Fiction in translation

Book SynopsisA dazzling novella from a rising star of Indonesian literature that explores what it means to be a woman — whoever you are, wherever you are, and whenever it is in history and time. In today’s Jakarta, an unnamed man tells the story of his lifelong friend Nastiti, and what happened on the day she vanished. In the Dutch East Indies’ Semarang, a young Indo-Dutch girl, Rukmini, is captured by the Japanese military and is forced into prostitution. Years later, Arini travels to the Netherlands to share her mother’s dark past with a researcher. After the American occupation of Japan in WWII ends, a former war photographer revisits his memories of Hanako, the wife of a traumatised ex-Imperial soldier, but can’t escape his own darkness. And in present-day Osaka, a young Indonesian woman, Dara, haunted by her past and struggling to conceive, becomes obsessed with a Japanese porn star. Through these interconnected narratives, in stunning prose, Dias Novita Wuri explores generational legacies, lost loves, the damage that war does to men, and the damage that men do to women.Trade Review‘The ground beneath the reader is constantly shifting … Birth Canal jumps in time and moves between places of security and insecurity, hiding and transit, literal and metaphorical light and dark … In the end, this extraordinarily accomplished and profound novel, translated from Indonesian by the author, is about how difficult love can be, and how precious.’ -- Linda Jaivin * The Saturday Paper *‘Indonesian author Dias Novita Wuri is a rising literary star. Her novella Birth Canal writhes with talent compressed into a forceful and beguiling suite of interconnected stories … Wuri’s gift for metaphor is matched by a supple and sidewinding narrative construction that follows women across time and place.’ * The Sydney Morning Herald *‘Birth Canal was written with a dripping golden pen. Captivating and devastating, the stories of these women are told with truth and love.’ -- Laura McPhee-Browne, author of Cherry Beach and Little Plum‘[Dias Novita Wuri] confronts the reader with the realisation that often it’s too easy for us to simply look away. [Birth Canal] consists of expertly and beautifully crafted interconnected stories, its narrative jumping back and forward in time as echoes in a chamber where no trauma ever goes away entirely, but rather returns in another configuration … the spare dialogue allows stillness and solidarity to seep in through the violence.’ -- Angelique Kasmara * Listener *‘Impressive.’ * Tony's Reading List *‘[N]othing short of genius … For such a short work, it contains multitudes. Expertly translated by the author Birth Canal reveals the triumphs and tribulations of several generations of Indonesian women, each dealing with their own personal struggles with their lovers, humanity, and the course of world events.’ * Driftless Area Review *‘Crossing multiple timelines and cities in Indonesia and Japan to establish the links among its six female protagonists, this compact yet far-reaching novel endeavours to make visible both the female body and the structure of storytelling by using the idea of the birth canal as a site of conflicts and thwarted possibilities. Failed conception — stillbirth, miscarriage, filicide, abortion and suicide — thus represents both an acknowledgment of female trauma and a form of political protest. In exploring women’s sexuality, mental health, reproductive choice, and domestic violence, this gifted Indonesian author deftly explores topics that impact women in a Muslim-majority country.’ -- Thúy Ðinh, book critic and editor-at-large of Asymptote

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Book SynopsisA sweeping tale of life and death, set in the Syrian capital at the turn of the twentieth century from the International prize winning author of Death is Hard Work and In Praise of Hatred.A soulful and perfectly unsentimental writer. Hisham MatarDecember, 1907: one morning after a night of drunken carousing in the city, Hanna and his friend Zakariya return home to their village near Aleppoonly to discover a scene of tragedy. A devastating flood has levelled their homes, shops and places of worship, and their neighbours, families and children are nearly all dead. Their lives will never be the same.Tracing Hanna's life before and after the floodwhen he embarks on a search for the meaning of lifeNo One Prayed Over Their Graves is a portrait of a wider society on the verge of great change; from the provincial village to the burgeoning modernity of the city, where Christians, Muslims, and Jews live and work

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Book SynopsisTurgenev’s final novel, Virgin Soil traces the destinies of several middle-class revolutionaries who seek to “go to the people” by working on the land and instilling democratic ideas in the countryside’s locals. They include the daydreaming impoverished young tutor Nezhdanov – employed by the liberal councillor Sipyagin and his vain and beautiful wife Valentina – the naive young radical Maryanna and the progressive factory manager Solomin. Their liaisons, intrigues and conspiracies, set against the backdrop of Tsarist Russia, form the matter of Turgenev’s most ambitious and elaborate work, which cemented the author’s place in the West as Russia’s foremost novelist while at the same time proving controversial at home – culminating in the arrest of fifty-two real-life revolutionaries barely a month after it was published.Trade ReviewTurgenev to me is the greatest writer there ever was. -- Ernest Hemingway

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Book SynopsisIn the Twilight, the third collection of short stories compiled by Anton Chekhov himself, was his first major success and won him the prestigious Pushkin Prize when it was published in 1888. This volume represents a clear milestone in the writer’s passage from the youthful Antosha Chekhonte, author of slight comic sketches, to the mature master of the short-story genre. This edition presents the sixteen tales of the original collection – ranging from well-known and acknowledged gems such as ‘Agafya’ and ‘On the Road’ to others which will be fresh even to many seasoned readers of Chekhov – in a brand-new translation by Hugh Aplin, providing an invaluable glimpse into a pivotal moment in the writer’s literary career.Trade ReviewWhat writers influenced me as a young man? Chekhov! As a dramatist? Chekhov! As a story writer? Chekhov! -- Tennessee WilliamsTable of ContentsContains: In the Twilight, Dreams, A Trivial Occurrence, A Bad Business, At Home, The Witch, Verochka, In Court, A Restless Guest, The Requiem, On the Road, Misfortune, An Event, Agafya, Enemies, A Nightmare, On Easter Eve

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Book SynopsisIt's the early part of the nineteenth century and the Arabian Peninsula and the waters surrounding it are ablaze. Piracy in the Gulf threatens global maritime trade routes while the Wahabbi strain of Islam is conquering followers town by town across the region. Britain, eager to reinforce its presence in the Middle East and protect the East India Company's ships, has a plan: send a man-of-war from England to quash the pirates while persuading Egypt to join an international alliance with Oman and Persia to fight the Wahabbis. At the center of it all lies a priceless Indian sword, a gift from the British monarch to the Egyptian Pasha. But Erhama bin Jaber, a historical figure and one of the most notorious pirates in the Gulf, has his own agenda and his own vendettas. When the Arabian corsair and his gang attack a ship carrying the sword, Britain's complex strategy goes terribly awry. As the pirates and British officials shuttle between ports throughout the region, plans and alliances are made and unmade as quickly as a rainstorm in the desert. In a grueling trudge across Arabia, an unlikely friendship is forged between Erhama's rebellious son and a British army major. This story of high-seas piracy and political intrigue, of unexpected kinship and personal betrayal, portrays the conflicting interests and human drama of these historic events in the Arabian Peninsula.Trade ReviewA fine talent in the world of novel writing... Al Qursan succeeds in taking us back to the past... and herein lies the value and importance of the novel. -- Ibrahim Darwish Al Qods Al Arabi Engaging and entertaining Al Dostoor This is a remarkable debut novel and one that captures the spirit of an age with delicate mastery and great skills QF Telegraph Abdul Aziz Al Mahmoud's Al Qursan reminded me of Yousef Zedan's Azazeel, which won the International Prize for Arabic Fiction in 2009... I believe that Al Qursan should be awarded the same prize Al Arab Qatari writer Abdul Aziz Al Mahmoud exquisitely relates an era of Gulf history in an outstanding and creative historical novel -- Yasser Al Zaater Al Arab (Al Qursan is a) formal and systematic analysis of the past by means of a narrative arc that is rich in characters and events as well as documents... all composed in a dramatic formula with rich vocabulary, an abundance of images and a wealth of meaning Al Nahaar What is remarkable about Al Qursan is that the author has brilliantly established a dramatic structure with great political awareness and an excellent historical mind without being spoiled by the intrusion of the narrator Aljazeera .net Abdul Aziz Al Mahmoud's Al Qursan takes us to worlds bustling with action and excitement; amongst peninsulas, deserts and harbours where you can inhale the scents of people, spices from the eastern India company and the wine of the officers of the British navy. Al Arab '...the author has brilliantly established a dramatic structure with great political awareness and an excellent historical mind without being spoiled by the intrusion of the narrator' Aljazeera.net Aljazeera.net '...the author has brilliantly established a dramatic structure with great political awareness and an excellent historical mind without being spoiled by the intrusion of the narrator' Aljazeera.net Aljazeera.net the author has brilliantly established a dramatic structure with great political awareness and an excellent historical mind without being spoiled by the intrusion of the narrator Aljazeera.net

