Fiction in translation

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Book SynopsisThe memories we return to most frequently are the most inaccurate, the least faithful to reality...This is the tragic realisation made by the narrator of Ramifications as he tries to make sense of the defining event of his childhood: the disappearance of his mother to join the Zapatista uprising that shook Mexico in 1994. Left behind with an emotionally distant father who is singularly unqualified to raise him, and an older sister who only wants to get on with being a teenager, he takes refuge in strange rituals that isolate him from his peers: favouring the left-hand side of his body, trying to tear leaves into perfect halves, obsessively shaping origami figures. Now, two decades older and withdrawn from the world, he folds and unfolds these memories, searching the creases for the truth of what happened to his mother, unaware that he is on the verge of a discovery that will destroy everything he believed he knew about his family.Award-winning Mexican author Daniel Saldaña París masterfully evokes a child’s attempts to interpret events beyond his understanding. Less a Bildungs-roman than a tale of arrested development, this story of a boy growing up in the aptly-named Educación neighbourhood of Mexico City is a rich and moving portrait of a life thwarted by machismo and secrecy.Trade ReviewDublin Literary Award (Longlist)"[S]trange and elegant. . . . París brilliantly explores memory, masculinity, and familial drama in equal measure. The result is an affecting account of arrested development." —Publishers Weekly"A Dostoyevskian tale set in the Mexico City of today." —Kirkus"Ramifications grapples with the earnest naivety of one experiencing trauma far too young." —New Statesman"Saldaña París excels at imbuing his earnest protagonist's effort to write himself free from his memories with levity, which MacSweeney — a highly gifted translator who seems to specialize in voice-driven and tonally complex books — conveys beautifully." —NPR.org"Saldaña París brilliantly folds this story into itself, deftly dissolving time and reality, while constructing an intricate, intimate origami of heartbreak, dark humor, familial fractures and profound dispossession."" —Tanaïs , author of BRIGHT LINES"Saldaña París is the Mexican Philip Roth."" —Ottessa Moshfegh , author of EILEEN"Ramifications is a masterful and devastating fairy tale about the particular loneliness of a child lost in the woods of machismo and social revolts."" —Alejandro Zambra , author of BONSÁI and WAYS OF GOING HOME"A deft examination on the nature of truth." —The Skinny"Paced like a detective thriller, this slim novel contains hard-boiled meditations on masculinity, personal responsibility and the plasticity of memory." —Seattle Times"In Daniel Saldaña París’s resonant novel Ramifications, an eventful summer has ripple effects that last decades. . . . a rich, smart, and satisfying rendering of abandonment and loss, whose effects reverberate through time." —Foreword Reviews"[A] sinister little book suffused with a biting humor and morbid curiosity. " —Uriel Perez, BookPeople"A captivating novel by one of the most important figures in contemporary Mexican literature." —Morning Star"the reader is drawn into an almost memoir-like story, interjecting snippets of real-time Mexican history with the dreamlike quality of being stuck within a house." —Sounds & Colours"When the revelation arrives, it comes as a punch in the guts, one the reader feels as much as the narrator does." —Tony's Reading List************Praise for Daniel Saldaña ParísEccles Centre and Hay Festival Writers Award Winner"Brief, brilliantly written, and kissed by a sense of the absurd. . . . Like a much lazier, Mexico City version of Dostoevsky's Underground Man ." —NPR Fresh Air"Great fun are the jabs at academia, Mexico City and the dusty town where the action, or inaction, moves after Rodrigo meets Marcelo, a Spanish cretin with a Ph.D. in aesthetics. These flameless flaneurs humph and hump, personifying urban malaise." —New York Times Sunday Book Review"Full of odd twists and surprises. Among the high points are Saldana Paris' exasperated but affectionate paeans to 'the immense, beautiful city' that is Mexico's capital. Though a study of slothfulness and its discontents, a welcome book on which the author has clearly expended energy." —Kirkus"The novel takes some bizarre turns as Marcelo leads Rodrigo into experiments involving drugs, tequila, hypnosis and more, all in the name of transformation. If the young man's notion of radical change is to take part in his life rather than observe it from afar, he's off to a good start."—New York Times"Saldana Paris's first novel to be translated Stateside is a leisurely story of slacking off that's nicely conveyed in a sharp, cynical tone. . . . Read this messy, shaggy picaresque for its ample page-by-page pleasures, which include devilishly clever syntax, a charming tendency to digress, and satisfying flashes of Rodrigo and Marcelo getting their act together." —Publishers Weekly"For all Saldana Paris' sharp wit, Among Strange Victims is about waking up to the world's brighter possibilities." —NPR

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Book SynopsisHaruki Murakami (Author) In 1978, Haruki Murakami was twenty-nine and running a jazz bar in downtown Tokyo. One April day, the impulse to write a novel came to him suddenly while watching a baseball game. That first novel, Hear the Wind Sing, won a new writers' award and was published the following year. More followed, including A Wild Sheep Chase and Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World, but it was Norwegian Wood, published in 1987, that turned Murakami from a writer into a phenomenon.In works such as The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, 1Q84, What I Talk About When I Talk About Running and Men Without Women, Murakami's distinctive blend of the mysterious and the everyday, of melancholy and humour, continues to enchant readers, ensuring his place as one of the world's most acclaimed and well-loved writers.Philip Gabriel (Translator) Philip Gabriel is the author of

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Book SynopsisThe Trial is one of the central works of modern literature. This meticulous new translation includes the chapters Kafka left incomplete and is accompanied by a biographical preface, detailed introduction, chronology, bibliography and notes.

