story of parallel lives and worlds. -- Chloe Ashby * Guardian *[A] highly original novel, full of unsolved mysteries, repeated motifs and startling prose… Remarkably fresh… Exhilarating… Once I finished it, much of it slipped into my unconscious. All that remains is a sense of Bae's boundless yet precise imagination. -- Luiza Sauma * Daily Telegraph *A metaphysical detective story, Untold Night and Day...draws on ideas from Korean shamanism...to venture in style and ambition far from the conventions of mystery narratives... Storylines echo one another and are braided into multilayered fictional universe with extraordinary skill… Bae’s novel complicates the boundaries between self and other reality and make-believe, night and day. -- Sarah Shin * Observer *Bae Suah is one of Korea’s most radical contemporary writers… Untold Night and Day is a hallucinatory novel propelled by the logic of dreams… Bae masterfully layers [her] themes into an almost hidden code beneath the novel’s meditative surface. -- Jay G Ying * Guardian *Bae Suah’s disturbing, beautifully controlled novel Untold Night and Day is a book of doubles, shadows and parallel worlds... a slim yet labyrinthine twist on a “choose your own adventure” story that disarms even as it disorients. -- Catherine Taylor * Financial Times *
£9.49
Vintage Publishing Swanfolk
Book Synopsis'Magical and disturbing' Adam ThirlwellAn astonishing, mind-bending novel about a woman discovering a community of swan-people from one of Iceland's greatest writers.*SHORTLISTED FOR THE ICELANDIC WOMEN'S LITERATURE PRIZE*In the not-too-distant future, a young spy named Elísabet Eva is about to discover something that will upend her life.Elísabet likes to take long solitary walks near the lake. One day, she sees two creatures emerging from the water, half-human, half-swan. She follows them through tangles of thickets into a strange new reality.Pulled into the monomaniacal, and often violent, quest of the swanfolk, Elísabet finds her own mind increasingly untrustworthy. Soon, she is forced to reckon with the consequences of her involvement with these unusual beings, and a past life she has been trying to evade.'Ómarsdottir's skills as a poet and playwright are evident' Helen Oyeyemi, New York Review of BooksTrade Review'Magical and disturbing' Adam Thirlwell -- Adam ThirlwellA wild adventure... Ómarsdóttir's novel is kaleidoscopic; the more you look at it, the more you see. * Lucy Writers *One of the most original authors in contemporary Icelandic literature...known for subverting traditional binaries like fantasy and realism, feminine and masculine, good and evil, and the animal and the human. * Orð um bækur *One of [this country's] most respected authors. -- Egill Helgason * Kiljan *A master of the unexpected. -- Steingerður Steinsdóttir * Vikan *
£9.49
Vintage Publishing The Girl by the Bridge
Book SynopsisOne girl missing. Another found dead. Only one detective can solve this case.'One of the greats of modern crime fiction' Sunday TimesWhen a young woman known for drug smuggling goes missing, her elderly grandparents have no choice but to call the retired Detective Konrád.Still looking for his own father's murderer, Konrád agrees to investigate the case.But digging into the past reveals more than he set out to discover, and a strange connection to a little girl who drowned in the Reykjavík city pond decades ago recaptures everyone's attention.A brilliant, chilling tale of broken dreams and children who have nowhere to turn.'The undisputed king of the Icelandic thriller' Guardian'An international literary phenomenon - and it's easy to see why. His novels are gripping, authentic, haunting, and lyrical' Harlan CobenTrade ReviewThe second novel in Arnaldur Indridason's intriguing new series, The Girl by the Bridge...is as darkly brilliant as anything he has written * Sunday Times *Short, crisply written chapters move the action briskly along while keeping all the seemingly disparate pieces of the puzzle in the mix. Veteran Indridason weaves all these eerie elements together masterfully. Superb crime fiction from an acclaimed virtuoso. * Kirkus Starred review *
£9.49
Quercus Publishing The Cheffe: A Culinary Novel
Book Synopsis"Marie NDiaye is so intelligent, so composed, so good, that any description of her work feels like an understatement" - Madeleine Schwartz, New York Review of Books"Rich, meandering . . . NDiaye excels at luscious, forensic descriptions of the ritualistic preparation of food" - Catherine Taylor, Mail on SundayThe Cheffe is born into an impoverished family in Sainte-Bazeille in south-western France, but when she takes a job working in the kitchen of a couple in the Landes region, it does not take long before it becomes clear that the Cheffe has an unusual, remarkable talent for cooking. She dreams in recipes, she's always imagining new food combinations, she hunts down elusive flavours and aromas, and she soon usurps the couple's cook.But for all her genius, the Cheffe remains very secretive about the rest of her life. She becomes pregnant, but will not reveal her daughter's father. She shares nothing of her feelings or emotions. And when the demands of her work and caring for her child become too much, she leaves her baby in the care of her family, and sets out to open her own restaurant, which will soon win rave reviews and be lauded by all.But her relationship with her daughter will never be easy, and before long, it will threaten to destroy everything the Cheffe has spent her life perfecting.Translated from the French by Jordan Stump.Trade ReviewThere's the evenness of her prose, eminently polished, deliciously rhythmic, that seems to glide over the violence underneath . . . Who is this writer? And how did she get to be so good? * New York Review of Books *Rich, meandering . . . NDiaye excels at luscious, forensic descriptions of the ritualistic preparation of food * Mail on Sunday *A magnificent novel. A story of slow, violent beauty * Elle *Seared with incandescent prose, imbued with generosity, The Cheffe is the work of a supreme writer * Obs *A virtuoso novel that borrows from the classics to create the life of a cheffe. Subtly sublime * Les Inrockuptibles *The Cheffe joins the remarkable procession of intense, passionate heroines of Marie NDiaye * Télérama *
£9.49
Quercus Publishing Ada's Realm
Book Synopsis"Set to be one of the best books of 2023" GQ Magazine "Soaring, spellbinding, utterly epic" MUSA OKWONGA"A time-travelling wonder of a read" PATERSON JOSEPH WHERE IS ADA? In a small village in West Africa, in what will one day become Ghana, Ada gives birth again, and again the baby does not live. As she grieves the loss of her child, Portuguese traders become the first white men to arrive in the village, an event that will bear terrible repercussions for Ada and her kin. WHEN IS ADA? Centuries later, Ada will become the mathematical genius Ada Lovelace; Ada, a prisoner forced into prostitution in a Nazi concentration camp; and Ada, a young, pregnant Ghanaian woman with a new British passport who arrives in Berlin in 2019 for a fresh start. WHO IS ADA? Ada is not one woman, but many, and she is all women - she revolves in orbits, looping from one century and from one place to the next. And so, she experiences the hardship but also the joy of womanhood: she is a victim, she offers resistance, and she fights for her independence. This long-awaited debut from Sharon Dodua Otoo paints an astonishing picture of femininity, resilience and struggle with deep empathy and humour, with vivid language and infinite imagination."An impressive and highly original work, brimming over with energy" TLS "Ada's Realm pushes boundaries . . . More power to her pen!" MARGARET BUSBY "Thrillingly, astonishingly original." R. O. KWON "A work of fierce imagination" NII AYIKWEI PARKES "A rule-shattering novel" Kirkus ReviewsTranslated from the German by Jon Cho-PolizziTrade ReviewAda's Realm is a time-travelling wonder of a read. Spanning centuries and lifetimes, this novel manages to both humorously and effortlessly lead the reader through a landscape of time, place and trauma that never feels forced . . . for anyone who loves their history packing a darkly funny punch -- Paterson JosephSet to be one of the best books of 2023 . . . Each narrative is connected by an underlying thread, with all of them exploring the misery and joy of womanhood, as well as themes of emancipation, resistance, and freedom. * GQ Magazine *It's always exciting to discover new talent in the global literary arena, and Sharon Dodua Otoo's writing defies expectations. Ada's Realm pushes boundaries in terms of language, form, character and time, challenging perceptions of what it means to be African, an African woman, in both historical and contemporary terms. More power to her pen! -- Margaret Busby * editor of NEW DAUGHTERS OF AFRICA *Thrillingly, astonishingly original. You will not have read anything quite like this before. -- R. O. Kwon * author of THE INCENDIARIES *A work of fierce imagination, by turns visceral, measured and experimental. -- Nii Ayikwei ParkesOtoo's captivating use of language is the thread that ties these varying yet overlapping tales together . . . An impressive and highly original work, brimming over with energy. -- Jen Calleja * Times Literary Supplement *Operates both on earth and in a heavenly in-between space . . . [W]ry, caring, funny . . . [T]he story's time-jumping, identity-shedding slipperiness is reminiscent of Woolf's Orlando. -- Annelisa Quinn * New York Times *Intriguing, mysterious, and charming -- 10 AFRICAN WRITERS TO READ THIS YEAR * Oprah Daily *Fast-moving and never dull, all in the service of highlighting the injustices faced by women through history -- John Self * Guardian *Its boldness and ambition leave an indelible imprint . . . A rule-shattering novel about the presentness of the past. * Kirkus Reviews *[Otoo] finds a form that uses the possibilities of storytelling and the joy of experimentation to open up space for her characters. -- Sabine Rohlf * Berliner Zeitung *A singular voice in contemporary German-language literature -- Andreas Busche * Tagesspiegel *Otoo blasts established narrative boundaries. * eigermonchjungfrau.blog *A absolutely astonishing story -- Frankfurter Allgemeine * Andreas Platthaus *