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Book SynopsisIt is four years since the virus came, killing every adult in its path. Not long after that the electricity failed. Food and water started running out. Fires raged across the country. Now Anna cares for her brother alone in a house hidden in the woods, keeping him safe from 'the Outside'. But, when the time comes, Anna knows they must leave their world and find another. By turns luminous and tender, gripping and horrifying, Anna is a haunting parable of love and loneliness; of the stories we tell to sustain us, and the lengths we will go to in order to stay alive.Trade ReviewAmmaniti sets a new standard in post-apocalyptic fiction . . . This story of children running wild in Sicily brilliantly manipulates the usual models even as it transcends their limits . . . In the midst of wonderfully detailed disorder, one girl named Anna struggles to survive, fighting off feral dogs and crazed children and enduring one of recent literature's most nightmarish visions of hell on earth as she tries to feed and protect her young brother, Astor -- John Burnside * * Guardian * *From The Lord of the Flies to The Road, we do love a dystopian tale of survival. And it's apt that in these uncertain modern times, here comes arguably the best one yet . . . Complex, moving and scary, this one will stay with you long after the last page * * Sunday Telegraph * *Ammaniti's Italian bestseller has been compared to . . . Lord Of The Flies and The Road . . . It's a powerfully disturbing and thought-provoking read * * Daily Mail * *One of Italy's foremost literary talents . . . Combines the wayward fantasy of J.G. Ballard with comic-strip adventure . . . Ammaniti has lost none of his gift for landscape description -- Ian Thomson * * Times Literary Supplement * *Brave and uncompromising writing . . . A brutal but moving post-apocalyptic tale set in a world where adults have all been wiped out . . . reminiscent of Lord of the Flies or Cormac McCarthy's The Road . . . written with such heart and compassion for the plight of the characters that you can't help but get sucked in and root for them. Compelling and moving writing -- Doug Johnstone * * Big Issue * *Unbeatable storytelling - an immediate and engaging study of humanity at its best and worst * * Financial Times * *A gripping tale of resilience, friendship and sibling love in a brutal and dangerous world. I loved it! -- MEGAN BRADBURY, author of EVERYONE IS WATCHINGAmmaniti won the Italian Strega Prize for I'm Not Scared, and Anna has the same taut narrative, with straight-from-the-bow suspense, but its mark is philosophical . . . concerned not only with the will to live but also with what makes us alive * * Irish Times * *Ammaniti has an enviable ability to keep readers thoroughly absorbed * * The Herald * *Anna has pretty much everything you could hope for from a post-apocalyptic picaresque adventure story * * London Review of Books * *

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Book SynopsisA fascinating study in sexual psychology and sexual politics, the novel focuses on Hélène Grandjean, a widow, and her shifting emotional states. This is the eighth novel in Zola's Rougon-Macquart series, and the first modern translation for more than fifty years.Trade ReviewA Love Story was such a joy to read... This is the type of book I would like to leisurely read while sitting in a Paris café, maybe that is how I will re-read A Love Story. * Michael Kitto, Knowledge Lost *There's so much to love and admire about this novel, which has rarely appeared in an English translation. * Harriet Devine, Shiny New Books *

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Book SynopsisDmitry Rudin, a high-minded gentleman of reduced means, arrives at the estate of Darya Mikhailovna, where his intelligence, eloquence and conviction immediately make a powerful impression. As he stys on longer than intended, Rudin exerts a strong influence on the younger generation, and Darya's daughter, Natalya, falls in love with him. But circumstances soon will show whether Rudin has the courage to act on his beliefs, and whether he can live ip to the image he has created for himself.Trade ReviewThese two translations of Ivan Turgenev's earliest long fiction [Faust and Rudin] are a welcome sign of renewed interest in Russia's least-appreciated great nineteenth century novelist. * TLS *Rudin enters the familiar Turgenevan landscape of rustic tranquillity and well-bred, private contumely like a thunderbolt. * TLS *Turgenev’s little-known first novel Rudin, written in 1856, centres on an excessively self-indulgent man and his doomed relationship with the daughter of his aristocratic hostess. It’s an impressive debut, with complex psychology and subtle characterisation. * The Telegraph *Turgenev to me is the greatest writer there ever was. -- Ernest Hemingway

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Book SynopsisThe Story of the Stone (c. 1760), also known by the title of The Dream of the Red Chamber, is the great novel of manners in Chinese literature.Divided into five volumes, of which The Debt of Tears is the fourth, it charts the glory and decline of the illustrious Jia family (a story which closely accords with the fortunes of the author''s own family). The two main characters, Bao-yu and Dai-yu, are set against a rich tapestry of humour, realistic detail and delicate poetry, which accurately reflects the ritualized hurly-burly of Chinese family life. But over and above the novel hangs the constant reminder that there is another plane of existence - a theme which affirms the Buddhist belief in a supernatural scheme of things.Trade Review“Filled with classical allusions, multilayered wordplay, and delightful poetry, Cao’s novel is a testament to what Chinese literature was capable of. Readers of English are fortunate to have David Hawkes and John Minford’s The Story of the Stone, which distills a lifetime of scholarship and reading into what is probably the finest work of Chinese-to-English literary translation yet produced. You will be rewarded every bit of attention you give it, many times over.” —SupChina, “The 100 China Books You Have to Read, Ranked” (#1)Table of ContentsThe Story of the Stone: Volume 4Note on SpellingPrefaceChapter 81:Four young ladies go fishing and divine the future; Bao-yu receives a homily and is re-enrolled in the Family SchoolChapter 82:An old pedant tries to instil some Moral Philosophy into his incorrigible pupil; And the ailing Naiad, in a nightmare, confronts the spectres of her fevered mind.Chapter 83:An Indisposition in the Imperial Bedchamber calls for a Family Visitation; While insubordination in the inner apartments reveals Bao-chai's long-suffering natureChapter 84:Bao-yu is given an impromptu examination, and his betrothal is discussed for the first time; Jia Huan visits a convulsive child, and old hostilites are resumedChapter 85:It is announced that Jia Zheng has been promoted to the rank of Permanent Secretary; And it is discovered that Xue Pan has once more brought upon himself the threat of exileChapter 86:Bribery induces an old mandarin to tamper with the course of justice; And a discourse on the Qin provides a young lady with a vehicle for romantic feelingsChapter 87:Autumnal sounds combine with sad remembrances to inspire a composition on the Qin; And a flood of passion allows evil spirits to disturb the serenity of ZenChapter 88:Bao-yu gratifies his grandmother by praising a fatherless child; Cousin Zhen rectifies family discipline by chastising two unruly servantsChapter 89:Our hero sees the handiwork of a departed love, and is moved to write and ode; Frowner falls prey to hysterical fear and resolves to starve to deathChapter 90:A poor girl loses a padded jacket and puts up with some obstreperous behaviour; A young man accepts a tray of sweetmeats and is put out by some devious goings-onChapter 91:In the pursuance of lust, Moonbeam evolves an artful strategem; In a flight of Zen, Bao-yu makes an enigmatic confessionChapter 92:Qiao-jie studies the Lives of Noble Women and shows a precocious enthusiasm for Virtue; Jia Zheng admires a Mother Pearl and reflect on the vicissitudes of LifeChapter 93:A Zhen retainer seeks shelter in the Jia household; And shady activities are revealed behind the Iron ThresholdChapter 94:Grandmother Jia gives a crab-blossom party - a celebration of the ominous; Bao-yu loses his Magic Jade - a strange disappearance of the numinousChapter 95:A rumour comes true and the Imperial Consort passes away; A counterfeit is deceptively like the real thing, and Bao-yu loses his witsChapter 96:Xi-feng conceives an ingenious plan of deception; And Frowner is deranged by an inadvertent disclosureChapter 97:Lin Dai-yu burns her poems to signal the end of her heart's folly; And Xue Bao-chai leaves home to take part in a solemn riteChapter 98:Crimson Pearl's suffering spirit returns to the Realm of Separation; And the convalescent Stone-in-waiting weeps at the scene of past affectionAppendix I:Prefaces to the first Cheng-Gao edition Joint Foreword to the subsequent Cheng-Gao editionAppendix II:The Octopartite Composition or 'bagu wenzhang'Appendix III:The Qin or Chinese Lute, and Knowing the SoundAppendix IV:Iron Threshold Temple and Water-moon PrioryCharacters in Volume 4Genealogical Tables