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Book SynopsisWe takes place in a distant future, where humans are forced to submit their wills to the requirements of the state, under the rule of the all-powerful Benefactor, and dreams are regarded as a sign of mental illness. In a city of straight lines, protected by green walls and a glass dome, a spaceship is being built in order to spearhead the conquest of new planets. Its chief engineer, a man called D-503, keeps a journal of his life and activities: to his mathematical mind everything seems to make sense and proceed as it should, until a chance encounter with a woman threatens to shatter the very foundations of the world he lives in. Written in a highly charged, direct and concise style, Zamyatin's 1921 seminal novel - here presented in Hugh Aplin's crisp translation - is not only an indictment of the Soviet Russia of his time and a precursor of the works of Orwell and the dystopian genre, but also a prefiguration of much of twentieth-century history and a harbinger of the ominous future that may still lay ahead of us.

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Book SynopsisYukio Mishima was born into a samurai family and imbued with the code of complete control over mind and body, and loyalty to the Emperor - the same code that produced the austerity and self-sacrifice of Zen. He wrote countless stories and thirty-three plays, in some of which he performed. Several films have been made from his novels, including The Sound of Waves, Enjo which was based on The Temple of the Golden Pavilion and The Sailor Who Fell From Grace with the Sea. Among his other works are the novels Confessions of a Mask and Thirst for Love and the short story collections Death in Midsummer and Acts of Worship. The Sea of Fertility tetralogy, however, is his masterpiece. After Mishima conceived the idea of The Sea of Fertility in 1964, he frequently said he would die when it was completed. On 25 November 1970, the day he completed The Decay of the Angel, the last novel of the cycle, Mishima committed seppuku (ritual suicide) Trade ReviewIn Runaway Horses Mishima writes of a desire to destroy or subvert beauty at its height, thus strengthening its appeal and preventing its slow decay * New York Times *One of the great writers of the twentieth century * Los Angeles Times *Mishima's novels exude a monstrous and compulsive weirdness, and seem to take place in a kind of purgatory for the depraved -- Angela CarterThis tetralogy is considered one of Yukio Mishima's greatest works. It could also be considered a catalogue of Mishima's obsessions with death, sexuality and the samurai ethic. Spanning much of the 20th century, the tetralogy begins in 1912 when Shigekuni Honda is a young man and ends in the 1960s with Honda old and unable to distinguish reality from illusion. En route, the books chronicle the changes in Japan that meant the devaluation of the samurai tradition and the waning of the aristocracy * Washington Post *Mishima succeeded, unlike any other writer before him, in creating a glittering alloy of Eastern and Western traditions, classical and contemporary forms * New York Times *

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Book SynopsisA moving, thoughtful story of long-lost love and second chancesGrowing up in the suburbs in post-war Japan, it seemed to Hajime that everyone but him had brothers and sisters.Trade ReviewA story of love in a cool climate, intensely romantic and weepily beautiful...it is startlingly different: a true original * Guardian *Casablanca remade Japanese style...It is dream-like writing, laden with scenes which have the radiance of a poem * The Times *This wise and beautiful book is full of hidden truths * New York Times *This book aches...an eloquent treatise on the vertiginous, irrational powers of love and desire * Independent on Sunday *Impressively written and structured... Above all, the novel is memorable for its unflinchingly extreme treatment of romantic love * Times Literary Supplement *

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Book SynopsisTsukuru Tazaki had four best friends at school. One day they announced that they didn't want to see him or talk to him ever again. Since that day, Tsukuru has been unable to form intimate connections. Then he meets Sara, who insists that he must find out what happened all those years ago. From the internationally acclaimed author of NORWEGIAN WOOD comes a poignant mystery story about friendship.Trade ReviewA naturalistic coming-of-age story… sprinkled with strange images and written in a hauntingly mournful key * Guardian *[Murakmi’s] elegant, frugal prose creates a tale of courage and hope as Tsukuru tries to unlock the secrets of his past * Stylist *Critics have variously likened Murakami to Raymond Carver, Raymond Chandler, Arthur C Clarke, Don DeLillo, Philip K Dick, Bret Easton Ellis and Thomas Pynchon – a roster so ill-assorted to suggest he is in fact an original * New York Times *A rich and even brilliant piece of work… Genuinely resonant and satisfying -- James Walton * Spectator *This is a book for both the new and experienced reader....[it] reveals another side of Murakami, one not so easy to pin down. Incurably restive, ambiguous and valiantly struggling toward a new level of maturation -- Patti Smith * New York Times *

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Book SynopsisThe Phantom of the Opera is Gaston Leroux''s exquisite blend of Gothic horror and tragic romance, which formed the basis for a world-renowned stage musical. This Penguin Classics edition is translated with notes by Mireille Ribiere, and an introduction by Jann Matlock.When the new managers of the Paris Opera House ignore their predecessors'' warnings about the hideous ''Opera ghost'' stalking the theatre, it is a fatal mistake. The Phantom haunts the imagination of the beautiful and talented singer Christine Daaé, appearing to her as the ''Angel of Music'' - a disembodied voice, coaching her to sing as she never could before. When Christine is courted by a handsome young Viscount, the Phantom is consumed by jealousy and seeks revenge. And when Christine suddenly disappears after a triumphant singing performance, it becomes clear that the Phantom''s time has come. With its pervading atmosphere of menace, tinged with dark humour, The Phantom of the Opera (1910) has inspired film, stage and literature since its publication, including Andrew Lloyd Webber''s Phantom of the Opera, the most successful theatrical show of all time. Mireille Ribière''s highly readable and historically accurate translation captures the drive and drama of Leroux''s vivid tale, and is accompanied by extensive notes and further reading. Jann Matlock''s fascinating new introduction examines the Phantom''s legacy and uncovers the real secrets hidden in the Paris Opera House.Gaston Leroux (1868-1927) was born in Paris, the son of a building contractor. His first novel was serialised in the late 1890s, and with the 1907 publication of The Mystery of the Yellow Room he launched his career as a pioneer of the French detective novel. The Phantom of the Opera (1910) has been Leroux''s best-known novel in the English-speaking world ever since the resounding success of the 1925 silent film version.If you enjoyed The Phantom of the Opera, you might like Victor Hugo''s Les Miserables, also available in Penguin Classics.Trade Review“Ingenious . . . breathless suspense.”—The Nation