£15.29
Quercus Publishing Hunter in Huskvarna
Book Synopsis"Stridsberg has perfected a kind of contemporary fairy tale with a bracing Scandinavian edge, here elegantly translated by Deborah Bragan-Turner" Christian House, Financial TimesA young woman becomes obsessed with her psychoanalyst's daughter. A police officer's mistress clandestinely cares for his dying wife. A boy goes missing from the Swedish town of Huskvarna after he was last seen walking with a wolf. From the inside of a dead whale's belly, to an industrial town emptied out after its factory's closure, to a Texan prison where a young man visits his sister's murderer on death row, Stridsberg approaches both the strange and the mundane with a fairy-tale sensibility that lights our world anew.Time runs through this collection like water, variously ebbing, flowing and rippling beneath the shimmering surface of Stridsberg's prose. These genre-spanning stories are held together by a sense of longing: for escape from the narrow margins of a prescribed life, for a past which promises an undiscovered future, for a place or a person that feels like home. Translated from the Swedish by Deborah Bragan-TurnerTrade ReviewThere's a dreamy quality to these death-stalked tales from Swedish author Stridsberg, which marry old-world mysteriousness to modern sensibilities * Daily Mail *Stridsberg has perfected a kind of contemporary fairy tale with a bracing Scandinavian edge, here elegantly translated by Deborah Bragan-Turner...This is storytelling with an eye for the uncanny -- Christian House * Financial Times *
£9.50
Quercus Publishing And the Stones Cry Out
Book SynopsisA tender and beautifully observed novel about a family turned upside down by the arrival of a severely disabled baby boy. Perfect for readers of Jaap Robben and Claire Oshetsky
£10.44
Profile Books Ltd Like a Fading Shadow
Book SynopsisShortlisted for The Man Booker International Prize 2018 On April 4th 1968, Martin Luther King was murdered by a man named James Earl Ray. Before Ray's capture and sentencing to 99 years' imprisonment, he evaded the FBI for two months as he crossed the globe under various aliases. At the heart of his story is Lisbon, where he spent ten days attempting to acquire an Angolan visa. Like a Fading Shadow traces three journeys to the city: Ray's desperate attempt to evade justice in 1968; a research trip undertaken by the young Muñoz Molina for his breakthrough novel Winter in Lisbon in 1987; and the return journey taken by the novelist as he attempts to reconstruct these twin stories from the instability of the past, and interrogates his own obsession with one of the twentieth century's most notorious figures. Aided by the recent declassification of James Earl Ray's FBI case file, Like a Fading Shadow boldly weaves a taut retelling of Ray's assassination of King, his time on the run and his eventual capture together with a highly original, fearlessly honest examination of the novelist's own past.Trade ReviewAntonio Muñoz Molina is a true original and has written a book unlike anything else: part fiction, part memoir, part meditation, in which the interiority of a murderer on the run - and not just any murderer but James Earl Ray, the assassin of Martin Luther King - is set against the interiority of the writer, when young, trying to find his voice. The stories of the killer and the writer circle each other, interrogate and echo each other, and then diverge. A novel is a kind of refuge too, Muñoz Molina suggests. Only one of the two men in this terrific book will find the refuge he seeks. -- Salman RushdieExhilarating ... exceptional ... a necessary novel -- Adam Feinstein * Financial Times *Praise for In the Night of Time: 'Sweeping, magisterial ... an astonishingly vivid narrative that unfolds with hypnotic intensity by means of the constant interweaving of time and memory ... Tolstoyan in its scale, emotional intensity and intellectual honesty * Economist *An immense, luminous panorama ... one of the many wonders of this novel is how Molina integrates the personal so closely with the political ... compellingly seductive * Independent *
£9.49
Pushkin Press The Wonders
Book SynopsisMaría and her granddaughter Alicia have never met. Decades apart, both make the same journey to Madrid in search of work and independence. María, scraping together a living as a cleaner and carer, sending money back home for the daughter she hardly knows; Alicia, raised in prosperity until a family tragedy, now trapped in a poorly paid job and a cycle of banal infidelities. Their lives are marked by precarity, and by the haunting sense of how things might have been different. Through a series of arresting vignettes, Elena Medel weaves together a broken family's story, stretching from the last years of Franco's dictatorship to mass feminist protests in contemporary Madrid. Audacious, intimate and shot through with razor-edged lyricism, The Wonders is a revelatory novel about the many ways that lives are shaped by class, history and feminism: about what has changed for working class women, and what has remained stubbornly the same.Trade Review'The Wonders is a poet's novel, delicate but strong, impressing its images firmly on the imagination.' - Hilary Mantel'A mesmerizing read. Medel's prose is hypnotic, it's hard to believe this is her first novel. I was completely engrossed in this story, in the shadow each generation casts on the one that comes after it, in the tension between caring for oneself and caring for others' - Avni Doshi, author of the 2020 Booker Prize-Shortlisted Burnt Sugar'Completely unsentimental and with a harshness that hides the most radiant and painful of scars... brings to life several generations of working women: it's a serene and impious novel that puts class, feminism, and the eternal complexity of family ties at the fore' - Mariana Enriquez, author of the International Booker Prize-shortlisted The Dangers of Smoking in Bed'Full of brilliant moments of illumination... The effect of [the book's] fragmentation is to make of these individual women's lives a collective picture of working-class Spanish womanhood. With light touches Medel conveys gradual but tremendous change... it has a boldly ingenious structure and flashes of beauty' - The Guardian'A beautifully written novel that examines the lives of three generations of working-class women living precariously in Madrid' - Stylist
£9.49
Pushkin Press The Ghost of Frédéric Chopin
Book SynopsisPrague, 1995: journalist Ludvík Slaný is assigned to make a documentary about a truly bizarre case. Vera Foltýnova, a middle-aged woman with no musical training, claims she has been visited by the ghost of great composer Frederic Chopin - and that he has been dictating dozens of compositions to her, to allow the world to hear the sublime music he was unable to create in his own short life. With media and recording companies taking the bait, Ludvík enlists the help of ex-Communist secret police agent Pavel Cerny? to expose Vera as a fraud. Soon, however, doubt creeps in, as he finds himself irrationally drawn towards this unassuming woman and the eerily beautiful music she plays. Could he be witnessing a true miracle? An intricately plotted mystery imbued with the dusky atmosphere of autumnal Prague, The Ghost of Frederic Chopin is an engrossing story of art, faith and the quiet accompaniment of the past.Trade Review"[The Ghost of Chopin] has the depth and elegance of a nocturne... Éric Faye makes his hero and his story alternate between the meticulous realism of the investigation and a delicate fantasy, quietly opening an unlimited field of possibilities" Le Croix"A noir novel imbued with mystery and elegance... invites us to discover a Prague, rainy and unsettling, but terribly bewitching" ActuaLitté
£9.49
Vintage Publishing The Susan Effect
