Fiction in translation

Book SynopsisLove in late capitalism: Ivana Sajko takes us into a war between kitchen and bedroom. He, an unemployed Dante scholar, is trying to change the world and write a novel. She, a passable actress, has given up her safe job at the theatre to care for their child. He is delirious, she is on edge. With the rent overdue and violence looming on all sides, the two of them circle one another in a dizzying dance towards the abyss. "Wow, what an incredible novel. The language! Thank you for publishing this book." Katja Schneider, stories! bookshop, Hamburg "Words and images to take your breath away." taz; "The experiences so original, the observations so sharp, the thoughts so clever." Frankfurter Rundschau; "A sound that tells of political and economic vacuums felt by people in Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and the former Yugoslavia to this day." MDR Kultur; "The interpersonal magic now lost, or at least forgotten, but above all: poisoned by the big bad world 'out there'. Ivana Sajko celebrates this sad state of affairs with power and intensity. Definitely worth reading." NDR Kultur; "Breathless, barely punctuated. Her heroes: a nameless couple in a Mediterranean nowhere, devoted to each other in hate. A tough, great novel." Neue PresseTrade Review"A brilliant novel: intense and poetic, exhilarating and devastating." Priya Basil

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Book SynopsisMondegreen tells the story of a refugee from Ukraine's Donbas region who has escaped to Kyiv at the onset of the Ukrainian-Russian war. Written in beautiful, experimental style, the novel shows how peopleand citiesare capable of radical transformation and how this, in turn, affects their interpersonal relations and cultural identification.Trade ReviewTrue to its title, Rafeyenko’s Mondegreen is a tapestry of Soviet rock lyrics, traditional folk ballads, the poems of Taras Shevchenko, and contemporary literary memes, all filtered through the ears of a Ukrainian language learner…Given the complexity of the text, it’s astonishing how much Andryczyk was able to impart in his English version. Moreover, the translation leaves the reader not with a sense of loss but with a feeling that over the horizon there is a tantalizingly rich and vibrant world that one can only access if they too learn Ukrainian…Mondegreen is truly indulgent, a lyrical celebration of words and their power, not just to express but to transform. -- Lillian Posner * Los Angeles Review of Books *Playful and allusive, with bursts of fantasy and nightmare, in the tradition of magic realism. -- Luke Harding * The Guardian *

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Book SynopsisA groundbreaking collection of experimental short fiction by award-winning Syrian author and Booker International Prize for Arabic Fiction nominee Shahla Ujayli, A Bed for the King’s Daughter uses surrealism and irony to examine such themes as women’s agency, the decline of collective life and imagination under modernity, and the effects of social and political corruption on daily life. In “The Memoir of Cinderella’s Shoes,” Cinderella uses her famous glass slipper as a weapon in order to take justice into her own hands. In “Tell Me About Surrealism,” an art history professor’s writing assignment reveals the slipperiness of storytelling, and in “Merry Christmas,” the realities of apartheid interfere with one family’s celebration. Through twenty-two short stories, Ujayli animates—with brevity and inventiveness—themes relevant to both the particularities of life in the Arab world and life outside it.<Trade ReviewDon’t let the relatively brief length of this collection fool you—these stories offer readers a fascinating cross-section of styles, tones, and themes. Some grapple with the political and social struggles of the present day, while others address more timeless themes. The end result is a memorable showcase for Ujayli’s skills as a writer. * Words Without Borders *How do you sharply round out a story that is headed for a cliff? How do you make the sudden feel inevitable, circumventable, then over, as if all at once? Repeatedly, Ujayli manages, if not to square the circle, then to circle the square and so every square within it. * Chicago Review of Books *

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Book SynopsisThe journey of the Little Buddha began when Claus Mikosch and his four-year-old daughter used to go walking near a Buddhist temple, and she asked him questions about the Buddha. When Claus had the idea to collect their conversations, the Little Buddha was born. It is not a book about THE Buddha or about Buddhism. It is instead the story of a pretty normal Buddha who, tired of meditating beneath his Bodhi tree, embarks upon a journey. Inspired by Claus' travels to India, The Little Buddha: Finding Happiness is a timeless tale of friendship, curiosity and the art of being simply happy. It carries the reader on a mindful journey in which the Little Buddha discovers different landscapes and different people, but most of all discovers himself.

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Book SynopsisThis celebration of Chinese Science Fiction — thirteen stories, all translated for the first time into English — represents a unique exploration of the nation’s speculative fiction from the late 20th century onwards, curated and translated by critically acclaimed writer and essayist Xueting Christine Ni.From the renowned Jiang Bo’s ‘Starship: Library' to Regina Kanyu Wang’s ‘The Tide of Moon City', and Anna Wu’s ‘Meisje met de Parel', this is a collection for all fans of great fiction.Award winners, bestsellers, screenwriters, playwrights, philosophers, university lecturers and computer programmers, these thirteen writers represent the breadth of Chinese SF, from new to old: Gu Shi, Han Song, Hao Jingfang, Nian Yu, Wang Jinkang, Zhao Haihong, Tang Fei, Ma Boyong, Anna Wu, A Que, Bao Shu, Regina Kanyu Wang and Jiang Bo.Trade Review"The masterful result validates Xueting’s endeavor—and will only whet readers’ appetite for more translations." -- Publishers Weekly, starred review * Publishers Weekly *"Sinopticon is an engaging brew of unsettling ideas and lively prose." * ParSec Magazine *"Sinopticon reads like Black Mirror and Love, Death, and Robots squeezed together and poured onto the page. I laughed, I cried, I read and re-read, I stayed up through the early hours if it meant finishing one of the longer stories. This book is everything I love about Science Fiction." -- FanFiAddict“Superb” -- Lavie Tidhar, The Washington Post * The Washington Post *“Important” -- Locus Magazine * Locus Magazine *“A must-read for science fiction fans.” -- AurealisTable of Contents Foreword, Xia Jia Introduction, Xuenting Christine Ni The Last Save, Gu Shi Tombs of the Universe, Han Song Qiankun and Alex, Hao Jingfang Cat’s Chance in Hell, Nian Yu The Return of Adam, Wang Jinkang Rendezvous: 1937, Zhao Haihong The Heart of the Museum, Tang Fei The Great Migration, Ma Boyong Meisje met de Parel, Anna Wu Flower of the Other Shore, A Que The Absolution Experiment, Bao Shu The Tide of Moon City, Regina Kanyu Wang Starship: Library, Jiang Bo