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Book Synopsis'A writer whose tears for her characters freeze as they drop' SUNDAY TIMES'Vivid and moving and in combination with the existentialist panorama of history make the book well worth reading' KIRKUS REVIEWS 'Simone de Beauvoir has the true novelist's gift' A. S. BYATTWhen the beautiful, ambitious actress Regina takes Fosca into her life and learns his amazing truth, she is obsessed with the thought that in his memory her performances will live forever. But, as he recounts the story of his existence over more than six centuries, she learns of his involvement in some of the most significant events in history and how his humanity has withered away. Regina finally understands the implications for him to hope and love.All Men Are Mortal was adapted into a film released in 1994, starring Irene Jacob, Marianne Sagebrecht and Stephen Rea.Trade ReviewA writer whose tears for her characters freeze as they drop * Sunday Times *Vivid and moving and in combination with the existentialist panorama of history make the book well worth reading * Kirkus Reviews *Simone de Beauvoir is a writer whose every work I pounce on eagerly - her vision is so wide, the tale she tells is so interesting, her characterisation so psychologically profound * Yorkshire Post *Simone de Beauvoir has the true novelist's gift of selecting detail and creating individuals whilst refusing to sum up situations -- A. S. ByattProbably de Beauvoir's strangest and most compelling novel * Ingrams *Probably de Beauvoir's strangest and most compelling novel * Ingrams *A writer whose tears for her characters freeze as they drop * Sunday Times *

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Book Synopsis 'I'm in story heaven with this book.' Cecelia Ahern, author of P.S. I Love You A charming tale of friendship, love and loneliness in contemporary Japan Sentaro has failed. He has a criminal record, drinks too much, and his dream of becoming a writer is just a distant memory. With only the blossoming of the cherry trees to mark the passing of time, he spends his days in a tiny confectionery shop selling dorayaki, a type of pancake filled with sweet bean paste. But everything is about to change. Into his life comes Tokue, an elderly woman with disfigured hands and a troubled past. Tokue makes the best sweet bean paste Sentaro has ever tasted. She begins to teach him her craft, but as their friendship flourishes, social pressures become impossible to escape and Tokue’s dark secret is revealed, with devastating consequences. Sweet Bean Paste is a moving novel about the burden of the past and the redemptive power of friendship. Translated into English for the first time, Durian Sukegawa’s beautiful prose is capturing hearts all over the world.Trade Review‘Simply delicious.’ * Guardian *‘I'm in story heaven with this book.’ * Cecelia Ahern, author of PS, I Love You *‘Charmingly written, the plot is a continual surprise. A tale of sorrow that feels uplifting by its end.’ * i (The Independent) *‘As wise as it is moving, Sukegawa’s novel beguiles and seduces the reader from evocative opening to compassionate close.’ * The Herald *‘A poignant, poetic fable.’ * Denis Thériault, author of The Peculiar Life of a Lonely Postman *‘Sweet Bean Paste is a subtle, moving exploration of redemption in an unforgiving society... Sukegawa’s writing style, delicately translated by Alison Watts, is well-matched to the subject matter: a slow, muted movement that gently guides the reader, while leaving the unnecessary unsaid... It is an original twist on the “odd couple” genre, in which two unlikely companions find they have much to offer each other, and retains much of the humour that genre entails. A book with deceptive heft and lingering resonance.’ * Japan Times *‘Enthralling...This is that rare book that leaves readers truly humbled, reminding us of everything we should be thankful for, and that it is never too late to do something with our lives.’ * The Bookbag *‘A polished piece of work, and a decent, touching read.’ * Complete Review *‘A beautifully rendered tale of outsiders coming together.’ * B&N Reads *‘Charming and uplifting.’ * Press Association *‘Sukegawa – enabled by Watts's lucid translation – tells an endearing, thoughtful tale about relationships and the everyday meaning of life... Readers in search of gently illuminating fare – e.g., Shion Miura's The Great Passage, Jeff Talarigo's The Pearl Diver – will appreciate this toothsome treat.’ * Library Journal *‘Although Tokue’s past is a reflection of a dark chapter of Japanese history, her wisdom, patience, and kindness shape this touching and occasionally wistful novel. Through Tokue’s story, Sukegawa eloquently explores the seeds of biases and challenges us to truly listen to the natural world and the messages it artfully hides.’ * Booklist *‘A perfect example of cover and content in total harmony – I love this little masterpiece.’ * Gary Powell, Foyles *‘An ode to cuisine and to life. Poignant, poetic, sensual: a treat.’ * Lausanne Cités *‘Sweet Bean Paste is a short book that can be read quickly, yet it unfolds at a relaxed pace. The changing seasons provide reference points for the changes in the characters, but never in a way that seems forced.’ * The Japan News *‘This mixture of grief and solace, cherry blossoms and red beans is a recipe for happiness.’ * Radio SRF 2 Kultur Kompakt *‘Sweet Bean Paste is a book for your heart, mind...and appetite... It feels important, significant and far-reaching. It really is a moving and inspiring story which is as heart-warming as a delicious dorayaki, well maybe with a bit of salt. It is not often that a book touches your very soul and, therefore, Sweet Bean Paste deserves the highest of marks.’ * Thoughts on Papyrus blog *