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Book SynopsisNow bankrupt after some failed gambles, Aristide Saccard, the former kingpin of the Paris Stock Exchange, desperately wants to get back to the top of the financial pile. When his powerful brother, the government minister Eugène Rougon, refuses to help him, he forms a partnership with the engineer Hamelin and founds the Banque Universelle, which speculates on public works in the Middle East. But as his greed and desire to outplay his rivals gets the better of him, the dashing and ruthless Saccard perilously begins to inflate the value of his enterprise using rumour, intrigue, financial manipulation and all the other tricks in the book. Inspired by real events and meticulously researched by Zola, Money is, in the wake of recent financial scandals, an all-too-topical exploration of the dynamics of greed, the excesses of capitalism and its dangerous relationship with politics and the press.Trade ReviewI consider Zola’s books among the very best of the present time. -- Vincent Van Gogh

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Book SynopsisWalking the streets of Moscow, indistinguishable from the rest of its population, are The Others. Possessors of supernatural powers and capable of entering the Twilight, a shadowy world that exists in parallel to our own, each owes allegiance either to The Dark or The Light.In The Day Watch, second book of the Night Watch trilogy, Alice, a young but powerful Dark Other, attends a planning meeting with her comrades in the Day Watch. The team is on a mission to apprehend an uninitiated Other, a practicing Dark witch who has so far eluded the bureaux responsible for finding and initiating unlicensed practitioners of magic. It seems a routine operation. But when they arrive, the Night Watch team has already made the arrest. A fierce battle ensues, during which Alice almost dies. Drained of her powers, she is sent to recuperate at a youth camp near the Black Sea. There she meets Igor; the chemistry between them is instant and irresistible. But then comes a sTrade ReviewPraise for The Night Watch:This modern day mythical fantasy is Anne Rice on an epic scale, a hugely imagined world. A chiller thriller from cold of Russia, this one's been selling like hot cakes around the world. * Sunday Sport *So good that the film feels like a trailer for it * Time Out *JK Rowling, Russian style... Arguably Russia's richest and most famous literary talent of the moment. [a] cracking read, owing more to Rowling or Philip Pullman than it does to the horror genre... Surprisingly readable and addictive... It relies on suspense and psychological drama and a good dose of humour - rather than blood and guts. * Daily Telegraph *When a particular kind of story, heavily based in one culture, gets transferred into a culture distinctly different, something magical happens. Something modern, new and distinctly creepy... The magic is rooted in the realities of modern Russia. Inventive, sardonic, and imbued with a surprising the sense that, for this author and his audience, much of this stuff is new-minted. * Independent *

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Book SynopsisWritten over a period of more than half a century, Tolstoy’s enchanting short stories and novellas reflect every aspect of his developing art and outlook. Volume 1 of the Everyman Collected Shorter Fiction is dominated by the characteristic experiences of his early life as soldier, land-owner, husband and father, the life which shaped Anna Karenina and War and Peace. It also includes several short fables which point to his later preoccupation with the religious life. Volume 2 reveals how these spiritual intimations flowered into a series of extraordinary late masterpieces which equal anything in the earlier novels for intensity and power. Readers of The Death of Ivan Ilych, The Kreutzer Sonata, Father Sergius, Master and Man and Hadji Murad will recognize the brilliant younger novelist, now transfigured by his passionate quest for salvation and forgiveness.

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Book SynopsisA woman finds herself filling a pit in the forest in the middle of the night; a family lock each other in their bedrooms to battle a strange plague; a wizard punishes two beautiful ballerinas by turning them into one hugely fat circus performer; a colonel is warned not to lift the veil from his dead wife''s face; and a distraught father brings his daughter back to life by eating human hearts in his dreams. In these blackly comic tales of revenge, disturbing deaths and haunting melancholy, Ludmilla Petrushevskaya blends miracles and madness in the darkest of modern fairy tales.Trade Review'Gave me nightmares ... These stories work the boundary states of consciousness like a tongue works an aching tooth' * Elle *'A revelation - like reading late-Tolstoy fables set in an alternative reality' * New Yorker *this short and rather extraordinary book of "Scary Fairy Tales" [...] succeed - in many cases quite hauntingly. -- Theo Tate * Sunday Times *An entrancing collection of tales, as humane and unsentimental as Chekhov, as grim and funny as Beckett, as dark and unsettling as Poe. -- Brandon Robshaw * Independent on Sunday *Penguin has given this book instant promotion to 'modern classic' status and it's easy to see why. It is an extraordinary collection of jet-black tales by one of Russian's foremost writers, which has understandably inspired comparisons with Tolstoy. Beat that. * Daily Mail *

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Book SynopsisFrom the writer adored by the likes of García Marquez, Calvino, and Francine Prose comes a collection of Hernández's classic talesTrade Review"Poetry that transforms the ordinary into the uncanny." -- Bookforum"Excellent … miraculously alive … wonderful." -- Michael Pye - The New York Times Book Review"A vision of such startling beauty that it flares up like an old-fashioned phosphorous match and illuminates our whole lives." -- Francine Prose"If I hadn't read the stories of Felisberto Hernandez in 1950, I wouldn't be the writer I am today." -- Gabriel Garcia Marquez

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Book Synopsis A beautiful tribute to the international bestseller The Little Prince, with specially commissioned illustrations by the award-winning artist Pietari Posti Few stories are as widely read and as universally cherished by children and adults alike as The Little Prince. But even princes from faraway planets eventually grow up. No longer content with his tiny planet, the young prince sets off once again to explore the universe. And so begins another remarkable journey into the secrets and joys of living a meaningful life. A charming fable for all ages, this wonderful follow-up to the beloved classic overflows with love and wisdom, a true celebration of life as it should be lived in all its beauty and joy.Trade Review'This book reminds us of the values we should never have abandoned: the importance of friendship, family, community and compassion – the pillars of every civilized society.' * Bruno d’Agay *