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Book Synopsis''It is impossible to explain why Yevgeny chose Liza Annenskaya, as it is always impossible to explain why a man chooses this and not that woman.''This collection of eleven stories spans virtually the whole of Tolstoy''s creative life. While each is unique in form, as a group they are representative of his style, and touch on the central themes that surface in War and Peace and Anna Karenina. Stories as different as ''The Snowstorm'', ''Lucerne'', ''The Diary of a Madman'', and ''The Devil'' are grounded in autobiographical experience. They deal with journeys of self-discovery and the moral and religious questioning that characterizes Tolstoy''s works of criticism and philosophy. ''Strider'' and ''Father Sergy'', as well as reflecting Tolstoy''s own experiences, also reveal profound psychological insights.These stories range over much of the Russian world of the nineteenth century, from the nobility to the peasantry, the military to the clergy, from merchants and cobblers to a horse anTable of ContentsThe Snowstorm ; Lucerne ; Three Deaths ; Polikushka ; Strider: The Story of a Horse ; God See the Truth, But Waits ; The Notes of a Madman ; Where Love Is, God Is ; The Devil ; Father Sergy ; After the Ball

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Book SynopsisFrom Catharina Ingelman-Sundberg, the Swedish author of the smash-hit The Little Old Lady Who Broke All the Rules, comes the third hilarious yet tender title in this much-loved series, The Little Old Lady Behaving Badly.Introducing the League of Pensioners – a unique blend of exuberance, courage, and audacity. They're on a mission – to seize a fortune from the champagne-soaked billionaires of Saint-Tropez.As Martha and her friends set out to catch some of the biggest financial fish in the sea. But can her septuagenarian gang outsmart the law while keeping their blue rinses intact? The chase is on!If you loved The Hundred-Year-Old Man Series and The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, then fasten your seatbelts: more laughter and adventure await in The Little Old Lady Who Struck Lucky Again!Trade ReviewA good-natured, humorous crime caper * Independent on Sunday *A complete hoot * Saga Magazine *This laugh-out-loud international bestseller will have you chuckling one minute and crying the next * The Lady *

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Book SynopsisFrom the bestselling author of Strange Weather in Tokyo, here is a story of treasure hoarders, bargain hunters and would-be lovers. Among the jumble of paperweights, plates, typewriters and general bric-a-brac in Mr Nakano's thrift store, there are treasures to be found. Each piece carries its own story of love and loss - or so it seems to Hitomi, when she takes a job there. And her fellow employees are just as curious as the items they sell. There's the store's owner, Mr Nakano, an enigmatic ladies' man with several ex-wives; Sakiko, his sensuous, unreadable lover; his sister, Masayo, an artist whose free-spirited creations mask hidden sorrows. And finally there's Hitomi's fellow employee, Takeo, whose abrupt and taciturn manner Hitomi finds, to her consternation, increasingly disarming. A beguiling story of love found amid odds and ends, The Nakano Thrift Shop is a heart-warming and utterly charming novel from one of Japan's most celebrated contemporary novelists. 'A charming read' Good Housekeeping 'One for the holiday suitcase' VogueTrade ReviewSubtle, graceful, wise and threaded on a quirky humour, this exploration of the connections and disconnections between people kept me smiling long after the last page -- Julia Rochester, author * The House at the Edge of the World *One for the holiday suitcase * Vogue.co.uk *Charming -- Cathy Rentzenbrink * Stylist.co.uk *The Nakano Thrift Shop is really a love story, albeit a very offbeat one... A gentle book, full of charm [and] radiating leftfield charisma -- Anna Fielding * Emerald Street *The delightful nature of the story comes from the magic of the ordinary and the everyday goings on in the shop owned by the enigmatic Mr Nakano * i paper *The ever-readable, ebulliently-imaginative Japanese novelist burst the four small walls of Nakano-san's bric-a-brac shop with this tale of unusual, unrelated but inextricably intertwined characters * Monocle *Kawakami is one of Japan's most popular contemporary novelists and, thanks to the Allison Markin Powell's translation, we get to enjoy this meandering and innocent novel... A tenderly handled mystery and a fractured love story. Delightful -- Rachel Howdle * Press Association *A charming read from the bestselling Japanese author Hiromi Kawakami * Good Housekeeping *Hitomi takes in her town's characters and dramas - and finds love - from behind the cash register. * Grazia *Highly enjoyable and surprisingly accessible. Significant praise should be given to Allison Markin Powell's excellent work in translating the book * Sleepless Editor *A novel about identity, loneliness and about non-conformism. With Kawakami's writing raising questions about sex and identity it is no surprise that her novels are so popular in structured, and often formal, Japan. This is a great novel and a highly accessible introduction to Japanese fiction. * Words Shortlist *Written in quietly understated prose infused with a gentle humour, Kawakami's novel is an absolute delight. The four principal characters are wonderfully driven - eccentric, idiosyncratic and thoroughly engaging. [...] I loved it - a welcome antidote to the twenty-four-hour misery cycle that is our news at the moment, and a reminder that joy can be found in the most prosaic of lives. * A Life in Books *

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Book Synopsis'An ambiguous horror story about egg donorship and the black market, it keeps the reader equally balanced between frustration and fascination. ' Daily Mail'An intricate, textured slow-burner that paints a vivid picture of a post-Soviet state where gangsters rule and the exploitation of the female body is big business' GuardianHelsinki, 2016. Olenka sits on a bench, watching a family play in a dog park. A stranger sits down beside her. Olenka startles; she would recognize this other woman anywhere. After all, Olenka was the one who ruined her life. And this woman may be about to do the same to Olenka. Yet, for a fragile moment, here they are, together - looking at their own children being raised by other people.Moving seamlessly between modern-day Finland and Ukraine in the early days of its post-Soviet independence, Dog Park is a keenly observed, dark and propulsive novel set at the intersection of East and West, centered in a web of exploitation and the commodification of the female body. Oksanen brings fearless psychological acuity to this captivating story about a woman unable to escape the memory of her lost child, the ruthless powers that still hunt her, and the lies that could well end up saving her.Trade ReviewAn ambiguous horror story about egg donorship and the black market, it keeps the reader equally balanced between frustration and fascination. * Daily Mail *Following her incredibly popular Purge, Sofi Oksanen gives us another propulsive thriller about a woman unable to forget her lost child and the web of lies she's built around herself. A novelist and playwright, Oksanen is one of the most awarded literary authors in Scandinavia; now, we get to experience the phenomenon. * Lit Hub *Fans of slow-burning suspense will find much to enjoy * Publishers Weekly *With the volatile European fertility market as her backdrop, a rising Scandinavian star poses troubling questions about the double-edged sword of motherhood and the rancorous debates over women's bodies * Oprah, Best Translated Books of 2021 *A remarkably ambitious story... Oksanen has much to say about the price of parenthood and the cost for young women who, with few other options to escape poverty, become egg donors or surrogates. Owen F. Witesman's translation conveys the mounting tension as Oksanen layers in shadowy, overlapping plotlines. * New York Times *Stunning and furious * Mesta, Finland *Sharp, sociocritical... Passionate drama, murder and revenge make this a thriller-like novel with a high level of suspense. * Bergens Tidende, Norway *An intricate, textured slow-burner that paints a vivid picture of a post-Soviet state where gangsters rule and the exploitation of the female body is big business * Guardian *