Book SynopsisYou'll tell her your darkest secretsSusan Svendsen has an unusual talent. She is an expert in finding out secrets. People feel compelled to confide in her and unwittingly confess their innermost thoughts. Her whole life, she has exploited this talent, but now her family is in jeopardy and there is a prison sentence hanging over her head.Then Susan gets a timely offer from a former government official: use her power one more time and have all charges dropped. But there are some powerful people determined to stop her.Trade ReviewAn artfully written, exuberant thriller with a mercurial and interesting central character -- Barry Forshaw * Guardian *It's a rare treat to read a book by the far-from-prolific Danish author Peter Høeg. . . His latest novel is an offbeat futuristic thriller. . . the challenges Hoeg sets his readers are well worth taking on * Express *A well-tuned and clever femi-thriller. * Politiken *A continually surprising conspiracy thriller. -- THRILLER OF THE WEEK * The Mail on Sunday *Peter Høeg is back. And better. And with a novel that is both a thriller, a social critique, and existentially provoking – and on top of that, wonderful and funny. * Dagbladenes Bureau *
£8.54
Vintage Publishing Difficult Loves and Other Stories
Book SynopsisA spectacular display of this key European writer's early workThis dazzling collection of stories follows the individual adventures of a varied cast of characters and masterfully illustrates Calvino's unique perspective and narrative gifts. As well as the thirteen tales from his Difficult Loves collection this volume also includes 'Smog', 'A Plunge into Real Estate' and 'The Argentine Ant'.'The quirkiness and grace of the writing, the originality of the imagination at work, the occasional incandescence of vision, and a certain loveable nuttiness make this collection well worth reading' Margaret Atwood'If this is not a masterpiece of twentieth-century prose writing, I cannot think of anything better' Gore Vidal on 'The Argentine Ant'Trade ReviewA beautifully translated collection of early stories by the highly regarded Italian writer. The earliest were written in 1945 when Calvino was twenty-two and the latest date from the 1950s when he was in his early thirties. The quirkiness and the grace of the writing, the originality of the imagination at work, the incandescence of vision, make this collection well worth reading, and for more than archaeological reasons * New York Times Book Review *The greatest Italian writer of the twentieth century * Guardian *
£10.44
Oneworld Publications They Know Not What They Do
Book SynopsisWinner of the 2014 Finlandia Prize A FAMILY UNDER THREAT. A FATHER'S WORST NIGHTMARE... On the surface, Joe Chayefski has it all. A great job, a beautiful wife and two perfect daughters. But when the lab he works in as a neuroscientist is attacked, Joe is forced to face the past and reconnect with the son he abandoned twenty years earlier. As Joe struggles to deal with the sudden collision of his two lives, he soon finds he needs to take drastic action to save the people he loves. Gripping and suspenseful, They Know Not What They Do skilfully weaves together the big issues of the day- the relationship between science and ethics, and people's increasing inability to communicate - into an ambitious page-turner of a novel.Trade Review‘Classy and engrossing drama.’ * Daily Mail *'Smart, slightly futuristic, nicely plotted.' -- Mail on Sunday'A hugely ambitious book. Literary fiction meets sci-fi meets thriller in a gripping exploration of animal rights, the light and dark of new technologies, international academia, and the dynamics within modern families. Excellent.' * Will Dean, author of Dark Pines *'Remarkable... Valtonen’s grip on plot and character is so masterful that his storytelling easily contains his restless speculation about influences on how we live now and where we might end up as our old value systems begin to crumble.' * Anna Paterson, World Literature Today *'A contemporary novel that doesn’t lose sight of perennial dilemmas.' * Kirkus *'Contemporary literature simply doesn’t get better than this. A stunning work.' * Helsingin Sanomat, Finland *'Well-crafted... They Know Not What They Do is a page-turner, skilfully translated by Kristian London.' * Otago Daily Times (New Zealand) *'They Know Not What They Do is neither indulgent, nor self-satisfied, nor glib, but charts its own course toward an understanding of contemporary society and the importance of perspective. And a page turner to boot – huzzah!' * Words Without Borders *'A perfect novel for our time, They Know Not What They Do is a satirical critique of our contemporary infatuation with innovation, fuelled by corporate greed and a desire to do everything faster. With a sympathetic hand, Valtonen skillfully creates a perfect storm of ethical conundrums...all tied into a cautionary tale about a man struggling with the consequences of his decisions.' * Shelf Awareness *'This Scandinavian thriller is the perfect read for long winter nights. Winner of the 2014 Finlandia Prize, They Know Not What They Do weaves family drama and high stakes with chilling results.' * Paste *'This hugely ambitious work of contemporary realism offers a dramatic warning about the influence of digital culture.' * Booklist *‘An engaging and fascinating exploration of the difficulties of modern parenting in the face of social media and technological advancements.’ * Guy Bolton, author of The Pictures *‘The novel addresses a multitude of themes wrapped up in a carefully plotted story with a thread of suspense running through it... The organisations whose tentacles are deeply embedded in so many aspects of our lives are unsettlingly well drawn – step forward Google – and the plotting is cleverly executed.’ * A Life in Books *'A portrait of our society and a futuristic thriller, the Finnish writer Jussi Valtonen draws a picture of our times as brilliant as it is chilling.' * L’Express, France *'One of the most extraordinary books of recent times.' * Könyvutca, Hungary *'Valtonen creates a frightening dystopian suspense that keeps readers spellbound, all the while inciting them to reflect on ethics and morals.' * L’Obs, France *'An ambitious, nuanced plea for compassion.' * De Standaard, Belgium *‘This is one of the most satisfying literary thrillers I have read, and I am not surprised it won the Finlandia Prize.’ * BookOxygen blog *'A thrilling, full-fledged, revolutionary, well-crafted work.' * Vilmos Csányi, Est Ujság, Hungary *'They Know Not What They Do is a great novel that shows ambition and the willingness to take risks.' * Sand am Meer, Austria *'They Know Not What They Do speaks to a large audience. There are few contemporary novels that can address both adolescents and middle-aged people, university professors and young green activists, parents and children, Europeans and Americans. […] Different opinions collide, but no one is right and no one is wrong. They simply see things differently, as if they were living in another dimension. That's what their tragedy is about.' * Olvass bele literary blog, Hungary *'They Know Not What They Do is an arresting study of the relationship between science and ethics, and of people’s inability to communicate with one another.' * Finlandia Prize 2014 jury *
£9.49
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Medici ~ Legacy
Book SynopsisThe third instalment in a prize-winning series charting the rise of the House of Medici as they become Masters of Florence and progenitors of the Renaissance. Fontainebleau, 1536. Francis II, Dauphin and heir to the French throne, is dead. Poisoned. And the royal court believe Catherine de' Medici to be the murderer. Catherine's husband Henry will now be the next King of France – and the Medici are known to stop at nothing in the pursuit of power. But not yet queen and without an heir of her own, seventeen-year-old Catherine cannot be sure of securing her family's legacy. To ensure the conception of an heir, she will need to seek help from an unexpected ally: Nostradamus, the reclusive astronomer and purported seer. Dismissed by most as a charlatan and a heretic, Catherine knows he will be her only hope in becoming a mother to the future king. Amid court intrigues, betrayals, and humiliations, Catherine waits. She awaits the death of her father-in-law, King Francis, and the birth of a son to carry her name. For once she is queen, Catherine de' Medici's power will only grow. But that power comes at a heavy cost, one she might ever regret. 'Strukul has a brilliant style and a rare imagination' Tim Willocks 'Matteo Strukul has arrived with a bang. His historical saga, Medici, is a worldwide success' Il VenerdìTrade ReviewPRAISE FOR MATTEO STRUKUL: 'Strukul has a brilliant style and a rare imagination' Tim Willocks, bestselling author of Green River Rising. 'Matteo Strukul is one of the most important new voices in Italian crime fiction' Joe R. Lansdale, Edgar Winner for The Bottoms. 'Matteo Strukul has arrived with a bang. His historical saga, Medici, is a worldwide success' Il Venerdì. 'The story of a important dynasty, one made of conspiracy and betrayal. But also the story of the great cultural revolution of the Renaissance' La Repubblica. 'Writing that lives, pulsates and excites. This is a novel full of thrills and realistic dialogue, as well as a solid historical narrative' * La Stampa *