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewOne of the greatest writers of the twentieth century...Simenon was unequalled at making us look inside, though the ability was masked by the brilliance at absorbing us obsessively in his stories. * Guardian *Fierce, bleak and compellingly written . . . with pitiless landscapes of hopeless longing, random cruelty and galloping fate warmed only by the twilit lyricism of doomed desire. These are novels of eye-opening, spine-tingling control and intensity. -- Boyd Tonkin * The Independent *The romans durs are extraordinary: tough, bleak, offhandedly violent, suffused with guilt and bitterness, redolent of place . . . utterly unsentimental, frightening in the pitilessness of their gaze, yet wonderfully entertaining. -- John BanvilleA supreme writer . . . unforgettable vividness. * Independent *One of the greatest writers of the twentieth century . . . Simenon was unequaled at making us look inside, though the ability was masked by his brilliance at absorbing us obsessively in his stories * Guardian *Fierce, bleak and compellingly written . . . with pitiless landscapes of hopeless longing, random cruelty and galloping fate warmed only by the twilit lyricism of doomed desire. These are novels of eye-opening, spine-tingling control and intensity. -- Boyd Tonkin * The Independent *The romans durs are extraordinary: tough, bleak, offhandedly violent, suffused with guilt and bitterness, redolent of place . . . utterly unsentimental, frightening in the pitilessness of their gaze, yet wonderfully entertaining * John Banville *A supreme writer . . . unforgettable vividness * Independent *

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Book SynopsisA landmark event, the complete stories of Machado de Assis appear in English for the first time in this extraordinary new translation.Trade Review"To Machado, your identity and the contours of your world are formed not just by your circumstances but by what you think about habitually. You are what you contemplate, so choose wisely. These stories are a spectacular place to start." -- The New York Times"These are ambitious stories, serious and unflinching, willing to court discomfort—not least in their author. Machado, after all, was the child who made it. While some critics have seen these late stories in isolation, the hurt they express—so clearly born of experience—radiates out through all the work here." -- Times Literary Supplement"This gorgeously-produced landmark English-language edition of the complete stories of the great Brazilian miniaturist brings together all of the author's short fiction, including some never before translated into English. The translating duo here wonderfully convey the author's dry, deadpan wit and dogged low-key happiness – it's the English version this author has always deserved." -- The Best Books of 2018: Works in Translation! - Open Books Review

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Book Synopsis Selected by the Sunday Times as one of the 40 best crime novels published 2015-2020The first in an exciting new series from ''Iceland''s outstanding crime novelist'' (Daily Express) Yrsa Sigurdardottir.THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLERTHE INTERNATIONAL PRIZEWINNER''Believe all the hype - this is crime at its best.'' HeatDetective Huldar is out of his depth. His first murder case is like nothing he''s seen before - a bizarre attack on a seemingly blameless woman.The only evidence is a list of numbers found at the scene, and the testimony of the victim''s eleven-year-old daughter, who isn''t talking.While his team attempt to crack the code, Huldar turns to child psychologist Freyja for her expertise with traumatised young people. Because time is running out...and the one thing they know for certain is that the murderer will strike again.Trade ReviewThe queen of Nordic crime shows her considerable chops with an introductory murder that hikes the tensionto cardiac-arrest levels, then introduces a new detective, the baggy-eyed Huldar, to sort it out. Icelandic noirat its reliably gripping best * The Sunday Times *Iceland's outstanding crime novelist * Daily Express *The Legacy takes us into a world where secrets are buried deep, only to reappear decades later and inflict harm on people who have no idea that they're connected by past horrors. Yrsa is a magnificent writer who envelops her stories with atmosphere so thick that only care and a bit of luck can see through it. Her characters spring vividly to life as they try their best to do just that, knowing that any mistake could be deadly for another innocent person. Impossible to put down.The Legacy is the start of an exciting new direction for Yrsa Sigurdardottir. The horror of a decades-old family separation provides the catalyst for dark crimes and a complex investigation. The Children's House promises to be an outstanding series.We have always been able to rely on Yrsa Sigurdardóttir for a good story well told, and The Legacy is no exception. A strong sense of place, interesting characters and a chilling plot make The Legacy a novel to savour.Yrsa remains the queen of Icelandic thriller writers * Guardian on THE LEGACY *5*s - Believe all the hype - this is crime at its best. * Heat Magazine on THE LEGACY *If you like your crime fiction dark and engaging, look no further. THE LEGACY is as brutal as it gets. A cracking start to a new series by Yrsa Sigurdardottir.Another tour de force from Sigurdardottir that cements her reputation as the queen of Nordic noir * i Paper in THE LEGACY *The conclusion is even more astounding, thanks to her white-hot plotting. * CrimeFiction Lover on THE LEGACY *The connecting thread in all the writer's work is her astuteness in observing human relations, the everyday mixed with the dark and devious. * The ArtsDesk on THE LEGACY *A tale of elegant twists and turns, which surprised me at least three times in the last fifty pagesNo one does crime fiction quite like Icelandic author Yrsa Sigurdardottir... THE LEGACY is a masterful procedural infused with the author's dark imagination. * Criminal Element *The deeper Sigurdardottir delves into the dark corners of her imagination, the more her creative talents thrive.This is a compelling read for anyone with an appetite for the macabre and the cryptic. * Daily Express *Solid characters and great complex plot...If you haven't already met the Queen of Icelandic Crime fiction start here, because this is her best novel to date * Globe and Mail *

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Book Synopsis"Highly recommended" Sunday Times"Utterly captivating" Woman and Home"Sympathetic and clear-eyed" Financial Times Summer Reads of 2021"Unfailingly impressive" Irish Times"Sparse and precise" Telegraph"A beautiful novel of what it is to be a women in modern Europe" New European"An intelligent study of female desire, ambition and frailty" ObserverBookseller Paula has lost a child, and a husband. Where will she find her happiness? Fiercely independent Judith thinks more of horses than men, but that doesn't stop her looking for love online. Brida is a writer with no time to write, until she faces a choice between her work and her family. Abandoned by the "perfect" man, Malika struggles for recognition from her parents. Her sister Jorinde, an actor, is pregnant for a third time, but how can she provide for her family alone? Love in Five Acts explores what is left to five women when they have fulfilled their roles as wives, mothers, friends, lovers, sisters and daughters. As teenagers they experienced the fall of the Berlin Wall, but freedom brings with it another form of pressure: the pressure of choice. Punchy and entirely of the moment, Love in Five Acts engages head-on with what it is to be a woman in the twenty-first century.Translated from the German by Jamie BullochTrade ReviewKrien excels in the detail on which a life turns and she uses understated humour to great effect...Krien is unfailingly impressive in her depiction of the lives of these five very different women. -- Michael Cronin * Irish Times *Love in Five Acts is written - and translated - sparsely, five disparate voices cramming a world of nuance into a rare and elegant conciseness. -- Charlie Connelly * New European *This exquisite portrait of five middle-class women's lives is utterly captivating . . . A beautifully written masterclass in human frailty. * Woman and Home *Krien has produced a sensitive, intricate study of the connected stories of her characters. * Library Journal (USA) *Nothing in this life is for free. And this is why this book entertains and is food for thought, with remarkable women in their thirties and forties * Berliner Zeitung *The polyphony and the way in which every single voice is being led midway between the protagonist and the narrator constitute the special quality of this book * Süddeutsche Zeitung *Maybe that is the artistry, the literary concept of Daniela Krien, the familiar truthfulness of her characters, their touching intimacy * Stern *With psychological refinement Daniela Krien recounts the chaos of feelings and the short half-life of modern ways of living * Vogue (Germany) *She is a good listener, [...] Maybe this is why her novel Love in Five Acts is so entertaining * Sueddeutsche Zeitung *Krien expertly connects fortunes that only seem simple at first glance to create an altogether excellent book * Brigitte *Daniela Krien is an impressive storyteller for emergency case called love, which silences many of us. Daniela Krien gives them a strong voice * Hamburger Morgenpost *Few intelligently entertaining German novels don't ooze relevance yet are not afraid of existential seriousness. Fortunately, Krien has written one * Neue Zürcher Zeitung *It's the book of the summer * Stuttgarter Zeitung *Written in unsentimental, affecting prose, this is an intelligent study of female desire, ambition and frailty. -- Hannah Beckerman * Observer *Krien's writing (translated, excellently, by Jamie Bulloch) is sparse and precise. It hops about in time, but chronological confusion fades in teh face of the self-contained intensity of the chapters. -- Francesca Carrington * Telegraph *The writing is spare but meticulous, cutting to the heart of the matter in each of the five intimate novellas. Occasionally mordantly funny, it is all gloriously Germanic . . . All these women are children of Unification and the GDR casts a long shadow. Highly recommended. -- Patricia Nicol * Sunday Times *A multifaceted examination of female longing and loss . . . A sympathetic and clear-eyed view of modern womanhood. -- Angel Gurria-Quintana * Financial Times Summer Books of 2021 *Characterised by the way its beautifully direct and lucid prose conveys complexities, and by a fierce intelligence that shows how closely connected someone's thoughts and emotions can be to daily experience of the physical world -- Kerryn Goldsworthy * Melbourne Age & Sydney Morning Herald *A chronicle of ordinary women enduring extraordinary crises . . . These are universal problems distilled down to the particular, the domestic, the small-print of human bondage and the yearning for it, that underpins our daily lives. -- Anne Cunningham * Irish Independent *Written in pleasingly exact and unfussy prose - crisply translated by Jamie Bulloch - this German bestseller interweaves the stories of five straight women, all around 40 years of age, living in Leipzig. -- Lucy Scholes * Financial Times *Fans of Sarah Dunn, Elisabeth Egan, and Isabel Gillies will relate to the multifaceted lives of Krien's characters, brilliantly rendered in her vivid voice. * Booklist *