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Book SynopsisThe first thrilling standalone crime novel from the international number one bestseller and Sweden's answer to Val McDermid, Anders de la Motte.'Enthralling...De la Motte juxtaposes the horrors of war with age-old superstitions to superb effect' Joan Smith, Sunday TimesSouthern Sweden: Beautiful countryside, endless forests, coastal walks, dark days - and even darker nights. But beneath the beauty lies a dark heart . . .Skåne, 1986: On the night of Walpurgis, the eve of May Day, where bonfires are lit to ward off evil spirits and preparations are made to celebrate the renewal of spring, a sixteen-year-old girl is ritualistically murdered in the woods beside a castle. Her stepbrother is convicted of the terrible deed and shortly after, the entire family vanishes without a trace.Spring, 2019: Dr Thea Lind moves into the castle. After making a strange discovery in an ancient oak tree on the grounds, her fascination with the old tragedy deepens. As she uncovers more and more similarities between her own troubled past and the murdered girl, she begins to believe that the real truth of the killing was never uncovered.What if the spring of 1986 claimed more than one victim?'A mesmerising amalgam of creepy folklore, festering secrets, dark truths and a damp and mouldering Scandinavian landscape rendered so dark and brooding that is becomes a principal player in this slow-burn, addictive tale' Lancashire Evening PostTrade ReviewEnthralling...De la Motte juxtaposes the horrors of war with age-old superstitions to superb effect -- Joan Smith * Sunday Times *Rites of Spring is an evocative exploration of an old mystery. Dr Thea Lind moves to the small community of Tornaby in southern Sweden and is drawn into the investigation of a murder long considered solved. Anders de la Motte crafts a powerful and enthralling tale that's capped by a twist that makes it all the more satisfying * Adam Hamdy *Rites of Spring is a classy slice of classic Scandi Noir with all the right ingredients - a rural community in which everyone harbours secrets, a murdered girl, a possible miscarriage of justice, and a creepy belief in ancient folklore - I literally couldn't read it fast enough! * Alison Belsham *A mesmerising amalgam of creepy folklore, festering secrets, dark truths and a damp and mouldering Scandinavian landscape rendered so dark and brooding that it becomes a principal player in this slow-burn, addictive tale * Lancashire Evening Post *

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Book SynopsisHåkan Nesser, 'the Godfather of Swedish Crime' (Metro), is back with the second installment in the Inspector Barbarotti series, The Root of Evil.*Shortlisted for the Crime Writers' Association's International Dagger*July 2007. A letter arrives on Inspector Barbarotti’s doorstep detailing a murder that is about to take place in his quiet Swedish town. By the time the police track down the subject of the letter, he is already dead. So when a second letter arrives, then a third, and a fourth, it’s a game of cat and mouse to stop the killer before he can make good on all of his promises. Meanwhile, an anonymous diary is unearthed depicting the incidents of a two week holiday in France five years earlier, and it doesn’t take Barbarotti long to realize the people populating the diary are the ones whose lives are now in the balance . . .Continue the thrilling investigative series with The Secret Life of Mr Roos.'One of the best of the Nordic Noir writers' - GuardianTrade ReviewThe godfather of Swedish crime * Metro *Told with wry humour and compassion, Nesser has four more Barbarotti stories to come — cherish them all -- Daily Mail on The Darkest DayA master of suspense * Sunday Times *In an exemplary translation by Sarah Death, this tangled tale of guilt and betrayal whets the appetite for translations of the other Barbarotti novels -- Financial Times on The Darkest DayOne of the best of the Nordic Noir writers * Guardian *One of Sweden's best crime writers * Mail on Sunday *Barbarotti has to disentangle years of bad blood and resentment to get to the heart of a thrillingly complex case * Sunday Times (on The Darkest Day) *

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Book Synopsis“These are the voices of Crime and Punishment in all their original, dazzling variety: pensive, urgent, defiant, and triumphant. This new translation by Michael Katz revives the intensity Dostoevsky’s first readers experienced.” —Susan McReynolds, Northwestern University

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Book SynopsisOn the path to self-destruction after the death of his girlfriend, things take a turn for the worse, when child pornography is found on Varg Veum’s computer and he must battle to prove his innocence … the chilling new instalment in the award-winning Varg Veum series, by one of the fathers of Nordic Noir. ‘Mature and captivating’ Rosemary Goring, Herald Scotland ‘Moving, uncompromising’ Publishers Weekly _________________ Reeling from the death of his great love, Karin, Varg Veum’s life has descended into a self-destructive spiral of alcohol, lust, grief and blackouts. When traces of child pornography are found on his computer, he’s accused of being part of a paedophile ring and thrown into a prison cell. There, he struggles to sift through his past to work out who is responsible for planting the material … and who is seeking the ultimate revenge. When a chance to escape presents itself, Varg finds himself on the run in his hometown of Bergen. With the clock ticking and the police on his tail, Varg takes on his hardest – and most personal – case yet. Dark, emotive and compulsive, Wolves in the Dark is the absorbing, shocking next instalment in the addictive Varg Veum series, by one of the fathers of Nordic Noir. _________________ Praise for Gunnar Staalesen 'There is a world-weary existential sadness that hangs over his central detective. The prose is stripped back and simple … deep emotion bubbling under the surface – the real turmoil of the characters’ lives just under the surface for the reader to intuit, rather than have it spelled out for them’ Doug Johnstone, The Big Issue ‘Gunnar Staalesen is one of my very favourite Scandinavian authors. Operating out of Bergen in Norway, his private eye, Varg Veum, is a complex but engaging anti-hero. Varg means “wolf ” in Norwegian, and this is a series with very sharp teeth’ Ian Rankin ‘Staalesen continually reminds us he is one of the finest of Nordic novelists’ Financial Times ‘Chilling and perilous results — all told in a pleasingly dry style’ Sunday Times ‘Staalesen does a masterful job of exposing the worst of Norwegian society in this highly disturbing entry’ Publishers Weekly 'The Varg Veum series is more concerned with character and motivation than spectacle, and it’s in the quieter scenes that the real drama lies’ Herald Scotland 'Every inch the equal of his Nordic confreres Henning Mankell and Jo Nesbo' Independent ‘Not many books hook you in the first chapter – this one did, and never let go!’ Mari Hannah ‘With an expositional style that is all but invisible, Staalesen masterfully compels us from the first pages … If you’re a fan of Varg Veum, this is not to be missed, and if you’re new to the series, this is one of the best ones. You’re encouraged to jump right in, even if the Norwegian names can be a bit confusing to follow’ Crime Fiction Lover ‘With short, smart, darkly punchy chapters Wolves at the Door is a provocative and gripping read’ LoveReading ‘Haunting, dark and totally noir, a great read’ New Books Magazine ‘An upmarket Philip Marlowe’ Maxim Jakubowski, The Bookseller ‘Razor-edged Scandinavian crime fiction at its finest’ Quentin BatesTrade Review* 'Gunnar Staalesen is one of my very favourite Scandinavian authors. Operating out of Bergen in Norway, his private eye, Varg Veum, is a complex but engaging anti-hero. Varg means 'wolf' in Norwegian, and this is a series with very sharp teeth' Ian Rankin * 'A Norwegian Chandler' Jo Nesbo * 'Gunnar Staalesen was writing suspenseful and socially conscious Nordic Noir long before any of today's Swedish crime writers had managed to put together a single book page ... one of Norway's most skillful storytellers' Johan Theorin * 'With its exploration of family dynamics and the complex web of human behaviour, Staalesen's novel echoes the great California author Ross MacDonald's Lew Archer mysteries ... mature and captivating' Herald Scotland * 'Norwegian master Staalesen is an author who eschews police procedural narratives for noirish private eye pieces ... with some abrasive social commentary' Financial Times