£9.49
Canongate Books Ordesa
Book Synopsis'A book of deep reckoning' New York Times'Becomes a way of looking honestly at what mourning really feels like' GuardianA man in tumult returns to Ordesa, the small mountain town where he was born, and where his parents have recently died. He sits down to write. Newly sober, his career on the wane, his relationship with his own children strained, what he produces is a dizzying chronicle of his childhood and an unsparing account of his life's trials, failures and triumphs. He reckons with the ghosts of his parents, the pain of loss and, as the pages fill with words, he tries to piece together the bits of himself. What is a person without a family? What is a person when faced with memories alone?An autobiographical novel by a Spanish literary icon, written with the intimacy of a diary, Ordesa is a beautiful, redemptive meditation on identity, grief and the passing of time.Trade ReviewA meditation on yearning, solitude and family . . . A book of deep reckoning - of the meaningful and mundane - but written with an airy, even whimsical touch . . . Radiantly evokes both a golden age and its slow deterioration * * New York Times * *Vilas paints an affecting portrait of a middle-aged man alone - divorced, estranged from his children, his parents deceased - and attempting to chronicle his childhood. A persistent sense of longing for that which is lost pervades the book, making it feel particularly fitting this year * * Vanity Fair * *The narrator of this sober yet elegant autobiographical novel is a middle-aged man reckoning with his past and with his encroaching mortality. Painfully observant and poetically inclined * * New Yorker * *Ordesa is a smack in the chops and a swim in the sea, a desolate memento mori and a warm, consoling hug . . . There is so much love in this book, for life and for language, that it bursts the seams even in translation. If you're remotely responsive to this, it will make a holy mess of you * * Herald * *Vilas has written a book that is soaked through with humanity. An intimate, comforting, painful and deeply beautiful tour de force. He is an enhancer of life -- JAMES RHODES author of INSTRUMENTALOne of Spain's finest modern writers . . . [Ordesa] offers a humane and intimate account of his divorce, family problems, and addictions * * Independent, Books of the Month * *Ordesa is a poet's novel, or maybe a novelist's prose poem. It's both things at once, and also the saddest and most candid autobiography I've read in recent times. I've been through this book twice and I still don't know how Vilas does it. I know, however, that this book is a gift, and maybe that's enough -- JUAN GABRIEL VÁSQUEZ, author of THE SHAPE OF THE RUINSBecomes a way of looking honestly at what mourning really feels like - some of [Vilas'] observations on grief, along with the self-hatred and guilt that can follow a death, will strike a chord with anyone who has experienced a similar rupture -- Lucy Ellmann * * Guardian * *A philosophically brave and emotionally-intelligent novel par excellence. There is rigour in the thought and deep scrutiny in the lyrical musings and reflections, which make it surely a classic which has sought no easy route to the reader's soul * * RTÉ * *This is the album, the archive, the memory without lies or consolation of a life, a time, a family, a social class condemned to so much effort for very little obtained. A lot of precision is needed to tell these things, the acid, the sharpened knife, the exact needle to burst the balloon of vanity. What's left in the end is the clean emotion of truth and the distress of everything lost -- ANTONIO MUÑOZ MOLINA author of the Man Booker International Prize-shortlisted LIKE A FADING SHADOW
£9.49
Canongate Books The Goddess Chronicle
Book SynopsisOn an island in the shape of a teardrop live two sisters. One is admired far and wide, the other lives in her shadow. One is the Oracle, the other is destined for the Underworld.But what will happen when she returns to the island? Based on the Japanese myth of Izanami and Izanagi, The Goddess Chronicle is a fantastical tour de force about ferocious love and bitter revenge.The Myths series brings together some of the world's finest writers, each of whom has retold a myth in a contemporary and memorable way. Authors in the series include Karen Armstrong, Margaret Atwood, A.S. Byatt, David Grossman, Natsuo Kirino, Alexander McCall Smith, Philip Pullman, Ali Smith and Jeanette Winterson.Trade ReviewKirino's retelling is a taut, disturbing and timeless tale, filled with rage and pathos for the battles that women have to fight every day, battles which have, apparently, existed from the moment of creation -- TAN TWAN ENG * * Guardian * *Daring and disturbing . . . [Kirino is] prepared to push the human limits of this world . . . Remarkable * * Los Angeles Times * *Lyrical, with an impelling storyline that demands attention . . . a compelling tale, with foundations in an allegory-rich fable that more than deserves its rejuvenation * * Independent on Sunday * *A dark and lovely feminist retelling of the Japanese creation myth * * NPR * *Enthralling . . . In telling Namima's story, the author reworks the ancient tale of Izanami and Izanaki into one of female solidarity and determined strength . . . Natsuo Kirino eloquently reveals that far from being the weaker sex, women shoulder responsibilities that men are not strong enough to bear * * Washington Independent Review of Books * *An eerie tale of joy and sorrow, light and darkness, love and vengeance . . . Dark and elemental, it's the perfect kind of tale for Kirino's pen . . . a tantalising introduction to an unfamiliar creation myth * * The Idle Woman * *In her wildly far-reaching tale of relations between gods and men, men and women, life and death, darkness and light, Natsuo Kirino tells a peripatetic, global, and truly satisfying love story of how it is to be human -- STELLA DUFFYIt is one of the most unexpected and playful novels to emerge from Japan in recent years . . . a triumph. In its boldness and originality, it broadens our sense of what modern Japanese fiction can be * * Telegraph on Real World * *Be prepared for a book utterly unlike anything we are used to in crime fiction * * Independent on Real World * *Got my heart beating * * Daily Telegraph on Out * *
£9.49
Seagull Books London Ltd Blue Jewellery
Book SynopsisNow in paperback, Katharina Winkler’s heartbreaking saga of a tenacious woman trapped in an abusive marriage. Blue jewelry is private property. Not to be seen. Not to be talked about. It is worn like a bracelet around the wrists, on ribs, legs, arms. Blue jewelry is another name for the marks left on women’s bodies, inflicted by the men around them. This novel tells the story of Filiz and Yunus. When Filiz meets Yunus, he is young and beautiful, and Filiz is proud that he wants her. Against her father’s wishes, they marry when she is thirteen. Yunus is her entire universe, all encompassing, all powerful. Soon after the wedding, Filiz’s dream of living in the West with her husband, of escaping their small village in Anatolia for freedom and autonomy, comes crashing down around her. Yunus, only a few years older than his bride, turns their marriage into a prison of dependency and violence. Trapped in her mother-in-law’s house, Filiz is subjected to physical and mental abuse, forced to veil herself, and treated as a house slave. When she becomes pregnant, Filiz seems to have reached her breaking point. But she endures. When Yunus moves his young family first to Istanbul and then to Austria, the life he had once promised her seems to be within reach. But there is no escaping the spiral of violence and love, which, to Filiz, have become inseparable. Katharina Winkler’s powerful story of a marriage dominated by violence gives voice to a tenacious young woman whose will to survive is never broken. Trade Review“A debut in a class of its own . . . The narrative rhythm develops a fascinating pull that one cannot escape. Again and again, the author enhances the power of her imagery into poignant maxims with downright lyrical character. She works virtuously with reduction and consolidation, with hard cuts and the art of effective omission.” * Christian Schacherreiter, OON *
£9.99
Pushkin Press Tangled Roots
Book SynopsisAn old soldier carves a croft out of the Finnish forest and calls it home, but try as he might to tame the land, its wild magic endures. For centuries his descendants will work the farm, through days of plenty and famine, love and war, their fates entangled with the rhythms of the ancient wilderness, where mysterious shapes flit between the trees and danger lurks in the treacherous fen... Like dragonflies darting over the marsh, their lives glimmer briefly and then are gone: a young girl entranced by the forest folk, a faithless fiancé who meets his match beneath the age-old branches, a farmhand with a strange obsession.... What endures is the wild, and the certainty that wherever we put down roots, the land will grow roots in us too.