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Book SynopsisA time capsule is unearthed from a school playground - containing a threat of deaths to come. As Freyja and Huldar look for the writer, the murders start...Trade ReviewTHE RECKONING is another chilling, atmospheric tale from the undisputed Queen of Icelandic Noir. I loved it. -- Simon KernickThere's no waffle in The Reckoning: it is brutal, baroque and ends with a brilliant last-minute twist. * Evening Standard *One of the best books I've read for a long time: dark, creepy, and gripping from beginning to end. -- Stuart MacBride, author of the Logan McRae seriesIt's addictive, bleak, and will give you thrills and chills in equal measures. * Cosmopolitan Magazine *Yrsa Sigurdardóttir has with her large-scale and genuinely intelligent stories attempted to find the core of Iceland's distinctive society, and thus pushed the Icelandic crime novel tradition many steps forward. -- Arne DahlYrsa Sigurðardóttir's incredible gift of mixing the macabre and the poignant, together with the astute observations of the ordinary life, sprinkled with a dark sense of humour, keeps on giving in buckets. Her imagination knows no bounds, turning the most ordinary objects into deadly weapons... The nuanced writing encompasses the thriller's overwhelming sense of doom as it explores the failings of the society to protect victims. -- Crime ReviewA dark story by a brilliant author. A densely plotted, multifaceted and compelling book. Exceeds most novels in the thriller genre. -- Erik Axl SundPraise for THE LEGACY * : *Iceland's outstanding crime novelist * Daily Express *Yrsa remains the queen of Icelandic thriller writers. * Guardian *If you like your crime fiction dark and engaging, look no further. THE LEGACY is as brutal as it gets. A cracking start to a new series by Yrsa Sigurdardottir. * Mari Hannah, author of the DCI Kate Daniels series *

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Book SynopsisA Swedish crime writer as thrilling as Mankell, a detective as compelling as Wallander . . . A dark and sinister case from the past comes back to haunt Chief Inspector Van Veeteren in the final novel in the Van Veeteren series, The G File by Håkan Nesser.1987. Verlangan, a former cop turned private detective is hired by a woman to follow her husband Jaan 'G' Hennan. A few days later, his client is found dead at the bottom of an empty swimming pool.Maardam police, led by Chief Inspector Van Veeteren, investigate the case. Van Veeteren has encountered Jaan 'G' Hennan before and knows only too well the man's dark capabilities. As more information emerges about G's shadowy past, the Chief Inspector becomes more desperate than ever to convict him. But G has a solid alibi - and no one else can be found in relation to the crime.2002. Fifteen years have passed and the G File remains the one case former Chief InspectoTrade Review'Fifteen years earlier, a woman hired a detective to follow her husband, known as G to the police. Days later, she was dead. G was tried and cleared of her murder, but now, all these years later, the private detective disappears, leaving a note hinting he knows how G got away with murder. This is the final book in the series, but Nesser resists a showy finale, allowing his detective nearly to be outsmarted by an immensely clever criminal. * Sunday Times *

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Book SynopsisBeautiful Emma Bovary dreams of love and riches but her marriage to Charles, a dull country doctor, is far from satisfying. In an attempt to escape the narrow confines of her life, she embarks on a series of passionate affairs, hoping to find the romantic ideal she always dreamed about in the arms of other men, but it soon becomes clear that she is hurtling towards tragedy . . . Gustave Flaubert’s daring portrait of adultery caused a national scandal when Madame Bovary was first published, and this masterpiece of realist literature has lost none of its impact today. This beautiful Macmillan Collector’s Library edition of Madame Bovary is translated by Eleanor Marx Aveling and features an afterword by the playwright, screenwriter and actor, Peter Harness. Designed to appeal to the booklover, the Macmillan Collector’s Library is a series of beautiful gift editions of much-loved classic titles. Macmillan Collector’s Library are books to love and treasure.

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Book SynopsisIn The Things We’ve Seen, his most ambitious and accomplished novel to date, Agustín Fernández Mallo captures the strangeness and interconnectedness of human existence in the twenty-first century. A writer travels to the small uninhabited island of San Simón, used as a Franquist concentration camp during the Spanish Civil War, and witnesses events which impel him on a wild goose chase across several continents. In Miami, an ageing Kurt Montana, the fourth astronaut who secretly accompanied Neil Armstrong and co. to the moon, revisits the important chapters in his life, from serving in the Vietnam War to his memory of seeing earth from space. In Normandy, a woman embarks on a walking tour of the D-Day beaches with the goal of re-enacting, step by step, another trip taken years before. Described as the novel David Lynch and W. G. Sebald might have written had they joined forces to explore the B-side of reality, The Things We’ve Seen is a mind-bending novel for our disjointed times.Trade Review‘Mallo’s imagination never falters. To stay with him means loosening all limitations we might wish to impose on a text. The reward is an audacious adventure.... This is, indeed, a dream of a book.’ — Declan O'Driscoll, Irish Times‘There are certain writers whose work you turn to knowing you’ll find extraordinary things there. Borges is one of them, Bolaño another. Agustín Fernández Mallo has become one, too. This novel, which ranges across the world and beyond it, is hugely ambitious in scope. It’s a weird, recursive, paranoiac, funny, menacing and thrilling book.’ — Chris Power, author of A Lonely Man‘Charmingly voracious and guided by fanatical precision and wit, Mallo ties the loose threads of the world together into intricate, charismatic knots. This is the expansive, omnivorous sort of novel that threatens to show you every thought you’ve ever had in a new and effervescent light, along with so many others you couldn’t have dreamed.’ — Alexandra Kleeman, author of Intimations‘Some great works create worlds from which to look back at ourselves and recalibrate; The Things We’ve Seen takes the world as it is and plays it back through renewed laws of physics. Rarely has a novel left me with such new eyes, an X-ray view of the present.’ — DBC Pierre, author of Meanwhile in Dopamine City‘The most original and powerful author of his generation in Spain.’ — Mathias Enard, author of Compass‘The Things We’ve Seen confirms Fernández Mallo as one of the best writers in Spanish, with an absolutely unique style and fictional world.’ — Jorge Carrión, New York Times in Spanish‘A strange and original sensibility at work – one that combines a deep commitment to the possibilities of art with a gonzo spirit and a complete absence of pretention.’ — Christopher Beha, Harper’s