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Book SynopsisIn these six late stories Tolstoy explores human relationships and moral choices, raising profound questions about life in gripping fictional form. 'The Death of Ivan Ilyich' is an existential masterpiece, a harrowing tale of the final illness and death of a bourgeois lawyer. Newly translated, and with a wide-ranging Introduction.Table of ContentsINTRODUCTION; NOTE ON THE TEXT AND TRANSLATION; SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY; A CHRONOLOGY OF LEO TOLSTOY; THE TWO OLD MEN; HOW MUCH LAND DOES A MAN NEED?; THE FORGED COUPON; MASTER AND WORKMAN; ALYOSHA POT; THE DEATH OF IVAN ILYICH; EXPLANATORY NOTES

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Book Synopsis*Featured in The Times top ten crime novels of the decade*THE NEW INSPECTOR ADAMSBERG NOVELShortlisted for the CWA International Dagger 2017A woman is found dead in her bath. The murder has been disguised as a suicide and a strange symbol is discovered at the scene.Then the symbol is observed near a second victim, who ten years earlier had also taken part in a doomed expedition to Iceland.How are these deaths, and rumours of an Icelandic demon, linked to a secretive local society? And what does the mysterious sign mean? Commissaire Adamsberg is about to find out.Trade ReviewFrench crime queen's new mystery – her best yet. * Sunday Times *[Vargas] has won the CWA international dagger four times, confirming her place in the top rank of contemporary crime writers... [A Climate of Fear] is easily the best thing she has ever done... The idea of history repeating itself is at the heart of this stunning novel, which confirms Vargas’ fine understanding of the unchanging nature of human passions. * Sunday Times *A reminder that Fred Vargas is one of the most entertainingly eccentric of all current European crime writers... [It] demonstrates why Vargas is so highly esteemed... Highly impressive. -- Barry Forshaw * Independent *Vargas writes with strength, erudition and unique imagination... In the crowded world of crime fiction, she's a valuable one-off. A Climate of Fear is one of her best. -- Marcel Berlins * The Times *A rich and remarkable work that may be her masterpiece. * Crime Scene *

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Book SynopsisA young woman, who works as a maid for a living, takes her charge out to play in a Parisian garden square. Sitting on a bench, she starts talking to a stranger, a travelling salesman, and their conversation gradually turns into an exchange of confidences, as she speaks of her desire for a more stable future and he of his feelings of rootlessness and disillusionment. As the afternoon wears on, the two sense an increasing connection between them. Understated and impressionistic, and consisting almost entirely of dialogue, The Garden Square is one of Marguerite Duras's finest novels, which she also adapted for the stage.Trade ReviewDuras’s sentences lodge themselves slowly in the reader’s mind until they detonate with all the force of fused feeling and thought. * The New York Times Book Review *

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Book SynopsisMondegreen tells the story of a refugee from Ukraine’s Donbas region who has escaped to Kyiv at the onset of the Ukrainian-Russian war. Written in beautiful, experimental style, the novel shows how people—and cities—are capable of radical transformation and how this, in turn, affects their interpersonal relations and cultural identification.Trade ReviewTrue to its title, Rafeyenko’s Mondegreen is a tapestry of Soviet rock lyrics, traditional folk ballads, the poems of Taras Shevchenko, and contemporary literary memes, all filtered through the ears of a Ukrainian language learner…Given the complexity of the text, it’s astonishing how much Andryczyk was able to impart in his English version. Moreover, the translation leaves the reader not with a sense of loss but with a feeling that over the horizon there is a tantalizingly rich and vibrant world that one can only access if they too learn Ukrainian…Mondegreen is truly indulgent, a lyrical celebration of words and their power, not just to express but to transform. -- Lillian Posner * Los Angeles Review of Books *Playful and allusive, with bursts of fantasy and nightmare, in the tradition of magic realism. -- Luke Harding * The Guardian *

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Book Synopsis'The best early training for a writer is an unhappy childhood,' Hemingway famously said. Julia Kerninon, one of France's most acclaimed young novelists, tells an altogether different story in a poetic account of her pursuit. Her vibrant ode to reading, and to writing as a space for discovery (as well as a 'respectable occupation') entwines the French and Anglo-Saxon literary traditions as she journeys fluidly through her formative years. From her native Brittany to the city of Shakespeare and Company, to a seaside cafe on the Atlantic coast, to Budapest and back, the author conjures a feminine answer to A Moveable Feast.Trade Review‘Borne along by Kerninon’s long, joyful sentences (nimbly translated by Ruth Diver), it’s a winning account of her journey from reader to writer.’ — Francesca Carington, Tatler (Best Books of Summer 2020); ‘A loose but very charming longform essay about writing and being a writer (…) In the anecdotal and at times very funny prose of A Respectable Occupation we follow Kerninon's childhood fascination with bookshops, her obsessive consumption and production of words' – Robert Greer, The Idler; ‘A female manifesto for a writer’s life (...) a lyrical reminder of the hard (and indeed often unrelated) work it takes to be a wordsmith, which is justified daily in the joy of putting pen to paper and writing book after book.’ — Mia Colleran, The Irish Times; ‘Marvellously contagious.’ — Le Point; ‘Julia Kerninon lays down sentences as definitive as dictums, impresses with her maturity of style and command of narrative. The reader plunges in, with the same voraciousness she puts into her writing.’ — ELLE (France)