£17.00
Everyman Lucky Per
Book SynopsisSocial realism and fairy tale combine in Lucky Per, a bildungsroman about the ambitious son of a clergyman who rejects his faith and flees a restricted life in rural Jutland for Denmark's capital city. Per is a gifted young man who firmly believes that 'you had to hunt down luck as if it were a wild creature, a crooked-fanged beast ... and capture and bind it'. He falls in with Copenhagen's Jewish community, and falls for Jakobe Salomon, a wealthy heiress, who is not only the strongest character in the book but among the great Jewish heroines of European literature. Per becomes obsessed with a grand engineering scheme that he believes will both reshape Denmark's landscape and correct its minor position in the world. Eventually personal and his career ambitions alike come to grief. At the heart of Lucky Per lies the question of the relationship of 'luck' to 'happiness' (the Danish word in the title can have both meanings), a relationship which Per comes to view differently by the end of his life.Trade ReviewWhat startled its contemporaries about this strange novel was the sense of something new, one of those as yet unnamed and perhaps unnameable psychic discoveries for which the novelists of the period - from Dostoevsky to James – desperately searched... This turns out to have been the novel's project... to modify our sense of what luck or happiness means. -- Fredric Jameson, * London Review of Books *A full-blooded storyteller, a critic of life and society of the highest European order... Reasserts the grand style of narrative in a world short of breath. -- Thomas Mann
£11.69
Granta Books The Appointment
Book Synopsis'I've been summoned, Thursday, ten sharp.' So begins one day in the life of a young clothing-factory worker during Ceausescu's totalitarian regime. She has been questioned before, but this time she knows it will be worse. Her crime? Sewing notes into the linings of men's suits bound for Italy. 'Marry me', the notes say, with her name and address. Anything to get out of the country.As she rides the tram to her interrogation, her thoughts stray to her friend Lilli, shot while trying to flee to Hungary; to her grandparents, deported after her first husband informed on them; to Major Albu, her interrogator, who begins each session with a wet kiss on her fingers; and to Paul, her lover and the one person she can trust. In her distraction, she misses her stop and finds herself on an unfamiliar street.And what she discovers there suddenly puts her fear of the appointment into chilling perspective. Bone-spare and intense, The Appointment is a pitiless rendering of the terrors of a crushing regime.Trade ReviewA brooding, fog-shrouded allegory of life under the long oppression of the regime of Nicolae Ceausescu. * New York Times *Nobody since Arthur Koestler in the 1940s has written more intelligently or with such subtle precision about life under totalitarianism ... Müller has an exceptionally rare talent - to turn the terrifying, the distorted and the hideously ugly into something uplifting and beautiful * Prospect *Herta Muller is a passionate artist of protest. -- Eileen Battersby * Irish Times *A strange, lyrical and disturbing allegory of life in Ceausescu's Romania. -- Hari Kunzru * Observer Books of the Year *A tour de force in storytelling, which manages to turn the barest of prose into poetry ... Expertly translated by Michael Hulse and Philip Boehm, it is a chilling story, exquisitely told * Independent *The Appointment is both a pleasure to read and horrifying. Written with painful clarity, it is seductively conversational, yet every sentence demands attention ... The control of ideas and pace in a novel that still allows rolling emotion behind every line is remarkable. * Herald *A slim, masterfully written tale. * Newsweek *Müller achieves something beautiful. She has wrested poetry from one woman's desire to remain human in an inhuman system. * Newsday *A taut and brilliant book. * Chicago Tribune *Müller scatters narrative bombshells across a field of dreams. * San Francisco Chronicle *
£9.49
Granta Books A Meal in Winter
Book SynopsisOne morning, in the dead of winter, three German soldiers head out into the frozen Polish countryside. They have been charged by their commanders to track down and bring back for execution 'one of them' - a Jew. Having flushed out a young man hiding in the woods, they decide to rest in an abandoned house before continuing their journey back to the camp. As they prepare food, they are joined by a passing Pole whose virulent anti-Semitism adds tension to an already charged atmosphere. Before long, the group's sympathies begin to splinter as each man is forced to confront his own conscience as the moral implications of their murderous mission become clear.Trade ReviewThe most moving book I have read for a long time... Mingarelli's spare language is well suited to this luminous tale... he accomplishes a great deal -- Peter Carty * Independent on Sunday *The "banality of evil" finds beautiful, spare expression in this remarkable novella -- Ian McEwanA masterpiece * Independent *In its modest duration and economical prose, [this book] communicates more than most novels twice or three times its length... Praise is due to the translator, Sam Taylor, who appears to have weighed every word with supreme care, capturing the rhythm of a measured tread through the icy landscape... Brave and original... a masterpiece -- Alastair Mabbott * Herald *A sparse, beautiful and shocking novel that finds a more intimate route into the Holocaust -- Ian McEwan * the Sunday Times *Mingarelli's lapidary tale of awakened conscience unites historical events with the mood of a forest fairy-tale.... Brief, elegant, quietly lyrical yet driven by an inward fire -- Boyd Tonkin * Independent *Superb... The prose, elegantly translated by Sam Taylor, is full of rich visual descriptions... Enormously powerful and moving -- David Evans * Independent on Sunday ***** *So memorable, so dark, so humane, it deserves to be read all over Europe. A masterpiece of empathy and horror -- Jane Housham * Guardian *One of the most quietly shattering novels I've read -- Cynan Jones, author * The Dig *Deliver[s] a powerful punch -- Lucy Popescu, Books of the Year * Tablet *Beautiful and disturbing... complex and surprising -- Mark Smith * Herald *This strong and simple story packs a mighty punch -- Kate Saunders * The Times *Superb and devastating -- Luke Brown, author * My Biggest Lie *Chilling... From the first lines one is taken somewhere one would never wish to go, thanks to the clear, direct style, and the brilliant dialogue... impossible to put down * Libération *The tragedy of the holocaust has rarely been better told than in this short tale, resonant with sadness and poetry * La Vie *This new novel by Mingarelli doesn't offer any miracles, but his story of wretched humanity revived around a piping hot dish shows once more the greatness of an incredibly unassuming author. Breathtaking * Pelerin *The prose draws you in... Starkly realistic -- Rachel Dunn * Cambridge News *This is Mingarelli at his best. A story delivered with restraint, in hushed, sensitive prose. Perfect * La Montagne *A gem of a novel, slight but so powerful * Bookseller *Mingarelli find[s] new ways - oblique, lyrical, humane - to address the Nazi past -- Boyd Tonkin * Independent *Masterly and necessary... no intervening hand is noticeable in Sam Taylor's rendering of Mingarelli -- Lesley Chamberlain * TLS *Devastating... Crisply translated by Sam Taylor -- Arifa Akbar * Independent *It's a brave novelist who sets out to tell a Holocaust tale from the point of view of the would-be executioner but this is what Mingarelli does with great skill and admirable subtlety. A breathtaking lesson in brevity * Monocle *A fascinating, compelling vignette from Nazi-occupied Poland explored by a masterful storyteller -- Paddy Kehoe * RTE *A narrative of bleak genius -- Eileen Battersby * Irish Times *138 profound pages of horror and humanity -- John Kelly ‘Book of the year’ * Irish Times *I so recommend this brilliant, devastating, compelling WW2 novel -- Simon Sebag MontefioreMingarelli's writing possesses a deceptive simplicity, and the novella proceeds so quietly that one is almost unprepared when the spectre of genocide intrudes upon it * Wall Street Journal *
£7.59
Alma Books Ltd A Journey Around My Room and A Nocturnal
Book SynopsisFinding himself locked in his room for six weeks, a young officer journeys around his room in his imagination, using the various objects it contains as inspiration for a delightful parody of contemporary travel-writing and an exercise in Sternean picaresque, and humorously demonstrating what one can explore without having set off to exotic locations. Accompanied in this volume by its equally superb sequel, ‘Nocturnal Expedition around my Room’, in which a similar voyage is made at night several years later, ‘A Journey around My Room’ is a masterly and innovative piece of writing, which was immensely popular in its time and would later influence Victor Hugo and Marcel Proust, among others.Trade ReviewIt was Blaise Pascal who said that all the troubles of humanity came about because of the difficulty men had in simply being happy to sit alone in their rooms; here is the result of such an enforced confinement. And it is wonderful. (…) This edition also includes the 1825 sequel, A Nocturnal Expedition Around My Room, which is just as good, as funny and deceptively profound as its predecessor; and he even makes it to the window-ledge this time. Andrew Brown's translation is excellent too. -- Nicholas Lezard * The Guardian *De Maistre… found the utmost strangeness in himself and the things he had taken for granted. * The Times *
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Alma Books Ltd The Metamorphosis and Other Stories: Newly
Book SynopsisWhen the young salesman Gregor Samsa wakes up one morning transformed into a monstrous insect, his shock and incomprehension are coupled with the panic of being late for work and having to reveal his appearance to family and colleagues. Although over the following weeks he gradually becomes used to this new existence confined within the bounds of the apartment, and his parents and sister adapt to living with a grotesque bug, Gregor notices that their attitudes towards him are changing and he feels increasingly alienated. One of the masterpieces of twentieth-century world literature, ‘The Metamorphosis’ is accompanied in this volume by a selection of other classic tales and sketches by Kafka – such as ‘The Judgement’, ‘In the Penal Colony’ and ‘A Country Doctor’ – all presented in a lively and meticulous new translation by Christopher Moncrieff.Trade ReviewThe only artist I felt could be my brother was Kafka. -- David LynchTable of ContentsContains: Children on a Country Road, Exposing a Confidence Trickster, An Impromptu Walk Resolutions, A Trip to the Mountains, The Plight of a Bachelor, The Shopkeeper, Gazing Distractedly out of the Window, Walking Home, Men Running Past, The Passenger, Dresses, Mutual Rejection, For the Consideration of Gentleman Jockeys, A Window onto the Street, Oh to Be a Red Indian Trees, An Unhappy Being, The Sentence, The Metamorphosis, The Penal Colony, The New Barrister, A Country Doctor, Up in the Gods, An Old Manuscript, The Door of Justice, Jackals and Arabs, A Visit to the Mine, The Next Village, A Message from the Emperor, The Concerns of a Father, Eleven Sons, Fratricide, A Dream, A Report for and Academy, First Sorrow, The Little Woman, The Hunger Artist, Josephine the Singer or the Mousefolk, The Great Wall of China, The Bridge, The Truth about Sancho Panza, The City Coat of Arms, Poseidon, The Silence of the Sirens.