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Book SynopsisWelcome to 1990s Norway. White picket fences run in neat rows and Christian conservatism runs deep. But as the Artist considers her past, her practice and her hatred, things start stirring themselves up around her. In a corner of Oslo a coven of witches begin cooking up some curses. A time-travelling Edvard Munch arrives in town to join a death metal band, closely pursued by the teenaged subject of his painting Puberty, who has murder on her mind. Meanwhile, out deep in the forest, a group of school girls get very lost and things get very strange. And awful things happen in aspic.Jenny Hval's latest novel is a radical fusion of feminist theory and experimental horror, and a unique treatise on magic, writing and art.Trade Review"Hval's curiosity is more than simple pleasure in perversity: It's meant to defile the idea of women's bodies as pristine and plush . and reshape it into something more dreadfully real. Maybe more revolutionary than that transfiguration is her disemboweling of desire itself, unraveling it to its fearsome, primal state, and exploring the strangeness of how sexuality can alienate one from oneself; how feelings of mistrust come about when desire is new, queer and unreliable." * NPR *"Strange and lyrical . Hval's writing is surreal and rich with the grotesque banalities of human existence." * Publishers Weekly *"The themes of alienation, queerness, and the unsettling nature of desire align Hval with modern mainstays like Chris Kraus, Ottessa Moshfegh, and Maggie Nelson."-Pitchfork * Pitchfork *"Hval's surreal debut riffs on the same layered intricacies as her music, transcending simple categorisation to create a dreamy landscape both separate and a part of what we recognise as reality." * Stinging Fly *"With the release of the newly translated Paradise Rot, we can experience her artistic evolution beyond the shape of a timeline, as a series of challenging examinations melting and bending in on themselves . Listening to-or now reading-her work feels like getting jettisoned into an underwater reality that fantastically mirrors our own. It would be entirely terrifying, if exploring it weren't so much fun." * The Nation *A sensual, putrid reimagining of the original sin that explores the dynamics between two young women . [a] striking debut novel . To read Paradise Rot is to inhabit one of Hval's eerie, theory-conscious soundscapes. As in a dream, the closeness of this world to our own and its simultaneous uncanny otherness, awash with potent symbolism, leaves us looking at everything anew. It took nine years to be translated into English; I only hope we needn't wait so long for the two other books, already published in Norwegian, from this talented polymath. * Financial Times *"All I can say is with no electricity I read Paradise Rot by Jenny Hval in the dark tonight by flashlight, in one go. It will not let go of you. A surreal *and* realist gem of sensation and detail and character. Beautiful and boldly written" * Jeff VanderMeer, author of Annihilation *Astute * Kirkus Reviews *[Girls Against God] is part fever dream, part manifesto, and part nostalgic reminiscing, with a hefty dose of feminist and queer theory for good measure. ... Chaotic yet ordered, Hval dives deeply into the process of self-discovery. [Her] language is visceral and haunting, corporal and carnal. -- Carolyn Ciesla * Booklist *This genre-bending novel from a self-described gloomy child queen blends feminism and the occult with a touch of time travel. -- Joshunda Sanders * Boston Globe *[An] incendiary genre-bending novel. ... Throughout, Hval employs a dirge-like repetition of themes (feminist rage prominent among them), which enlivens her witchy visions and sets the stage for a reincarnated Edvard Munch, on the run from the vengeful subject of his painting Puberty. Hval's fascinating exploration is not for the faint of heart, but those who like it dark will find this right up their alley. * Publishers Weekly *The atmosphere of Girls against God is on its surface bleak and unforgiving and yet beneath that impression there is a second story about the strength and solidarity of despised women. -- David Renton * Morning Star *[In] Girls Against God, Hval plunges up to her elbows in the thick, black, chthonic goo of rebellion and angst, through the quintessentially Scandinavian medium of black metal. The black-metal scene has historically been extremely sexist, but Hval reclaims it for the hateful, nihilistic teenage girls of the world with a decades-spanning tale of cinematic terrorism, political witchcraft, and satanic noise. * The A.V. Club (5 new books to read in October) *What begins with dressing as a goth and cursing at school morphs into witches' covens and fantastic demonic, cannibalistic banquets. Along the way Hval segues into the role of language (Norwegian, but also English) as a tool of both suppression and liberation, and the role of digital technology in the same. -- ArtReview * Mark Rappolt *Hval is one of the few musicians to branch out into the world of literary fiction. For Hval, it is a sideline that makes total sense, working as an extension of her atmospheric sound and descriptive, inquisitive lyrics. -- Leonie Cooper * Guardian *It is Hval's unflinching attitude to mixing genres that has brought both her essays and her bewitching, otherworldly music to critical acclaim...Hval is best in her moments of dark humour and in her writing on femininity. -- Baya Simons * Financial Times *Ambitious...[Girls Against God] has much of interest to say about the loneliness and pleasure of adolescent blasphemy, with totems of patriarchal Norwegian authority such as Knut Hamsun, Henrik Ibsen, Edvard Munch, and the Lutheran church singled out in the narrator's crosshairs. -- George MacBeth * Asymptote Journal *Anti-bourgeois and feminist, soaked in conviction and rage. -- Cal Revely-Calder * Telegraph *Strange and seductive and challenging and, at times, very funny ... a reminder that musician-turned-author Hval, is one of the most intriguing, provocative artists around at the moment. -- Teddy Jamieson * Herald *Girls Against God covers every angsty young woman's favourite subjects. Witchcraft, heavy metal, viscera, and hatred. It's a book in the grand tradition of Kathy Acker and women surrealists everywhere, dancing through space and time into different dimensions. -- India Lewis * The Arts Desk *An excellent, bewitching read. Jenny Hval's musical ability makes her a natural novelist - her writing often feeling like a blend of lyrics and essays. Girls Against God is a terrifying, striking fusion of the occult and female repression. -- Laura Mehers * Indiependent *In Girls Against God, Hval challenges the form and conventions of the novel once again: a vivid, seething voice narrates a series of apocalyptic events cut together with food fights, black metal shows, black magic, and surreal, witchy rituals. -- Alexandra Kleeman * Lit Hub *Hval, who is known for using body imagery to express political ideas about art, depicts cultish rituals to subvert what she sees as "the restrictive framework of our daily lives." * New Yorker *Girls Against God is compelling, surprising, and frequently inspiring. ... laced throughout with powerful urban imagery and striking turns of phrase. -- Andrea Tallarita * PopMatters *Truly transgressive -- Terri-Jane Dow * Severine *[Girls Against God] is a must-read for anyone looking for a mystifying, genre-bending read. -- Hannah May-Powers * The Tulane Hullabaloo *Riveting ... Like the French philosopher Luce Irigaray, [Hval] explores ideas of what a feminist or radical language would sound like. -- Sukhdev Sandhu * Guardian *Hval is steeped in the traditions of autofiction and the theoretical novel. ... The plot aspires toward an "escape route from structure and rhetoric," and makes room for thrilling observations on art, magic, and rebirth. -- Jenn Pelly * Pitchfork (Favourite Music Books of 2020) *If Girls Against God were an artwork, it would be a Munch - raw, dark and seething. -- Chloë Ashby * Times Literary Supplement *Readers drawn to more experimental literature will feel strangely at home in Jenny Hval's novel. For all of Girls Against God's baffling imagery and cryptic dialogue, the narrator registers as an individual longing for an existence outside the binary of light and dark, good and evil; a voice oppressed by a lifetime of being told it must be saved because it is lost, one that sees in the archetype of the witch not a heretic or a deviant but something more elemental: someone who is free. -- Zack Ravas * Zyzzyva *[Hval] pries into black metal's past to present an alternative, radical, and genuinely liberating trajectory for black metal to exist as a dissident art form. -- William Peel * Overland *Hval's writing embraces finding new ways to express thought patterns, experiences, and stories-and encourages people to let go of logic rather than look for the familiar markers of institutionally accepted creative writing. -- Nathania Gilson * Hazlitt *To say that Jenny Hval has an impressive creative range is an understatement ... Girls Against God is ambitious, with a plot that blends time travel, black metal, witchcraft, and film theory. -- Tobias Carroll * Tor *