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Book SynopsisThe first novel by a female author to be published in Cape Verde, and the first to be translated into English, The Madwoman of Serrano is a magical tale of rural ideals and urban ambition, underpinned by an exploration of female empowerment. Serrano is an isolated village where a madwoman roams. But is she really mad or is she marginalised because she is wise and a woman? Could her babbling be prophecy? One day a girl falls from the sky and is found in the forest by Jeronimo. The villagers are suspicious of the newcomer, but Jeronimo falls in love with her. When she gives birth and disappears, Jeronimo takes care of the child, naming her Filipa. Years later, estranged from Jeronimo after being taken from the village in mysterious circumstances, Filipa is a successful businesswoman in the city. Her memories of growing up in Serrano and her friendship with the madwoman become increasingly vivid. When the madwoman''s warnings come true and Serrano''s sheltered existence is threatened by plans to build a dam, Jeronimo heads for the city himself. Will he and Filipa finally be reunited?

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Book SynopsisSoul-shattering and profound detective novel from the international award-winning sensationWHAT YOU DON'T KNOWCAN NEVER HURT YOUTHE UNKNOWNMazal Bengtson doesn't know what her husband was doing on the night of the storm. Inspector Avraham Avraham doesn't know how to begin his first murder case.THE KNOWNWhat they do both know is something of the victim's past that holds the key to understanding not just the murder, but stranger, more disturbing events.THE UNKNOWABLEFor the things that happen in a long marriage, under strain may not always be against the law. Desperate to solve a terrible death, Avraham cannot mend what he cannot know.Trade ReviewAvraham is quiet, stubbornly impressive and the novel is full of insights into love and sex -- Marcel Berlins * The Times **STAR PICK* Takes us into the hearts of these compassionately drawn characters. Sensitive, perceptive and quietly memorable. * Crime Club *He writes in such a cool, one-paced style . . . Powerful insight . . . 'Those Swedish and Danish cops, they're not real,' Mishani seems to be saying. 'My steady, plodding Israelis show what police work really is.' * Jewish Chronicle *

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Book SynopsisA chilling letter. A wrong conviction. One last chance to find the real killer . . . The chilling and heart-pounding new novel from Norwegian superstar Jørn Lier HorstINSPIRATION FOR THE HIT BBC FOUR SHOW WISTING''Up there with the best of the Nordic crime writers'' THE TIMES_______In 1999, seventeen-year-old Tone Vaterland was killed on her way home from work.Desperate for a conviction the police deemed the investigation an open-and-shut case and sent her spurned boyfriend, Danny Momrak, down for murder.But twenty years later William Wisting receives a puzzling letter. It suggests the wrong man was convicted for Tone''s death.And the real murderer is still out there.Wisting is quickly thrown into a terrifying race against time where he must find the sender, decipher this mysterious letter and catch the real killer - before they strike again . . .<Trade ReviewPraise for Jørn Lier Horst * : *Tense, fast-paced . . . compelling * Sunday Times *Relentlessly exciting . . . creates a sense of real menace * The Times *Jørn Lier Horst writes some of the best Scandinavian crime fiction available. His books are superbly plotted and addictive, the characters wonderfully realised * Yrsa Sigurðardóttir *Up there with the best of the Nordic crime writers * The Times *Praise for A Question of Guilt * : *A well-written and intensely thrilling story * Tvedestrandsposten, Norway *Horst both knows how to craft a good plot and to make the lines all come together * Verdens Gang, Norway *Horst is a craftsman, and at his best a truly masterful writer of crime novels * Stavanger Aftenblad, Norway *Jørn Lier Horst is back with one of the best books in the Wisting series * Dagsavisen, Norway *

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Book SynopsisFrom the author of Thirteen Hours - A Sunday Times ''100 best crime novels and thrillers since 1945'' pickThe former freedom fighter known as ''Tiny'' has finally achieved his dream of a peaceful life. But then his beloved son is taken away from him. In that moment, he unleashes himself upon a corrupt South Africa. His victims are those guilty of crimes against children.He goes by the name of Artemis.Benny Griessel, a fading policeman on the brink of losing his job, family and self-respect, is assigned the case. Benny knows that this is his last chance - both his career and the safety of Cape Town are on the line.But then Benny meets Christine, a young mother working as a prostitute, and something happens that is so terrifying that the world will never be the same again for Benny, for Christine, or for Tiny.Trade ReviewWith Deon Meyer you can't go wrong. He's a writer whose work I admire, wait for and then devour. * Michael Connelly *If you want a glimpse of the soul of the new South Africa in all its glory, and with all the gory details of its problems and corruption, Meyer is your man . . . I marvelled at the intricacy of the plotting . . . and I was stunned by a dénouement of awesome power and accomplishment. * Guardian *Moving, expertly constructed story of a broken man's redemption. * Sunday Times *A fascinating portrayal . . . a black, assegai-wielding former freedom fighter who turns into a vigilante and goes on a killing spree; a high-class tart; and a policeman who drinks to drown the sceaming that's waiting inside his head . . . gripping, shocking . . . Highly recommended. * Literary Review *It makes [Cape Town] come alive with a breathless urgency that recalls the 1940s Los Angeles of Dashiel Hammet or Raymond Chandler: a bit mad, a bit bad, a bit dangerous, but exotically vibrant, a society in adolescence. If it can produce popular literature as good as this, the new South Africa has a lot going for it . . . Deon Meyer [is] one of the sharpest and most perceptive thriller writers around. * The Times *DEVIL'S PEAK is tough in-your-face crime writing that spares nothing in language, visceral scenes of blood and mayhem (for Meyer is adroit at choreographing descriptions of slaughter), and never waivers from the compelling pace of the story. It also has a mean line in humour that comes through in the snappy dialogue. * Sunday Independent *Deon Meyer, who writes in Afrikaans, portrays a world of terrifying uncertainty, in which those who fought for liberation from apartheid are having to come to terms with the knowledge that freedom is not enough to wipe out cruelty. A thoughtful and exciting novel. * Times Literary Supplement *Meyer is a gifted writer . . . believable and disturbing. * Tangled Web *