£7.44
Alma Books Ltd The Same Old Story: New Translation
Book SynopsisFilled with dreams of pursuing a career as a poet, the young Alexander Aduev moves from the country to St Petersburg, where he takes up lodgings next to his uncle Pyotr, a shrewd and world-weary businessman. As his ideals are challenged by disappointment in the fields of love, friendship and poetical ambition, Alexander must decide whether to return to the homely values he has left behind or adapt to the ruthless rules and morals of city life. Told in the author's trademark humorous style and presented in a sparkling new translation by Stephen Pearl, The Same Old Story - Goncharov's first novel, preceding his masterpiece Oblomov by twelve years - is a study of lost illusions and rude spiritual awakening in the modern world.Trade ReviewGoncharov is ten heads above me in talent. -- Anton Chekhov That Stephen Pearl has been able to recreate such an authentic representation of the text that...evokes the epoch it was written in its diction and rhythm as well as being extremely "readable" for contemporary readers pronounces this translation to be an admirable accomplishment. * Bookish Ramblings * An entertaining and thought-provoking read. * Shiny New Books * This book made Goncharov famous in Russia. And from half a continent and three lifetimes away he can still make new readers laugh and gasp with recognition over timeless human foibles. The -- Nicholas Lezard * The Guardian * Reading The Same Old Story conveys the pleasure of an overheard conversation -- A.N. Wilson * The Times Literary Supplement *
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Alma Books Ltd The Ghost-Seer
Book SynopsisThe brooding, introverted Count von O— arrives in Venice during the carnival in order to escape from his duties and live incognito. But after encountering an enigmatic Armenian stranger who makes an uncanny pronouncement, a bizarre chain of events unfolds, involving a Jesuit secret society, a ghostly seance and a mysterious Sicilian magician – leading the Count to question his faith and morality. First serialized in 1787–89, this multilayered, fragmentary novel – which gave Friedrich Schiller a platform to expound his Enlightenment ideas on society and religion – has thrilled and engaged lovers of Gothic literature for over two centuries.Trade ReviewFrederick von Schiller was something more than a great author; he was also in an eminent sense a great man; and his works are not more worthy of being studied for their singular force and originality than his moral character for its nobility and aspiring grandeur. -- Thomas De Quincey
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Quercus Publishing Six Four: now an ITV series starring Vinette
Book Synopsis'This novel is a real, out-of-the-blue original. I've never read anything like it' New York Times Book ReviewTHE BOOK THAT INSPIRED THE ITV SERIES STARRING KEVIN McKIDD AND VINETTE ROBINSON.THE MILLION-SELLING JAPANESE CRIME PHENOMENON, NOW A UK BESTSELLER.SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2016 CWA INTERNATIONAL DAGGER.NAMED IN NEW YORK TIMES 100 NOTABLE BOOKS OF 2017.SIX FOUR.THE NIGHTMARE NO PARENT COULD ENDURE. THE CASE NO DETECTIVE COULD SOLVE. THE TWIST NO READER COULD PREDICT. For five days in January 1989, the parents of a seven-year-old Tokyo schoolgirl sat and listened to the demands of their daughter's kidnapper. They would never learn his identity. They would never see their daughter again.For the fourteen years that followed, the Japanese public listened to the police's apologies. They would never forget the botched investigation that became known as 'Six Four'. They would never forgive the authorities their failure.For one week in late 2002, the press officer attached to the police department in question confronted an anomaly in the case. He could never imagine what he would uncover. He would never have looked if he'd known what he would find.Loved Six Four and want more Yokoyama? Then why not try Seventeen or Prefecture D . . .Trade ReviewNot only is Six Four an addictive read, it is an education about Japan, its police and its society, and simply one of the best crime novels I have ever read. -- David PeaceA classic plot about a decent cop painstakingly uncovering corruption suddenly turns into one of the most remarkable revenge dramas in modern detective fiction. * Sunday Times *It's very different, in tone, narrative and style, from almost anything out there . . . the twist and the pay-off are worth the wait. * Observer *A huge hit in Japan and it's easy to see why . . . steadily gathers menace and power until it becomes addictive. * The Times *The plot would grip in any language . . . not just a police procedural but a guide book to Japan . . . There's much talk these days of binge viewing; here is a binge read. * Guardian *Slow building, meticulous in its insistence on unfolding all the procedural elements of a Japanese crime investigation and its political ramifications, this is a novel that insidiously grows on you until you are fully captive of its narrative flow and can't put it down. -- Maxim JakubowskiAvoids every crime-fiction cliché . . . complex, ingenious and engrossing . . . If not a bow, you will at least want to give Hideo Yokoyama a tip of your hat for writing such a highly entertaining book. * Washington Post *Six Four gives back in abundance everything that the reader is prepared to give . . . demonstrating that crime fiction can be freighted with the weight and authority of serious literature. * Independent *An astonishing book, poetically translated, containing one of the most complex central characters in crime fiction. Sometimes publishing sensations exceed expectations; Six Four deserves its success - past, present and future. * Crime Scene *This novel is a real, out-of-the-blue original. I've never read anything like it . . . He's a master. * New York Times Book Review *Absorbing . . . Six Four is an intensely complicated work, fleshed out by dozens of well-sketched characters, filled with changing perceptions and surprising twists . . . Its rewards are commensurate: unexpected revelations and quiet instances of human connection. -- Best New Mysteries * Wall Street Journal *Six Four avoids every crime-fiction cliché. The reward is a gripping novel . . . Complex, ingenious and engrossing . . . Yokoyama possesses that elusive trait of a first-rate novelist: the ability to grab readers' interest and never let go. * Washington Post *Already a bestseller in Japan and the U.K., this cinematic crime novel suffused with fascinating cultural details follows a police department reinvestigating a chilling kidnapping that stumped them 14 years earlier. * Entertainment Weekly *Yokoyama's novel is a Jenga tower, each plot point and peripheral character part of an intricate balance . . . What is perhaps most striking about Six Four is the number of stories it contains. It probes the cruelty, pettiness and endless face-saving and ass-covering that come with bureaucratic infighting, as well as the anguished obsession that plagues the bereaved . . . a demanding and absorbing book. * O: The Oprah Magazine *Though it deploys common tropes of crime fiction and its lightly noir style, Six Four's unusual focus on the PR side of police work sets it apart and gives it unexpected heat. Yokoyama avoids simplistic moralizing, and instead offers the reader a compelling interrogation of duty. * Time magazine *Hideo Yokoyama's Six Four, translated by Jonathan Lloyd-Davies, is by no means just another mystery novel . . . thoroughly believable and compelling. This is a major book, one that will stay in your mind well after you have turned the last page. * BookPage *Extremely detailed style and carefully wrought characters. Six Four succeeds on several levels: as a police procedural, an incisive character study, and a cold-case mystery. * Booklist *[Six Four] takes leisurely twists into the well-kept offices of Japan's elite while providing a kind of informal sociological treatise on crime and punishment in Japanese society, to say nothing of an inside view of the police and their testy relationship with the media. Elaborate, but worth the effort. Think Jo Nesbø by way of Haruki Murakami, and with a most satisfying payoff. * Kirkus Reviews *
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Quercus Publishing The Great Swindle: Prize-winning historical
Book SynopsisNow a major French film Au revoir là-haut - Prix Goncourt-winning masterpiece by the writer who brought you Alex, Irène and Camille."One of the most pleasurable reading experiences of recent years" - David Mills, The Sunday TimesOctober 1918: the war on the Western Front is all but over. Desperate for one last chance of promotion, the ambitious Lieutenant Henri d'Aulnay Pradelle sends two scouts over the top, and secretly shoots them in the back to incite his men to heroic action once more.And so is set in motion a series of devastating events that will inextricably bind together the fates and fortunes of Pradelle and the two soldiers who witness his crime: Albert Maillard and Édouard Péricourt.Back in civilian life, Albert and Édouard struggle to adjust to a society whose reverence for its dead cannot quite match its resentment for those who survived. But the two soldiers conspire to enact an audacious form of revenge against the country that abandoned them to penury and despair, with a scheme to swindle the whole of France on an epic scale.Meanwhile, believing her brother killed in action, Édouard's sister Madeleine has married Pradelle, who is running a little scam of his own...Translated from the French by Frank WynneTrade ReviewThe vast sweep of the novel and its array of extraordinary secondary characters have attracted comparisons with the works of Balzac. Moving, angry, intelligent - and compulsive -- Marcel Berlins * The Times *A big, swirling tale that itself reads like a 19th-century novel ... thick with detail, immersing the reader in its elaborately bleak world -- Sarah Lyall * New York Times *This book is thick with detail, immersing the reader in its elaborately bleak world ... an irresistible story -- Patricia Wall * New York Times *Exceptionally powerful examination of the aftermath of war and of the people whose lives were washed away in its wake -- Nick Rennison * Sunday Times *Lemaitre's novel is a rare synthesis of the tragic and the comic - a masterclass in nail-biting suspense ... Frank Wynne is a superb translator who captures the rude exuberance of the original French -- Edward Wilson * Independent *Engrossing . . . one of the most pleasurable reading experiences of recent years -- David Mills * The Sunday Times *Lemaitre's deadpan ironic tone is beautifully caught by his regular translator Frank Wynne. A kind of Ealing comedy with a bruised but still beating heart, this is the most purely enjoyable book I've read this year * Sunday Express *A fast-paced tale, filled with twists and turns, following a mischievous, disillusioned view of post-war France * Figaro *A masterly epic of post-war France, where impostures triumph and capitalists grow rich from the ruins * Le Monde *You feel the author's indignation ... Who really profits from war? Crooks, the vengeful and frauds: The Great Swindle is political as much as it is picaresque * Télérama *