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Book SynopsisStill little known in the West, Persian poetry offers extraordinary riches. While celebrating the beauty of the world in poems about love, wine and poetry itself, or telling anecdotes of everyday life, Persian poetry set these themes in the wider religious and philosophical context of Islam. Omar, Rumi, Saadi, Sanai, Attar, Hafez and Jami – the great lyric and didactic poets of medieval Persia – are all represented in this selection of translations spanning almost two hundred and fifty years.

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Book SynopsisIn this inspiring story, Andreï Makine looks back on a childhood friendship which changed his life. Set in 1970s Siberia, in the declining years of the Soviet Empire, My Armenian Friend offers a poignant evocation of ordinary lives as well as a window into Makine's own evolution as a writer.In an orphan school, a young Russian boy befriends Vardan, an Armenian child who, because mature and sensitive, is tormented by schoolyard bullies. When the Russian boy meets Vardan's Armenian family, he falls under their spell. In his eyes, their home is a kingdom transported from afar, which is adorned, aromatic, and beautiful despite how little the family possesses. Their neighbourhood is in a place of exile but is one of community, made up of former prisoners, exhausted adventurers and others who have been uprooted from their homes. As he grows closer to Vardan, the Russian boy learns to recognise a people forced indefinitely to live on the margins, but who, despite persecution, hold on to their culture and cherish the memories they have of their homeland and its history. Even in a brutally inhospitable Siberia, they recreate a transformative "kingdom of Armenia".Trade ReviewPowerful, poignant, perfectly-pitched . . . Makine illuminates a fascinating corner of history - brings it to life through finely-drawn characters. It's a short tale of great significance. I found it unforgettable. . . a fine piece of writing -- Michael PalinA thoughtful coming-of-age story -- David Mills * Times *Andreï Makine's most moving novel * Figaro *My Armenian Friend is full of heartbreak, heroism, cruelty redeemed by friendships that live inthe memory forever, ravishing glimpses of nature, incredible courage. . . and above all, love -- Jilly CooperOne of Makine's best books; a wonderful novel on exile * France Inter *Vintage Makine: as limpid and beautiful as a deep mountain pool -- Kate McLoughlin, Professor of English Literature, Oxford UniversityMakine makes the ordinary resonate with meaning and significance, thereby enhancing the reader's life . . . [He] is a stylist of great precision, beautifully rendered by his long-time translator, Geoffrey Strachan * The Tablet *

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Book SynopsisTracing the Great War through the Millennium Bug, 1999 through 1900, Dadaism through Scientology through Sierra Leonean bicycle riding and back, award-winning Czech author Patrik Ourednik explores the horror and absurdity of the twentieth century in an explosive deconstruction of historical memory.Europeana: A Brief History of the Twentieth Century opens on the beaches of Normandy in 1944, comparing the heights of different forces’ soldiers and considering how tall, long, or good at fertilizing fields the men’s bodies will be. Probing the depths of humanity and inhumanity, this is an account of history as it has never been told: “engaging, even frightening.” At once recreating and uncreating the twentieth century, Ourednik explores the connections across the decades between the disparate figures, events, and politics we thought we knew.Patrik Ourednik’s Europeana merits the author’s reputation as a giant of post-1989 Czech literature. Now translated into 33 languages, the book is a masterwork of cubism, a polymorphic monologue of statistics and movements and fine print and discoveries that evokes the deadpan absurdity of Kafka and the gallows humor of Hašek. Ourednik has created a mesmerizing, maddening account of the past, and his interrogation of “truth” and objectivity resonates now more than ever.

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Book Synopsis*A GUARDIAN BEST TRANSLATED NOVEL OF 2023**A NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARDS 2023 FINALIST**A WORDS WITHOUT BORDERS BEST TRANSLATED BOOK OF 2023*"A powerful story of mothers and daughters" Guardian"A haunting, mysterious tour de force" Lucy Scholes, Prospect"I was hypnotised from the first word to the last" Tess Gunty, author of The Rabbit Hutch"[A] fiercely intelligent story: everyone is complex and full of shadows, as life is" Mariana Enríquez, author of The Dangers of Smoking in BedWhen Gilles Principaux walks into Maître Susane's legal practice seeking representation for his wife, his presence triggers memories from her childhood she had long buried. Gilles' wife is charged with drowning their three children, a case that will be splashed across the news media in Bordeaux and beyond. So why has he entrusted his wife's fate to her small, unremarkable practice?Maître Susane can't shake the feeling that she has met him before, that something happened between them one afternoon when she was barely ten and he was fourteen, something sinister she has never known how to remember. But Gilles seems so at ease her in presence that Maître Susane begins to believe that her memory must be playing tricks on her.Haunted by a past that both escapes and consumes her, Maître Susane fights to hold on to her memory, her identity and the chance she's been given to avenge herself.Translated from the French by Jordan Stump.Trade ReviewA novel of concentric haunting, summoning ghosts into the room with prose that shimmers, cuts, and sings. Unflinching and restrained, Vengeance is Mine sails its readers into uncharted psychological waters. I was hypnotised from the first word to the last -- Tess Gunty, author of The Rabbit HutchIn this disquieting, quietly beautiful novel, Marie NDiaye writes about an unimaginable crime placing around it a world of confusion, trauma, and memories of a past that cannot be trusted. There's more questions than answers in this fiercely intelligent story: everyone is complex and full of shadows, as life is -- Mariana Enríquez, author of Our Share of NightNDiaye balances external and internal revelations to create a powerful story of mothers and daughters, and of what happens when a parent's unconditional love breaks down -- John Self * Guardian *[NDiaye] is a master at agitating, probing and upending expectations...In 'Vengeance Is Mine,' NDiaye circles a familiar configuration of ideas: trauma and memory, class anxiety, isolation and otherness, the warped savagery of domestic life, the rupture between parents and their children. But she also considers the texture of justice - what it means, how it's determined and who enacts it...Appreciating this moody, sensual and sometimes feverish prose requires submission - to the grooves of language, the performance of storytelling -- Lovia Gyarkye * New York Times Book Review *The magnificence of [NDiaye's] writing, in all its shocks of perception, makes you feel that by rights her name should come with the same pantheonic glow that attends, say, Annie Ernaux or Elena Ferrante -- Hermione Hoby * 4Columns *The central ideas in "Vengeance Is Mine" are, thrillingly, as difficult to pin down as the identities of its characters. In one light, it's a scathing look at the simmering desperation provoked by France's rigid structures of authority and power. But it's also an uber-feminist rewriting of a plot made familiar by texts from "Medea" to Leïla Slimani's bestseller "The Perfect Nanny" (2018) [published as "Lullaby" in the UK], in which oppression, writ large, drives a woman to horrifying violence against the children in her care. And, read in a less outraged mood, it's just a quiet book about a quiet woman, quietly fragmenting - no more, no less...[NDiaye] is a poet of uncertainty. Her ability to simultaneously embody all the fractured parts of a character's mind makes aspects of Susane's spiral that might otherwise seem unbelievable - can she really not know whether she is the mother of Rudy's child? - come across as engrossingly, utterly human * Washington Post *In her novels, Ndiaye plunges her characters, usually women, into a visceral experience of difference, often without naming what that difference is... her texts still inspire a paranoia about how to read her protagonists, catching us in a game of complicity * Vulture, New York Magazine *A haunting, mysterious tour de force -- Lucy Scholes * Prospect *Vengeance Is Mine might present an answer to how the "trauma plot" - in which a character works through a damaging experience from their past - can remain fresh * Financial Times *The result is a complex knot of guilt, fear and obsession, which compresses a great deal into 240 pages without ever seeming clotted -- John Self * Guardian *NDiaye's award-winning writing is dreamy, elusive, and brilliant, shifting genres and forms...Vengeance is Mine is, to my mind, one of NDiaye's very best novels, with a devastating plot and a continual sense of surprise. It rewards repeat reading and careful attention -- Adam Dalva * Words Without Borders *NDiaye's award-winning writing is dreamy, elusive, and brilliant, shifting genres and forms...Vengeance is Mine is, to my mind, one of NDiaye's very best novels, with a devastating plot and a continual sense of surprise. It rewards repeat reading and careful attention -- Adam Dalva * Words Without Borders *