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Book SynopsisHailed as a Southeast Asian Gabriel García Márquez for the exuberant beauty of his prose and the darkly comic surrealism of his stories, Eka Kurniawan is the first Indonesian writer to be nominated for a Man Booker International Prize. Here is his first collection of short stories to be translated into English.A man captures a caronang, a strange, intelligent dog that walks upright, and brings it home, only to provoke an all-too-human outcome. A girl plots against a witch doctor whose crimes against her are, infuriatingly, like any other man's. Stories explore the turbulent dreams of an ex-prostitute, a perpetual student, victims of anti-communist genocide, an elephant, a stone. Dark, sexual, scatalogical, violent, and mordantly funny, these fractured fables span city and country, animal and human, myth and politics.Trade ReviewBrash, worldly and wickedly funny, Eka Kurniawan may be South-East Asia's most ambitious writer in a generation... * Economist *Kurniawan creates a vivid sense of poverty and rural isolation and weaves magic realism into his narratives to terrific effect. It's easy to see why he is being compared to Gabriel García Márquez and hailed as one of the leading lights of contemporary Indonesian fiction. * Financial Times *Kurniawan's writing demonstrates an affinity with literary heavyweights such as, yes, García Márquez and Dostoevsky, as well as Indonesia's own social-realist master Pramoedya Ananta Toer, to whom domestic fans have dubbed him an heir. Most intriguing, though, is the influence of the home-grown pulp fiction that was popular when he was growing up in West Java * Guardian *Many have deemed Kurniawan the next Pramoedya Ananta Toer, an acclaimed pioneer of socialist realism. The observation is inevitable, given the paucity of well-known Indonesian literary voices. But, unlike Pramoedya, Kurniawan eschews political conviction for a knowing ambivalence. * New Yorker *Indonesia's most original living writer of novels and short stories, and its most unexpected meteorite. Who could predict the arrival of Sophocles, Virgil, Lady Murasaki, Cervantes, Melville, Lu Hsün, Shakespeare, Proust, Gogol, Ibsen, Márquez, or Joyce? -- Benedict Anderson * New Left Review *These stories are blasphemous, perverse, and shocking! But so are you, if you're a human being. With exceptional fervor, wit, and bite, Kurniawan faces the truth. Can you? -- James Hannaham, author of Delicious FoodsThese short, spiky tales are a joy to read. * New Internationalist *Scintillating and often darkly humorous, Kitchen Curse by Eka Kurniawan is masterful take on the vicissitudes of life for contemporary Indonesians. * Asian Review of Books *Like Beauty Is a Wound, Man Tiger is a tale of generations bound by tragedy and burdened by unspeakable histories. But it also reveals the banality of violence that has turned routine. Kurniawan suggested to an audience at the Melbourne festival that unpredictable outbreaks of violence were part of the fabric of Indonesian life. As a teenager, he saw a mob set two men on fire after the men tried to steal a guitar from a minibus. * New Yorker *Tight, focused and thrilling... Like a good crime novel, Man Tiger works best when read in a single sitting, and its propulsive suspense is all the more remarkable because Kurniawan reveals both victim and murderer in the first sentence. * New York Times *Sex, violence, and betrayal loom large throughout, as in Kurniawan's award-winning previous novels. * Library Journal *Erupting with awareness and dark wit, this work puts Kurniawan in league with Hassan Blasim, Witold Gombrowicz, and Daniil Kharms. * Publishers Weekly *These stories are sites of bold experimentation ... They provide ways of looking at Indonesia's politics, history, and culture through the lens of the everyday and the marginal: the world of the outcasts. -- Intan Paramaditha * Singapore Unbound *

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Book SynopsisIn Goat Mountain, Habib Selmi’s first novel, published in Arabic in 1988, a young man’s journey begins in a dilapidated old bus that takes four hours to reach Al-‘Ala, from where he takes a long ride on mule back, accompanied by a mysterious older man who is to play an important part in the young man’s new life. They finally arrive at Goat Mountain, a forlorn, Tunisian desert village. The school is a single room. The youth passes the first night in the house of his uncommunicative guide, whose name is Ismail . . . He grows more uneasy and depressed as Ismail becomes ever more powerful until, with a new truck and his own private army, Ismail dominates village life and casts a menacing shadow over the young man.

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Book SynopsisThe English debut of a bestselling novelist, kin to Penelope Fitzgerald and Louis Begley in style and subtlety.Trade Review‘Desarthe is a daring and imaginative writer. Through Max Opass, she lets her lucid prose plunder dreams and question the meaning of existence.’Observer ‘A rare tribute to the love of a wife… Desarthe’s novel, lucidly translated by Adriana Hunter, is delicate, subtle and full of charm.’Daily Mail ‘Ageing and frailty, both physical and emotinal, are rarely presented with such sheer beauty. Five Photos of My Wife has a limpid, effortless elegance: prose by Chanel.’Scotland on Sunday

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Book SynopsisAn addictive Colombian crime novel set in and around a beauty salon in BogotaThis delicate, merciless filleting of race and gender politics is highly recommended' GuardianA revelation. A rewarding read and an unexpected insight into a foreign society not often documented in novels. Treat yourself' Crime TimeWe thought we were bored of thrillers, but then we found House of Beauty as gasp-inducing as a hot wax' GlamourHouse of Beauty is a high-end salon in Bogotá's exclusive Zona Rosa area, and Karen is one of its best beauticians. But there is more to her role than the best way to apply wax, or how to give the perfect massage. Her clients share their most intimate secrets with her. She knows all about their breast implants, their weekends in Miami, their divorces and affairs.One rainy afternoon a teenage girl turns up for a treatment with Karen, dressed in her school uniform and smelling of alcohol. The very next day, the girl is found dead.Karen was the last person to see the girl aliTrade Review‘We thought we were bored of thrillers, but then we found House of Beauty … as gasp-inducing as a hot wax’ Glamour ‘House of Beauty offers a unique glimpse into modern-day Colombia and an intriguing mystery around issues of gender, class, and race, where a woman’s worth is too often tied to her beauty, yet her beauty too often gets her in trouble. It’s a pleasure to see a story told through the lens of two very different heroines, rare in crime fiction. And, in these times, this novel is also a much-needed critique of everyday misogyny and corruption' Winnie M Li, author of Dark Chapter ‘Fantastic. I read it faster than it takes to have a mani-pedi and a massage and was moved, shocked and transported’ Rachel Edwards, author of Darling