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewAn irresistibly brilliant examination of modern conscience * The New York Times *Camus is the accused, his own prosecutor and advocate. The Fall might have been called 'The Last Judgement' -- Olivier Todd

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewProbably no European writer of his time left so deep a mark on the imagination -- Conor Cruise O'Brien

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Book Synopsis

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Book SynopsisShizuko Natsuki was born in Tokyo in 1938. She graduated from Keio University with a degree in English literature, marrying in 1963 and moving to Fukuoka, where she lived throughout most of her life. Natsuki is not only one of Japan's bestselling mystery writers but also one of the most prolific, having written more than eighty novels and short story collections in her lifetime. More than forty of her novels and stories have been made into films. She died in 2016.

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Book SynopsisA compelling novel about the requirement to be perfect, without completely losing sight of yourself - by the greatest feminist of the twentieth-century, Simone de Beauvoir.Laurence lives what appears to be an ideal existence. Her life features all the trappings of the 1960s Parisian bourgeoisie: money, a handsome husband, two daughters and a lover. She also has a successful career as an advertising copywriter, though her mind unbidden writes copy whilst she''s at home, and dreams of domesticity in the office.But Laurence is a woman whose happiness was relegated long ago by the expectation of perfection. Relentlessly torn by the competing needs of her family, it is only when her 10-year-old daughter, Catherine, starts to vocalise her despair about the unfairness of the world that Laurence resists.TRANSLATED BY LAUREN ELKIN

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Book Synopsis** Shortlisted for the 2020 International Dublin Literary Award **The radical, urgent new novel from the author of The End of Eddy - a personal and powerful story of violence.I met Reda on Christmas Eve 2012, at around four in the morning. He approached me in the street, and finally I invited him up to my apartment. He told me the story of his childhood and how his father had come to France, having fled Algeria. We spent the rest of the night together, talking, laughing. At around 6 o'clock, he pulled out a gun and said he was going to kill me. He insulted me, strangled and raped me. The next day, the medical and legal proceedings began.History of Violence retraces the story of that night, and looks at immigration, class, racism, desire and the effects of trauma in an attempt to understand a history of violence, its origins, its reasons and its causes. 'It stays with you' Times'A heartbreaking novel' John BoyneTrade ReviewLouis’s greatest strength as a writer is that he feels things so passionately, sometimes to the point of obsession, but that he also has a philosophical turn of mind that explores, rather than neutralises, his feelings. -- Edmund White * Guardian *[B]oth brave and ambitious in its determination never to let its reader, or its author, escape lightly the damaging realities it describes. -- Tim Adams * Observer *[A] harrowing piece of autofiction… History of Violence is a slim but densely layered novel that begins with raw urgency. -- Johanna Thomas-Corr * The Times *[A] heartbreaking novel… I find myself captivated by Édouard Louis's books and his raw honesty. -- John Boyne * Irish Times *An intense and uncomfortably thrilling book, which uses the harrowing events of that Christmas Eve as a basis for a wider exploration of class, race and individualism... a novel that is unflinching in its examination of class and discrimination. -- Tash Aw * Times Literary Supplement *