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Book SynopsisFrom the international bestselling author of The Phone Box at the Edge of the World: a powerful, moving novel of grief, hope, friendship and love based around a real archive on an island in Japan, where people travel to record their heartbeats.To find what you have lost, you must listen to your heart . . . On the peaceful Japanese island of Teshima there is a library of heartbeats, a place where the heartbeats of visitors from all around the world are collected. In this small, isolated building, the heartbeats of people who are still alive or have already passed away continue to echo.Several miles away, in the ancient city of Kamakura, two lonely souls meet: Shuichi, a forty-year-old illustrator, who returns to his home-town to fix up the house of his recently deceased mother, and eight-year-old Kenta, a child who wanders like a shadow around Shuichi's house.Day by day, the trust between Shuichi and Kenta grows until they discover they share a bond that will tie them together for life. Their journey will lead them to Teshima and to the library of heartbeats . . .PRAISE FOR THE AUTHOR AND THE PHONE BOX AT THE EDGE OF THE WORLD:'Absolutely breathtaking' Christy Lefteri, Sunday Times bestselling author of The Beekeeper of Aleppo'A moving and uplifting anatomisation of grief' Sunday Times'Strangely beautiful, uplifting and memorable, it's a book to savour' Choice, Book of the Month'A poignant, atmospheric novel' Daily Mail'A striking haiku of the human heart' The Times'Beautiful. A message of hope for anyone who is lost, frightened or grieving' Clare Mackintosh'Incredibly moving. It will break your heart and soothe your soul' Stacey Halls'Mesmerising . . . beautiful . . . a joy to read' Joanna Glen, Costa shortlisted author of The Other Half of Augusta Hope'Spare and poetic, this beautiful book is both a small, quiet love story and a vast expansive meditation on grieving and loss' Heat'A perfect poignant read' Woman & Home

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Book Synopsis"I had been called to pick up Jeje from a karaoke bar in Jongno district..."A deftly expressive short modern love story concerning the misadventures of Hyoung and Jeje as they navigate the Seoul underworld in search of something more from life with lots to say about our contemporary moment; how people use and are used by others, but find solace in each other despite.

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"An outstanding addition to an impressive oeuvre" Times Literary SupplementArthur Daane, a documentary film-maker and inveterate globetrotter, wanders the streets of Berlin, a city whose recent past provides the perfect backdrop for his reflections on life and the universe as he collects images for his latest project - a film that will show the world through his eyes.With his circle of friends - a philosopher, a sculptor and a physicist - Daane discusses everything from history to metaphysics and the meaning of our contemporary existence, often over a hearty meal. Then, one cold winter's day, Daane meets the history student Elik Oranje and his world is turned upside down. And when she unexpectedly leaves the city for Spain, Daane is compelled to follow.All Souls' Day is an elegiac love story, a poignant and affecting tale in which the city of Berlin plays a prominent role, by one of Europe's major contemporary writers.Translated from the Dutch by Susan Massotty"Displays with admirable lucidity the workings of a humane, civilized, and consistently interesting mind" Kirkus Reviews"One of the most remarkable writers of our time" ALBERTO MANGUEL

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Book SynopsisThe thrilling new standalone suspense novel from Sweden's answer to Val McDermid and Sunday Times Book of the Month author, Anders de la Motte.**DON'T MISS DEEDS OF AUTUMN. AVAILABLE TO PRE-ORDER NOW**'Tightly plotted and dark with psychological suspense, intriguing characters and vivid milieus that never stop delivering' KATRINE ENGBERG, author of the Korner and Werner seriesIT WAS ALWAYS GOING TO BE A NIGHT TO REMEMBERWINTER 1987Laura is excited to spend Christmas as usual with her beloved aunt Hedda and her friends. But her festive mood soon turns sour as she finds both old faces and new are keeping secrets from her. When a fire claims the life of her best friend, the scars of that night will remain with Laura for the rest of her life.TODAYWith her aunt's death, Laura inherits the cabin village Hedda used to manage and is forced to return to the town she hasn't set foot in since the tragedy. Laura's presence stirs up repressed emotions in the small community and it isn't long before a series of arson attacks casts suspicion on her. Though Laura is desperate to leave, she learns her aunt discovered something about that fateful night not long before she died.BUT SOMEONE WANTS THE PAST TO STAY BURIED . . .PRAISE FOR ANDERS DE LA MOTTE:'For fans of the hugely successful CWA Gold Dagger-winning The Dry by Jane Harper' VASEEM KHAN'One of Sweden's most talented crime fiction authors' ERIK AXL SUNDTrade ReviewAnders de la Motte has quickly become one of my favourite crime writers. His writing is tightly plotted and dark with psychological suspense, intriguing characters and vivid milieus that never stop delivering * Katrine Engberg, author of the Korner and Werner series *An involving, stand-alone suspense novel * Choice *

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Book SynopsisIn a rundown apartment building, in an unnamed city in Uruguay, a father and daughter close themselves off from the world."The world is this house," says Clara, and the rooftop becomes their last recess of freedom. A pet canary is their only witness. As Clara’s connection to the outside is stripped away—the neighbor who stops coming by, the lover whose existence is only known by a pregnancy—desperation and paranoia take hold. It's a stifling embrace, and we are there with her, our narrator, dreading what we know the future holds.Trade Review"Trías deftly turns her brief fiction into universal parable." —Shelf Awareness"An exceptional novel." —ABC Cultural"Like a constrictor slowly suffocating its prey, Trías already has you well within her grasp long before you even know what’s happening." —Jeremy Garber, Powell's Bookshop"A chilling tour-de-force by one of the most exciting and subversive voices writing today in Latin America." —Morning Star"A short and powerful read, it demands to be re-read and scrutinised." —Lunate"what is most striking about the book is the intensity of the claustrophobia and paranoia" —The Publishing Post"Many read Rooftop like a disturbing love story between a father and his daughter, but this novel is much more than that. It is the genesis of the themes that will be at the centre of everything that Trías would move on to write: fear, violence, loss and freedom." —WMagazín"Masterfully written, with a simplicity and honesty that reminds us of the prose of Flannery O’Connor." —Revista de Letras**********Praise for Fernanda Trías'Fernanda Trías appears from the antipodes of the sterile literature currently in vogue, to show us she is one of the most interesting authors writing in Spanish today.’—Mario Levrero , author of Empty Words