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Book SynopsisColette, the creator of Claudine, Cheri and Gigi, and one of France's outstanding writers, had a long, varied and active life. She was born in Burgundy on 1873 into a home overflowing with dogs, cats and children, and educated at the local village school. At the age of twenty she moved to Paris with her first husband, the notorious writer and critic Henry Gauthiers-Viller (Willy). By locking her in her room, Willy forced Collette to write her first novels (the Claudine sequence), which he published under his name. They were an instant success. Colettte left Willy in 1906 and worked in music-halls as an actor and dancer. She had a love affair with Napoleon's niece, married twice more, had a baby at 40 and at 47. Her writing, which included novels, portraits, essays and a large body of autobiographical prose, was admired by Proust and Gide. She was the first woman President of the Académie Goncourt, and when she died, aged 81, she was given a state funeral and buried in Père Lachaise CemTrade ReviewColette is a kind of corsetiere of love. This most French of all French writers tells us how love sometimes binds and keeps a woman from breathing freely or how it may shape and support her and help her to be beautiful . . . One thinks of her as the female voice of Paris . . . It's as if all the house fronts of Paris were cut away and we could see men and women talking, dressing, brooding, loving -- Anatole Broyard * New York Times *Everything that Colette touched became human... She was a complete sensualist; but she gave herself up to her senses with such delicacy of perception, with such exquisiteness of physical pain as well as physical ecstasy, that she ennobled sensualism almost to grandeur * The Times *Sumptuous * Time *A perfectionist in her every word * Spectator *Her sensual prose style made her one of the great writers of twentieth-century France * New York Times *

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Book SynopsisFrom the author of the bestselling Suite Française.Ada grows up motherless in the Jewish pogroms of a Ukrainian city in the early years of the twentieth century. In the same city, Harry Sinner, the cosseted son of a city financier, belongs to a very different world. Eventually, in search of a brighter future, Ada moves to Paris and makes a living painting scenes from the world she has left behind. Harry Sinner also comes to Paris to mingle in exclusive circles, until one day he buys two paintings which remind him of his past and the course of Ada''s life changes once more...Trade ReviewWritten with tremendous assurance and finesse, The Dogs and the Wolves is an outstanding achievement of European fiction * Sunday Times *The pleasure of this fine novel lies in its depiction of a doomed love affair... Némirovsky's exquisite descriptions of character reveal a brilliantly sharp eye * Daily Telegraph *Nemirovsky was incapable of producing anything less than an enchanting novel. She has an irresistible talent for creating character and incident which makes this story as much a page-turner as anything she has written -- Carmen Callil * Guardian *Nemirovksy is a deeply engaged observer of her characters, and her depiction of the inner lives of both Jews and Gentiles in Sandra Smith's admirable translation of this exquisitely detailed novel, has the fine, authentic ring of artistic truth * Sunday Telegraph *She elegantly uses traditional orchestration, which makes her works, for all their weighty concerns, universally accessible and stirringly romantic * Independent *

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From the author of the bestselling Suite Française.In a French courtroom, the trial of a woman is taking place. Gladys Eysenach is no longer young, but she is still beautiful, elegant, cold. She is accused of shooting dead her much-younger lover. As the witnesses take the stand and the case unfolds, Gladys relives fragments of her past: her childhood, her absent father, her marriage, her turbulent relationship with her daughter, her decline, and then the final irrevocable act. With the depth of insight and pitiless compassion we have come to expect from the author of Suite Française, Irène Némirovsky shows us the soul of a desperate woman obsessed with her lost youth.

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Book SynopsisA collection of Greek fiction written between the first and fourth centuries AD'Callirhoe' is the stirring tale of star-crossed lovers Chaereas and Callirhoe, torn apart when she is kidnapped and sold as a slave, while 'Daphnis and Chloe' tells of a boy and girl abandoned at birth, who grow up to fall in love and battle pirates. Greek Fiction - also containing 'Letters of Chion', an early thriller about tyranny and a political assassination - is a fascinating glimpse into an alternative view of Ancient Greece's literary culture.For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translat

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Book SynopsisWritten when Mishima was only twentysix, Forbidden Colors is a depiction of a male homosexual relationship, in which a rich older man buys the love of a young man who is stunningly handsome but who lacks the ability to love. As in Mann''s Death in Venice, the older man''s longing for the beauty of youth is associated with aestheticism and death.

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Book SynopsisIn the dark narratives that make up When I Was Mortal by Javier Marías, winner of the Dublin IMPAC prize and author of the bestselling A Heart So White, a dapper Paris doctor dispenses a treatment for dissatisfied wives. A mother auditions for her first porn movie. A writer working on a study of pain makes himself the subject of his experiments. A voyeur mistakes a murderer for a fellow peeping tom ... these are some of the characters observed by the narrator of these chilling stories. Ironic, unsettling, imbued with dread and with droll humour, Javier Marías'' short tales cast a shrewd, sardonic eye on humanity.Javier Marías was born in Madrid in 1951. He has published ten novels, two collections of short stories and several volumes of essays. His work has been translated into thirty-two languages and won a dazzling array of international literary awards, including the prestigious Dublin IMPAC award for A Heart So White. He is also a highly practised tr

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Book SynopsisDublin is one of the world''s great literary cities, immortalized in works by some of the most celebrated international authors. It is a city of warmth and character, which combines the richest of histories with a vibrant contemporary edge, and which welcomes millions of people to its streets each year. In addition to being Ireland''s capital city, Dublin is a city with a proud European identity and with long-established, dynamic links with the rest of the world. Dublin Tales comprises an exciting selection of stories from across the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries which are illustrative of this. The stories in Dublin Tales are variously vibrant, evocative, humorous, and diverse, and engage in different ways with Dublin''s history, its culture, its cityscape, and its people. It includes stories by writers who are intimately associated with the city (James Joyce and Brendan Behan), as well as by some of the most acclaimed Irish authors of the twentieth century (Elizabeth Bowen, Liam O''Flaherty, William Trevor, John McGahern, and Éilís Ní Dhuibhne). Less familiar authors are also included, as are specially commissioned stories from some of the most talented younger writers writing today (Caitriona Lally, Kevin Power, and Melatu Uche Okorie). Dublin Tales also includes bilingual versions of two stories which were originally written in the Irish language by Dara Ó Conaola and Caitlín Nic Íomhair, which have been specially translated into English for this startlingly original new book.Trade ReviewDublin Tales is home to a wide range of historical and present-day perspectives on the place...Eve Patten and Paul Delaney...navigate in a beautifully written introduction an awareness of the kitschy use of fictional landmarks for attracting visitors, while producing a real map of Dublin as a literary metropolis. * Catherine Toal, Irish Times *Dublin's many faces brought to life in eclectic collection of stories...Delaney and Patten's clear vision and painstaking selection of work creates a Janus-faced Dublin, sometimes wayward and sometimes constant, occasionally brutal and occasionally compassionate, above all capable of flicking from the familiar to the terrifying in a heartbeat. * Martina Devlin, Irish Independent *An engrossing, often moving, and very powerful anthology which really gets to the heart of its subject. I've enjoyed all of the 'Tales' collection from OUP, and this is a worthy addition - highly recommended! * Kaggsy's Bookish Ramblings *A curated anthology of short fiction celebrates the city of Dublin as literary setting and muse. * The Booklist *Table of ContentsEditors' Introduction 1: George Egerton (Mary Chavelita Dunne Bright): Mammy 2: James Joyce: Two Gallants 3: Liam O'Flaherty: The Sniper 4: Elizabeth Bowen: Unwelcome Idea 5: James Stephens: A Rhinoceros, Some Ladies, and a Horse 6: Brendan Behan: The Confirmation Suit 7: John McGahern: Sierra Leone 8: Val Mulkerns: Four Green Fields 9: Dara Ó Conaola: I nGleic (In a Pickle) 10: William Trevor: Two More Gallants 11: Mary O'Donnell: The Black Church 12: Éilís Ní Dhuibhne: Miss Moffat Goes to Town 13: Mirsad Ibisevic: Emigrant 14: Caitlín Nic Íomhair: Cíocras (Relentless) 15: Melatu Uche Okorie: Arrival 16: Kevin Power: Catastrophe 17: Caitriona Lally: Tramlines