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Book SynopsisWe all live our lives carrying secrets we cannot disclose. 'Beguiling... Murakami is brilliant at folding the humdrum alongside the supernatural; finding the magic that's nested in life's quotidian details' GuardianWhen a thirty-something portrait painter is abandoned by his wife, he holes up in the mountain home of a famous artist. The days drift by, spent painting, listening to music and drinking whiskey in the evenings. But then he discovers a strange painting in the attic and unintentionally begins a strange journey of self-discovery that involves a mysterious ringing bell, a precocious thirteen-year-old girl, a Nazi assassination attempt and a haunted underworld.A stunning work of imagination, Killing Commendatore is a surreal tale of love and loneliness, war and art.Trade ReviewIt’s safe to say that there’s no one like Murakami * Literary Review *Murakami’s reality has many sides; some plain, some fancy. Translators Philip Gabriel and Ted Goossen capture every colour on this mind-altering palette. No other author mixes domestic, fantastic and esoteric elements into such weirdly bewitching shades. Murakami’s “Land of Metaphor” remains a country where wonders never cease -- Boyd Tonkin * Financial Times *Wild, thrilling. . . Murakami is a master storyteller and he knows how to keep us hooked * Sunday Times *Exhilarating. . . . Only in the calm madness of his magical realism can Murakami truly capture one of his obsessions, the usually ineffable yearning that drives a person to make art * Washington Post *Expansive and intricate . . . touches on many of the themes familiar in Mr. Murakami’s novels: the mystery of romantic love, the weight of history, the transcendence of art, the search for elusive things just outside our grasp * New York Times *

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Book SynopsisEmi Yagi is an editor at a women's magazine in Japan. She was born in 1988 and lives in Tokyo. Diary of a Void is her first novel; it won the Osamu Dazai Prize, awarded annually to the best debut work of fiction.

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Book SynopsisCatharina Ingelman-Sundberg is a Swedish author who has written numerous books in several genres, including popular science, cartoon, children's and historical fiction.Her individual writing style, featuring depth of insight, and sense of surprise and humour, gives her books a special appeal. So much so that in 1999 she won the prestigious Widding Prize as the best writer of popular history and historical novels.Catharina Ingelman-Sundberg is a former journalist and marine archaeologist. She now works full-time as an author and her books include the Little Old Lady series.Trade ReviewA good-natured, humorous crime caper * Independent on Sunday *A quirky, offbeat delight and a heart-warming reminder that one is never too old for some mischief and adventure -- Tom Winter, author of Lost & Found‘A shining expression of how joyous life is. It is not dangerous to grow old if you are like Märtha and the gang’ Hyllan, blogg‘The funniest book this year!’ Magazine Familjen, Norway‘A book which should be read by people of all ages’ Radio P4‘A hilarious farce . . . highly entertaining with very well crafted characters’ Frettabladid newspaper, Iceland‘It has humour, brilliant dialogue, irony and warmth. A light-hearted and enjoyable detective comedy with breath-taking events, which provide many smiles but also reflection on life’ PRO Pensionären‘Criminally fun!’ Bonniers Bokklubb‘Very imaginative, fun and filled with gallons of humour!’ Katarina Mazetti

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Book Synopsis''Compulsively readable'' New York Times''Utterly original'' Alberto ManguelIn the small and the insignificant - that''s where life hides, that''s where it builds its nest.Our unnamed narrator is not well. He suffers from attacks of ''pathological empathy'', which cause him to wander unbidden into other people''s memories. He moves from recollection to recollection - from a Bulgarian country fair in 1925, where he meets a Minotaur, to inside the mind of a slug, as it is swallowed by his own Grandfather.Part family history, part coming-of-age story, part meditation on life in Communist Europe, The Physics of Sorrow is a dazzlingly inventive, mind-expanding novel from one of Europe''s most important writers.TRANSLATED FROM THE BULGARIAN BY ANGELA RODEL

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Book SynopsisA collection of masterful short stories in Julio Cortazar's sophistocated, powerful and gripping style.'Julio Cortázar is truly a sorcerer and the best of him is here, in these hilariously fraught and almost eerily affecting stories' Kevin BarryA grieving family home becomes the site of a terrifying invasion. A frustrated love triangle, brought together by a plundered Aztec idol, spills over into brutality. A lodger’s inability to stop vomiting bunny rabbits inspires a personal confession. As dream melds into reality, and reality melts into nightmare, one constant remains throughout these thirty-five stories: the singular brilliance of Julio Cortazar’s imagination.WITH A NEW INTRODUCTION BY KEVIN BARRY ‘Anyone who doesn't read Cortázar is doomed’ Pablo NerudaTrade ReviewA fecund mixture of surrealism, symbolism, nouveau roman experimentation and Borgesian fantasy, Cortázar enthusiastically seeds his realistic settings – for the most part split between Buenos Aires and Paris – with impossible invasions of the fantastical and supernatural. The effect is often a refined philosophical take on the "uncanny tales" strand of speculative fiction * Guardian *Cortázar is one of the most distinctive voices in Latin American literature * Newsday *Original...circuitous and powerful... Cortázar's method is to keep tight control over a world in which, just below the surface of charming, sophisticated social life, lies the unfaceable and unmentionable * Financial Times *Cortázar can induce the kind of chilling unease that strikes like a sound in the night * Time *A first-class literary imagination at work * The New York Times Book Review *