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Book SynopsisShortlisted for the 2022 Queen Sofía Spanish Institute Translation Prize Shortlisted for the Premio Valle-Inclan prize for its translation A recently divorced man trying to enjoy himself in one of the trendier districts of Buenos Aires finds himself at the centre a series of strange coincidences. These blips in causality are at first easily rationalised, but soon escalate from the merely implausible to the impossible to the cataclysmic. More, each accident of fate, piling one atop the other, drags a new, rambling tale in its wake, until the very ground beneath the man's feet seems likely to buckle beneath the weight of so many shaggy dogs. And yet, with master storyteller Cesar Aira holding their leashes, what better vacation from reality could any reader-or divorce-desire?Trade Review'The Divorce outlines the process for those wishing to comprehend or to experience the expansive possibilities of a single moment. That is his wondrous gift, and The Divorce is the personification of that gift . . . It is certain that The Divorce will leave you breathless.' Patti Smith ----'Once you've started reading Aira, you don't want to stop.' Roberto Bolano ----'By the time this miraculously dense book has reached its conclusion, Aira has wheeled through the gothic novel, noir, sci-fi, family saga, social satire. It is almost impossible to believe the text occupies only 115 pages . . . Reading The Divorce is like witnessing an explosion, or the birth of an alphabet.' David Kurnick, Public Books ----'His unpredictability is masterful.' Rivka Galchen ----'Sui generis is really the only way to accurately describe Cesar Aira. He's by turns a realist, a magical realist and a surrealist - and therefore not really any of them. Anything can happen in an Aira novel, and almost everything does.' Tyler Malone, Los Angeles Times

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A dark psychological thriller with a killer twist, that has topped the bestseller charts in its native IsraelWinner of the Prix Mystère de la Critique 2021Longlisted for the CWA Dagger for Crime Fiction in Translation 2021*TRANSLATED BY MAN BOOKER WINNER JESSICA COHEN*Three tells the stories of three women: Orna, a divorced single-mother looking for a new relationship; Emilia, a Latvian immigrant on a spiritual search; and Ella, married and mother of three, returning to University to write her thesis. All of them will meet the same man. His name is Gil. He won't tell them the whole truth about himself - but they don't tell him everything either. Tense, twisted and surprising, Three is a daring new form of psychological thriller. It is a declaration of war against the normalisation of death and violence. Slowly but surely, you see the danger each woman walks into. What you won't see is the trap being laid - until it snaps shut.

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Book SynopsisThe risky ventures of a village full of aspiring writers and a vile publisher.

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Book SynopsisA prime number is inherently a solitary thing: it can only be divided by itself, or by one; it never truly fits with another. Alice and Mattia also move on their own axes, alone with their personal tragedies. As a child Alice''s overbearing father drove her first to a terrible skiing accident, and then to anorexia. When she meets Mattia she recognises a kindred spirit, and Mattia reveals to Alice his terrible secret: that as a boy he abandoned his mentally-disabled twin sister in a park to go to a party, and when he returned, she was nowhere to be found.These two irreversible episodes mark Alice and Mattia''s lives for ever, and as they grow into adulthood their destinies seem irrevocably intertwined. But then a chance sighting of a woman who could be Mattia''s sister forces a lifetime of secret emotion to the surface. A meditation on loneliness and love, The Solitude of Prime Numbers asks, can we ever truly be whole when we''re in love with another?Trade ReviewMoving...masterful...elegantly discreet * Times Literary Supplement *A very accomplished book...A melancholic, but strangely beautiful, read. Shaun Whiteside's translation is exemplary and the acute descriptions of teenage competitiveness, angst and aspiration bring to mind Alan Warner's writing. * Guardian *In clear, heartbreakingly precise prose, the youngest ever winner of the prestigious Premio Strega (the Italian Man Booker) explores how trauma and guilt can capsize emotional stability and leave the vulnerable in a wash of unease and loss...a stunning achievement * Daily Mail *The year's most important début * La Repubblica *The story is mesmerising * Good Housekeeping *

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Book SynopsisIgor is confident his old Soviet policeman's uniform will be the best costume at the party. But he hasn't gone far before he realises something is wrong. The streets are unusually dark and empty, and the only person to emerge from the shadows runs away from him in terror. After a perplexing conversation with the terrified man, who turns out to be a wine smuggler, and on recovering from the resulting hangover, Igor comes to an unbelievable conclusion: he has found his way back to 1957 Kiev. And it isn't the innocent era his mother and her friends have so sentimentally described. As he travels between centuries, his life becomes more and more complicated. The unusual gardener who lives in his mother's shed keeps disappearing, his best friend has blackmailed the wrong people, and Igor has fallen in love with a married woman in a time before he was born. With his mother's disapproval at his absences growing, and his adventures in each time frame starting to catch up withTrade ReviewKurkov is a master story teller, using a simple lean style for a narrative that reads like a fable or myth, rich in invention, brought to life by the deadpan depiction of local people and local events * The Bay, Swansea *Kurkov masters the details superbly, writes with constant consummate wit and soufflé lightness -- Tom Adair * Scotsman *Some see him as a latter day Bulgakov; to others he’s a Urkanian Murakami… With a characteristic mix of realism and fantasy it [The Gardener from Ochakov] will delight fans… Kurkov combines the mundane details of life in modern Ukraine (minibus taxis, tins of sprats and bottles of moonshine) with surreal elements from thrillers and sci-fi: knife wielding gangsters, or quantum leaps in the midnight suburbs. The plot rattles along like a Kiev commuter train, regularly stopping for vodka, salami and salted cucumbers… -- Phoebe Taplin * Guardian *Quickly becomes an absorbing rollercoaster, an understated fantasy with an unlikely but likeable hero -- Matthew Dennison * The Times *More than a clash of ages… It’s also a tale about fathers and sons and what they need from each other -- Lesley McDowell * Glasgow Sunday Herald *

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Book Synopsis‘A sexy, sensational novel with intoxicating vengeance and an unexpected tenderness’ No. 1 Sunday Times bestselling author Karin SlaughterTrade Review‘A sexy, sensational novel with intoxicating vengeance and an unexpected tenderness – The Golden Cage is tensely and skillfully drawn’ Karin Slaughter ‘Lackberg’s new embrace of a terrifying revenge scenario furnishes visceral psychological crime.’ Financial Times ‘The queen of Swedish noir’ iNews ‘Smart, unflinching… [a] novel of female empowerment and triumph over the patriarchy.’ New York Times Book Review ‘The Golden Cage is a fast-paced psychological thriller about betrayal, sex, money, and a scorned wife’s revenge à la Gone Girl.’ Buzzfeed ‘Sexy, scandalous, and terrifying, this is the kind of suspense story you gobble up in one sitting.’ Real Simple ‘Insightful, addictive – and twisted!’ In Touch ‘A sexy, deliciously dark journey.’ Los Angeles Times ‘The doyenne of Swedish crime fiction serves up a propulsive tale… There’s enough haute couture, Cava, and hot sex to sate a devotee of romance fiction, but the real satisfaction comes in watching our heroine reclaim her fierceness.’ O Magazine ‘Läckberg has made a career out of writing ingenious psychological suspense stories … The Golden Cage tells a nasty tale about entrenched male domination in a supposedly enlightened society; great wealth and the soul rot it can breed; and the payback — oh, the sweet, sick payback of a woman used and spurned, rising up from the discard pile.’ Washington Post "A fabulous, frothy novel." New York Post ‘A twisty tale set squarely inside the world of the very rich and very fabulous." Glamour US ‘Sexy… exquisite… scorching… Läckberg reinforces her position as the thriller queen of Scandinavia.’ Publishers Weekly

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