£10.44
Quercus Publishing Blood Wedding
Book SynopsisSophie is haunted by the things she can't remember - and visions from the past she will never forget.One morning, she wakes to find that the little boy in her care is dead. She has no memory of what happened. And whatever the truth, her side of the story is no match for the evidence piled against her. Her only hiding place is in a new identity. A new life, with a man she has met online. But Sophie is not the only one keeping secrets . . .For fans of Gone Girl and Lemaitre's own internationally bestselling Alex, Blood Wedding is a compelling psychological thriller with a formidable female protagonist.Translated from the French by Frank WynneTrade ReviewA really excellent suspense novelist -- Stephen King.After the award-winning Brigade Criminelle trilogy of Irene, Alex and Camille, the French author returns with a deliciously dark tale of obsession, betrayal and revenge. * Daily Express *A scorching, serpentine novel . . . Lemaitre's skill with suspense shines from every page, supported at every turn by an elegantly constructed plot complete with elements of noir that would make even James Ellroy proud. -- Geoffrey Wansell * Daily Mail. *Absorbing and disturbing . . . the Psycho-based denouement is extraordinary. -- Marcel Berlins * The Times. *BLOOD WEDDING is agonisingly suspenseful . . . it twists and turns with grace and verve to reach a blistering conclusion -- Declan Hughes * Irish Times *Lemaitre is worthy of all the fuss * Independent. *
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And Other Stories Signs Preceding the End of the World: Winner of
Book SynopsisSigns Preceding the End of the World is one of the most arresting novels to be published in Spanish in the last ten years. Yuri Herrera does not simply write about the border between Mexico and the United States and those who cross it. He explores the crossings and translations people make in their minds and language as they move from one country to another, especially when there's no going back. Traversing this lonely territory is Makina, a young woman who knows only too well how to survive in a violent, macho world. Leaving behind her life in Mexico to search for her brother, she is smuggled into the USA carrying a pair of secret messages - one from her mother and one from the Mexican underworld.Trade Review'Yuri Herrera is Mexico's greatest novelist. His spare, poetic narratives and incomparable prose read like epics compacted into a single perfect punch - they ring your bell, your being, your soul. Signs Preceding the End of the World delivers a darkly mythological vision of the U.S. as experienced by the "not us" that is harrowing and fierce. The profoundly dignified, mind-boggling Makina, our guide and translator, is the heroine who redeems us all: she is the Truth.' Francisco Goldman, author of Say Her Name ------- 'Yuri Herrera must be a thousand years old. He must have travelled to hell, and heaven, and back again. He must have once been a girl, an animal, a rock, a boy, and a woman. Nothing else explains the vastness of his understanding.' Valeria Luiselli, author of Faces in the Crowd ------- 'Herrera never forgets the turbulent and moving humanity of his protagonist: adroit, angry, ineluctable, Makina is destined to become one of the essential characters of Mexico's new literature ... Herrera creates a radically new language ... and condenses into a few pages what other authors need hundreds to convey.' Jorge Volpi, author of In Search of Klingsor ------- 'Yuri Herrera's Signs Preceding the End of the World is a masterpiece, a haunting and moving allegory about violence and the culture built to support and celebrate that violence. Of the writers of my generation, the one I most admire is Yuri Herrera.' Daniel Alarcon, author of At Night We Walk in Circles ------- 'Signs Preceding the End of the World by Yuri Herrera confirms his status as a storyteller skilled at creating intense storylines and using original language. It is as adept at depicting wretched conditions as it is of elevating the humble and everyday to symbolic dimensions. And that symbolism, to be sure, has something of the Kafkaesque.' Arturo Garcia Ramos, ABC ------- 'It's fair to say that Yuri Herrera follows in the footsteps of compatriot Juan Rulfo, perhaps the master par excellence of creating limbos, spectral spaces in which the characters - real Schrodinger's cats - reside halfway between the living and the dead.' Javier Moreno, Quimera ------- 'The book amazes with the precise and persuasive beauty of its words. New words are created or transformed in order to tell what cannot be told.' Maria Jose Obiol, El Pais ------- '[T]his marvellously rich, slim novel is working on many levels ... Herrera's great achievement lies in elevating the harsh epic of "crossing" to the "other side" to soaring myth. There are allusions to Odysseus, Orpheus and the Styx, the river of Greek mythology that was a border to the Underworld; as well as Mesoamerican stories of shapeshifting and rebirth ... Herrera's metaphors grasp the freedom, and the alarming disorientation, of transition and translation ... Translator Lisa Dillman has found a language both blunt and lyrical for Herrera's many neologisms.' Maya Jaggi, The Guardian ------- 'Short, suspenseful ... outlandish and heartbreaking.' New York Times ------- 'Mr. Herrera's writing is poetic and defamiliarizing; translator Lisa Dillman has done well to capture his neologisms, which shift the setting into the surreal ... In this legend-rich book, to immigrate is to enter forever the land of the shades.' Sam Sacks, Wall Street Journal ------- 'Indeed, the nine short chapters tell a very straightforward quest story, and Herrera plants dangerous criminals and vigilant border patrollers around every corner. But it's the imagery, by turns moving and nightmarish, that makes this brief book memorable... This is a haunting book that delivers a strange, arresting experience.' Publishers Weekly ------- 'Francisco Goldman's declaration on the cover of this book, that Yuri Herrera is Mexico's greatest novelist, sold me. I admire Goldman's own work, so the recommendation couldn't have come from a more trusted source.' Jonathon Sturgeon, Flavorwire ------- 'This is a gravity greater than earth's norm. Incidents, phrasings that suggest the novel could shift to another realm continue. They are pregnant with potentiality, and tension of potentiality is one of life's great pleasures, even, especially, in the discomfort that comes with it. It creates only one of the ways that Signs Preceding the End of the World holds you in rapture ... Signs is a novel of language, meant to be translated because it is so aware of the journeys language takes, from one to another, and within their boundaries.' P.T. Smith, Bookslut ------- 'This is a gorgeous, crisp little thing. And although Signs ... is no epic - accounting for chapter breaks it clocks in at under 100 short pages - Yuri Herrera has managed to achieve such extraordinary scope, of space and meaning, without any sense of hurry or clutter ... Signs ... is an important work, given the tenor of the immigration debate in the US and internationally. Herrera and Makina make a mockery of old-order American patriotism, which is easy to do but tough to actually pull off. The whole book is in fact a tiny exercise in bold and clever writing done with verve.' Angus Sutherland, The Skinny ------- '[A] short, brutal, urgent missive of a book ... Herrera's prose, as translated by Lisa Dillman, has some of McCarthy's doomy intonations, his terse impressionism, and his obvious debts to Beckett, Hemingway and Faulkner ... There's the same nervy hovering around the edge of allegory and never quite committing to the jump. And the landscape, of course, is the same ... But Herrera is-well-better ... Herrera writes literature. Signs Preceding packs a fractal complexity into its furiously concentrated sentences; it's slangy, impish, iterative, slightly manic even at its saddest. Herrera has everything McCarthy doesn't: humour, kindness, politics that don't stink.' Pete Mitchell, The Quietus ------- 'Signs Preceding the End of the World is filled with layers of meaning and symbolism, with Herrera's brilliant command of visual metaphors effortlessly weaving together a host of narrative threads ... his use of complex symbolism throughout, and his gift for transforming abstract idioms and metaphors into concrete images makes Signs Preceding the End of the World a worthy examination of what it is to 'cross the border.' Debjani Biswas-Hawkes, Literateur ------- 'Signs Preceding the End of the World is one of the most arresting novels to be published in Spanish in the last ten years. Yuri Herrera does not simply write about the border between Mexico and the United States and those who cross