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Book SynopsisHigh-class call girls billed to Mastercard. A psychic 13-year-old dropout with a passion for Talking Heads. A hunky matinee idol doomed to play dentists and teachers. A one-armed beach-combing poet, an uptight hotel clerk and one very bemused narrator caught in the web of advanced capitalist mayhem. Combine this offbeat cast of characters with Murakami's idiosyncratic prose and out comes Dance Dance Dance. 'If Raymond Chandler had lived long enough to see Blade Runner, he might have written something like Dance Dance Dance' Observer 'Mr Murakami writes metaphysical Far Easterns with a Western beat' New York Times 'An entertaining adventure that takes us to the frozen north of Japan to the dark, damp corners of the imagination... Reading Dance Dance Dance is a bit like being taken blindfold on a joy-ride' Independent 'Murakami reveals throughout, along with turn-on-a-sixpence plotting and joyous satirical Trade ReviewIf Raymond Chandler had lived long enough to see Blade Runner, he might have written something like Dance Dance Dance * Observer *An entertaining mix of modern sci-fi, nail-biting suspense and ancient myth...a sometimes funny, sometimes sinister mystery spoof, but like all good postmodern fiction, it also aims at contemporary human concerns, philosophical as well as literary * Chicago Tribune *An entertaining adventure that takes us to the frozen north of Japan, to Hawaii and to the dark, damp corners of the imagination... Reading Dance Dance Dance is a bit like being taken blindfold on a joy-ride * Independent *Mr Murakami writes metaphysical Far Easterns with a Western beat...there are echoes of Raymond Chandler, John Irving and Raymond Carver, but Mr. Murakami's mysterious plots and original characters are very much his own creation * New York Times *Brilliantly combines elements of the surreal, film noir and existentialist enquiry * Sunday Times *

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewJane Kentish's translation of The Gambler captures the seething resentment and desperation of the narrator's tone and faithfully conveys the voices of the other characters. * Kenneth Lantz, University of Toronto, Scottish Slavonic Review, No. 20, 1993 *

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Book SynopsisHadji Murat, one of the most feared and venerated mountain chiefs in the Caucasian struggle against the Russians, defects from the Muslim rebels after feuding with his ruling imam, Shamil. Hoping to protect his family, he joins the Russians, who accept him but never put their trust in him – and so Murat must find another way to end the struggle. Tolstoy knew as he was writing this, his last work of fiction, that it would not be published in his lifetime, and so gave an uncompromising portrayal of the Russians’ faults and the nature of the rebels’ struggle. In the process, he shows a mastery of style and an understanding of Chechnya that still carries great resonance today.Trade ReviewMy personal touchstone for the sublime of prose fiction, to me the best story in the world. -- Harold BloomAs I read Hadji Murat again, I thought: this is the man one should learn from. Here the electric charge went from the earth, through the hands, straight to the paper, with no insulation, quite mercilessly stripping off any and all outer shrouds with a sense of truth – a truth, furthermore, which was clothed in garments both transparent and beautiful. -- Isaac Babel

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Book SynopsisMelancholy I-II is a fictional invocation of the nineteenth-century Norwegian artist Lars Hertervig, who painted luminous landscapes, suffered mental illness and died poor in 1902. In this wild, feverish narrative, Jon Fosse delves into Hertervig’s mind as the events of one day precipitate his mental breakdown. A student of Hans Gude at the Academy of Art in Düsseldorf, Hertervig is paralyzed by anxieties about his talent and is overcome with love for Helene Winckelmann, his landlady’s daughter. Marked by inspiring lyrical flights of passion and enraged sexual delusions, Hertervig’s fixation on Helene persuades her family that he must leave. Oppressed by hallucinations and with nowhere to go, Hertervig shuttles between a cafe, where he endures the mockery of his more sophisticated classmates, and the Winckelmann’s apartment, which he desperately tries to re-enter – a limbo state which leads him inexorably into a state of madness. Published here in one volume in English for the first time, Melancholy I-II is a major novel by ‘the Beckett of the twenty-first century’ (Le Monde).Trade Review‘Jon Fosse is a major European writer.’ — Karl Ove Knausgaard, author of My Struggle‘Fosse has been compared to Ibsen and to Beckett, and it is easy to see his work as Ibsen stripped down to its emotional essentials. But it is much more. For one thing, it has a fierce poetic simplicity.’ — New York Times‘Jon Fosse has managed, like few others, to carve out a literary form of his own.’ — Nordic Council Literary Prize‘It is desperately poignant…Melancholy I-II is a difficult but deep book…It is essential for understanding his major themes and the evolution of [Fosse’s] technique and artistic vision.’ — Rónán Hession, Irish Times‘Fosse has written a strange mystical moebius strip of a novel, in which an artist struggles with faith and loneliness, and watches himself, or versions of himself, fall away into the lower depths. The social world seems distant and foggy in this profound, existential narrative.’ — Hari Kunzru, author of White Tears (Praise for Septology)‘I hesitate to compare the experience of reading these works to the act of meditation. But that is the closest I can come to describing how something in the critical self is shed in the process of reading Fosse, only to be replaced by something more primal. A mood. An atmosphere. The sound of words moving on a page.’ — Ruth Margalit, New York Review of Books (Praise for Septology)‘Septology feels momentous.’ — Catherine Taylor, Guardian (Praise for Septology)‘Fosse intuitively — and with great artistry — conveys ... a sense of wonder at the unfathomable miracle of life, even in its bleakest and loneliest moments.’ — Bryan Karetnyk, Financial Times (Praise for Septology)‘The entire septet seems to take place in a state of limbo. ... Though Fosse has largely done away with punctuation altogether, opting instead for sudden line breaks, his dense, sinuous prose is never convoluted, and its effect is mesmerizing.’ — Johanna Elster Hanson, TLS (Praise for Septology)