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Book SynopsisIn the chaos of early 199s Russia, a paralyzed veteran’s wife and stepdaughter conceal the Soviet Union’s collapse from him in order to keep him—and his pension—alive, until it turns out the tough old man has other plans. Olga Slavnikova’s The Man Who Couldn’t Die is an instant classic of post-Soviet Russian literature.Trade ReviewDarkly sardonic . . . . oddly timely, for there are all sorts of understated hints about voter fraud, graft, payoffs, and the endless promises of politicians who have no intention of keeping them. It is also deftly constructed, portraying a world and a cast of characters who are caught between the orderly if drab world of old and the chaos of the 'new rich' in a putative democracy. . . . Slavnikova is a writer American readers will want to have more of. * Kirkus Reviews (starred review) *Rather than celebrate the crumbling of walls, Slavnikova’s novel shows us all the Lenin statues still in place. It portrays a culture chained to old realities, unable to establish a new understanding of itself. This is a funhouse mirror worth looking into, especially in today’s United States with its alternative facts, unpoetic assertions, and morbid relationship with the past. -- Leeore Schnairsohn * Los Angeles Review of Books *The Man Who Couldn’t Die, lucidly translated by Marian Schwartz, will resound with American readers. Bristling with voter fraud, fake news, and the cozy top-and-tail of media moguls and politicians, Slavnikova’s book is fluent in new language of the damaged reality principle. -- Olivia Parkes * The Baffler *The Man Who Couldn’t Die is a Gogolian portrait of the Kharitonovs, a Moscow family who 'had not been handed any party favors at capitalism’s kiddie party' after the fall of the Soviet Union. -- Natasha Randall * Times Literary Supplement *The Man Who Couldn’t Die is an overlooked masterpiece of post-Soviet prose by one of contemporary Russia’s most important authors. It reveals how Slavnikova’s descriptions (and Schwartz’s English equivalent) belong alongside those of Vladimir Nabokov, Iurii Olesha, and Nikolai Gogol as truly revolutionary in Russian prose. -- Benjamin Sutcliffe, Miami UniversityThe Man Who Couldn’t Die is a wonderful depiction of a society in flux, and of the people caught up in these waves of change. * Tony's Reading List *Table of ContentsIntroduction by Mark LipovetskyThe Man Who Couldn’t Die

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewThis young prodigy of a French writer was so shrewd, so ruthless, glittering and clever, so full of dawning marvel at the ways of the world, so freshly observant, that every page he wrote was a delight -- Fay WeldonPassages of delirious sensuality ... so assured that one wonders how he would have written in maturity * Guardian *A masterpiece -- Jean Cocteau

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"This third installment of The Red Wheel, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's narrative of the events leading to the Russian Revolution, is remarkable in its complexity. The novel presents a polyphonic kaleidoscope of people, places, and events, some real, some fictitious." —Society Journal"In The Red Wheel, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn produced a masterpiece, and proved himself a worthy companion of Dostoevsky and rival of Tolstoy." —Law and Liberty"Marian Schwartz's new translation is the first time the expansive and resonant March 1917: Node III: Book 2 has been published in English. . . . Solzhenitsyn captures the chaos of the time, when a centuries-old order fell and the factions that would fight to replace it were still forming." —Foreword Reviews"Here we see how a millennium-old nation ruled by a monarchy that had lasted a good three centuries fell apart in three days. Book 2 of March 1917 powerfully reveals how a decent if flawed political and social order collapsed 'with incredible alacrity,' as Solzhenitsyn writes elsewhere." —The New Criterion"Of all his novels so far, this one feels the most immediate, the most current. The freneticism, violence, confusion, and disorientation of Russians in Petrograd from March 15 through March 17 of 1917 can also be seen in minds and actions of Chinese in Hong Kong, right now. . . . No one surpasses Solzhenitsyn in conveying a sense of what it feels to live at and near the center of this kind of vortex." —Law and Liberty"March 1917 is haunted by 'what-ifs.' Indeed, Solzhenitsyn suggests, the revolution was less likely than other outcomes, and all retrospective attempts to describe it as inevitable are fallacious. In his view, events might just as easily followed a different course. As we contemplate what transpired, we regret the Russia that might have been." —The American Scholar"March 1917, Book 2, covers the three days of the February Revolution, which is shown as an immense national unraveling that corrupted public morality and destroyed social cohesion, often with sadistic brutality, and that inevitably led to the Bolshevik takeover eight months later. This historical catastrophe, Solzhenitsyn believed, was due to the fecklessness of the imperial elites all the way up to the terminally mediocre Czar Nicholas II; the revolutionaries’ blind lust for destruction; and the estrangement of the bulk of the people from God and country." —National Review"[B]ook 2 of the March 1917 node . . . dramatizes the tumultuous events of the March Revolution—a workers’ strike in Petrograd; abdication of Tsar Nicholas II and house arrest of the Romanov family; establishment of a provisional government to rule over Russia. Although The Red Wheel is fiction, Solzhenitsyn prided himself on the historical accuracy of his work. He spent ten years writing the March 1917 node, adding psychological depth, descriptive details, and, occasionally, his own views to bring well-known personalities and events to life." —Choice

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Book Synopsis

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Book Synopsis

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