it. He explores the crossings and translations people make in their minds and language as they move from one country to another, especially when there's no going back.' Literalab ------- 'Yuri Herrera is one of Mexico's proudest literary exports, and his Signs Preceding the End of the World ... reads like scripture, the received words of an all-knowing wise man.' Jane Graham, The Big Issue ------- 'Perky crowd-funded publishers & Other Stories are rapidly gaining a name for unearthing hidden gems of world literature and this novel by Mexican author Yuri Herrera can only enhance that reputation. Set on the Mexican/US border, it tells a deceptively simple tale that is simultaneously beguiling and harrowing ... In nine short chapters and barely 100 pages, Herrera gives us the beating heart of his protagonist. Resourceful and feisty, Makina pursues her twin tasks with determination but with a shrewd appreciation of her chances of success.' Peter Whittaker, New Internationalist ------- 'The story's tough young heroine is Makina ... The author has created Makina both street-smart and observant and we can see how she is capable of defending herself. We hear too, in her inner voice, the by-play of the two languages, what she calls 'latin' and 'anglo', and how they can fuse into a third with varying proportions according to circumstances ... Talented, polyglot translator Lisa [Dillman] has risen to the challenge by creating a language that is not jarringly americanised and still conveys the thought processes of a latin-tongued protagonist in an exciting English translation. This is another example of the sterling work of the publisher & Other Stories.' Michael Johnston, Akanos Publishing ------- 'Both author and translator deserve praise for creating and successfully interpreting this distinctive voice, which stays with you long after the book is finished.' Workshy Fop ------- 'Herrera has written a novel that connects the contemporary with the timeless'. Jason DeYoung, 3:am ------- 'Herrera's work is a double edged sword, poetic for its sparseness, but leaving the reader hungry for more. A highly-rewarding gulp of a novella, jam-packed with all the intrigue of an epic.' Eloise Stevens, Sounds and Colours ------- 'It might be a re-telling of the Odyssey at the Mexican border.' Janet Potter, The Millions ------- 'Yuri Herrera's Signs Preceding the End of the World is one of those rare volumes that manages to explore language in a new way, tell a compelling story, and create memorable characters all at the same time ... The author's immense talent is evident in each page, in just about every sentence of the novel ... The author employs language and a literary perspective you won't soon forget, his images haunting like a dream.' Alina Cohen, The Rumpus ------- 'Stunning ... It's not the story itself, but Herrera's brilliant telling of it, his ability to capture his subject's thoughts, fears, and desires and so eloquently convey all that she's experiencing, that will leave you spellbound, aching for more.' Typographical era ------- 'To write in such a short and simple style, yet to deliver something as moving and memorable takes great skill.' David Dickinson, The Journal ------- 'The narrative invites reflection on the migrant experience and cultural difference; it also supplies the excitement of an adventure with gangsters, guns and false leads ... Yuri Herrera combines a dreamlike setting with vigorous style.' Anthony Cummins, Times Literary Supplement ------- 'Two words: Read it. In nine short chapters you encounter all the magic of Alice in Wonderland, the darkness of Dante's Inferno, the dystopia of McCarthy's The Road ... The language is wonderful, at times completely original, to capture the feel of the original.' JM Schreiber for Guardian Books Blog ------- 'There's grit, and there's an attention to detail, but reality drifts in through filters throughout. It gets under your skin in weird ways.' Tobias Carroll, Vol1Brooklyn ------- 'A profoundly important book, and one of the few such works to also have the distinction of being a profoundly enjoyable book.' Pop Matters ------- 'In its hundred-odd pages, Signs Preceding the End of the World manages to be many things at once: an allegory, a dark myth, an epic, a compelling meditation on language.' Adam Levy, Music and Literature ------- 'This is a novel of carefully rendered details, given to the reader gracefully, as if they are simple or casual observations ... The brilliance of this novel is that, as grounded as it is in physical experiences, it is this psychological space that it most inhabits ... A novel whose thinness belies its depth, Signs Preceding the End of the World makes me rejoice that more of Herrerra's work will soon be published for English readers. It is such a blessing that this work, first published in Spanish six years ago, has made the crossing.' Literary Review US -------- 'Signs is full of exhilarating moments, sharp, economic turns, both at plot and sentence level ... Personal and expansive, dense but compact, Signs Preceding the End of the World offers its readers a timeless and timely epic in miniature.' Biblioklept ------- 'A dazzling little thing, containing so much more than the width of its spine should allow. I am in awe-filled love with its heroine: Makina is a vibrantly real presence in a shadowy world of constant threat; her voice perfectly rendered; her unflappable poise tested, but never broken.' Gayle Lazda, London Review Bookshop, London ------- 'If you start highlighting what stuns you about Signs Preceding the End of the World, Yuri Herrera's debut novel in English, every page will be mottled with fluorescent lines. Herrera writes in prose that feels like you are standing on both sides of the uncanny valley while something beautiful happens below and above you, creating a delectable unease, cut through with the simple joy of precise and surprising images. Herrera will draw the obvious comparisons to Roberto Bolano, but Signs Preceding the End of World should also find a home next to Jesse Ball and Italo Calvino.' Josh Cook, Porter Square Books, Boston, and author of An Exaggerated Murder -------- 'Herrera gives us what all great literature should-poetic empathy for dire situations in a life more complex and dynamic than we imagined. And Other Stories gives us what all publishers should-access to this world. I always want more.' Lance Edmonds, Posman Books (Chelsea Market branch), New York, NY ------- 'Several things occurred while I read Signs Preceding the End of the World by Yuri Herrera: I didn't stop talking about it to other book people. When I finished it, I immediately flipped back to the beginning. And then, while waiting for the train, a bird pooped on me. I could go into the beautiful sentences, the structure, or the imagery. But really, a bird pooped on me - right on the shoulder, in the most obvious place - and I didn't even notice until I put the book down.' Jess Marquardt, Greenlight, Brooklyn, NY ------- 'Yuri Herrera's Signs Preceding the End of the World is a lyrical border crossing with touches of Kafka." Alexander Dwinell, Unnameable Books, Brooklyn, NY ------- 'This book pulled me out of my little life into one altogether unfamiliar and absorbing - with the help of its bulletproof heroine, it explores what happens to people and languages when they cross borders, and recreates these new linguistic worlds in the translation without affectation. I am glad it made it over the Rio Grande and onto my shelf.' Georgia Newman, Foyles (Charing Cross Road branch), London -------- 'What begins as an odyssey is steered into profound allegory depicting the burdens we are willing to shoulder for family and the prospect of a life we never asked for.' Mark J Walker, Waterstones (High Wycombe branch), High Wycombe
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Old Street Publishing Russian Gothic
Book Synopsis
£8.54
Tilted Axis Press Elevator in Sài Gòn
Book Synopsis
£11.69
Seven Stories Press UK Eye of the Monkey
£13.49
Istros Books Let's Go Home, Son
Book SynopsisThere are three of them and they have no names: they are a family whose roles superseded by destiny. This is the story of man's struggle for dignity of a man who has only a short time left to live. In the first months of lockdown a mother and son struggle against bureacracy to be able to visit the father in hospital and to fulfil his last wish to return to their Dalmatian terrace just as the cherries blossom and the swallows' nests are full of hatchlings. In this novel, Prtenjaca deals with loss, short-lived hope and memory, his voice is that of a child - one that asks questions - alongside that of a mature voice of a man who has to make difficult decisions. These voices overlap in a rhythmical exchange of scenes and images from the past and the present, comprising an elegy in which love reverberates like the sound of cymbals. There's three of them, and they have no names. Sometimes they seem alone in this world.
£11.69
Comma Press The Book of Ramallah: A City in Short Fiction
Book SynopsisUnlike most other Palestinian cities, Ramallah is a relatively new town, a de facto capital of the West Bank allowed to thrive after the Oslo Peace Accords, but just as quickly hemmed in and suffocated by the Occupation as the Accords have failed. Perched along the top of a mountainous ridge, it plays host to many contradictions: traditional Palestinian architecture jostling against aspirational developments and cultural initiatives, a thriving nightlife in one district, with much more conservative, religious attitudes in the next. Most striking however - as these stories show - is the quiet dignity, resilience and humour of its people; citizens who take their lives into their hands every time they travel from one place to the next, who continue to live through countless sieges, and yet still find the time, and resourcefulness, to create. Translated by Basma Ghalayini, Alexander Hong, Thoraya El-Rayyes, Mohammed Ghalaieny, Raph Cormack, Adam Talib, Yasmine Seale, Andrew Leber, Emre Bennett & Raph Cohen.
£10.44