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Book SynopsisGoliarda Sapienza''s The Art of Joy was written over a nine year span, from 1967 to 1976. At the time of her death in 1996, Sapienza had published nothing in a decade, having been unable to find a publisher for what was to become her most celebrated work, due to its perceived immorality. One publisher''s rejection letter exclaimed: ''It''s a pile of iniquity.'' The manuscript lay for decades in a chest finally being proclaimed a forgotten masterpiece when it was eventually published in 2005. This epic Sicilian novel, which begins in the year 1900 and follows its main character, Modesta, through nearly the entire span of the 20th century, is at once a coming-of-age novel, a tale of sexual adventure and discovery, a fictional autobiography, and a sketch of Italy''s moral, political and social past. Born in a small Sicilian village and orphaned at age nine, Modesta spends her childhood in a convent raised by nuns.Through sheer cunning, she manages to escape, and eventual

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Book SynopsisNikolai Gogol''s ''epic poem in prose'', Dead Souls is a damning indictment of a corrupt society, translated from the Russian with an introduction and notes by Robert A. Maguire in Penguin Classics.Chichikov, a mysterious stranger, arrives in the provincial town of ''N'', visiting a succession of landowners and making each a strange offer. He proposes to buy the names of dead serfs still registered on the census, saving their owners from paying tax on them, and to use these ''dead souls'' as collateral to re-invent himself as a aristocrat. In this ebullient picaresque masterpiece, Gogol created a grotesque gallery of human types, from the bear-like Sobakevich to the insubstantial fool Manilov, and, above all, the devilish con man Chichikov. Dead Souls (1842), Russia''s first major novel, is one of the most unusual works of nineteenth-century fiction and a devastating satire on social hypocrisy.In his introduction, Robert A. Maguire discusses Gogol''s liTrade ReviewGogol was a strange creature, but then genius is always strange. (Vladimir Nabokov)"

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Book SynopsisBirds of Nabaa is a tale of physical and spiritual journeys, beginning in Nabaa, a remote Mauritanian village, whose herds lead the community according to their own inscrutable instincts, to life in Madrid, the Gulf states and Guinea, where the narrator's work as an embassy accountant takes him, and to Mauritania's capital Nouakchott. Inspired by the Sahara of his childhood and devoted from an early age to the vagabond life of the pre-Islamic poets, the narrator's constant life on the move in search of the inner stillness known only to desert dwellers leads him back always to the music, song and poetry so much a part of Mauritanian life and the spiritual universe of Sufism. The mix of diverse characters joining him includes Teresa, his Brazilian neighbour in Madrid whom he taught to make tea the Mauritanian way; Rajab the inspiring teacher in a blue face veil; Hussein the poet; Mariam, a postman between the living and the dead via cowrie shell readings; the exiled judge of Chinguetti; as well as his close friend the voracious reader and rebel Abdurrahman who wants to change the world, Abdel Hadi, the holy-fool sheikh with an encyclopaedic knowledge of Arab history and poetry, and Ould al-Taher, the first climate-change refugee. The narrator's travels take him to the village of Kanz al-Asrar near a tributary of the Senegal River, an area so fertile it is like a lush paradise. However, two and more years without any rain create drought, wells dry out, livelihoods shatter, and dreams turn to disturbing nightmarish premonitions of disaster. The burning fire of the sun is winning its eternal struggle with the hidden water that the clouds plant in the depths of the sand. As desertification takes hold, that paradise of southern Mauritania and of Nabaa gradually declines and the waves of migration, always a feature of life in the Sahara, intensify.Trade Review"Birds of Nabaa, A Mauritanian Tale by Mauritanian author Abdallah Uld Mohamadi Bah is a cathartic experience inspired by the passion of Sufism.""Uld Mohamadi Bah's characters are refined and crafted with delicate nuance. He captures the discordant feelings of those who have experienced immigration, whether by choice or impossible circumstances."Reviewed by Noshin Bokth in The New Arab newspaper: https://www.newarab.com/features/birds-nabaa-mystical-roamings-mauritanian-sufiTable of Contents12 Chapters. 1 Birds Soaring in Our Sky. 2 In the Shade of Teresa. 3 Soaring above the Touched Man's Nest. 4 My Life as Travelogue. 5 Rajab's Shade Giving Tent. 6 Three Men and a Woman. 7 Mariam the Cowrie Shell Reader. 8 Abdurrahman Lays Down his Saddle. 9 War Dance at Kanz al-Asrar. 10 That Woman's Name is Mounira. 11 Bread and Mint. 12 The Sheikh's Vision Comes True.

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Book SynopsisFROM THE AUTHOR OF THE JAPANESE BESTSELLER IF CATS DISAPPEARED FROM THE WORLD WHICH HAS SOLD OVER TWO MILLION COPIES

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Book SynopsisFramed as the confession of a tormented outcast who has murdered the only woman capable of understanding him, Ernesto Sabato''s The Tunnel has been acclaimed as a masterpiece by writers such as Albert Camus and Graham Greene. This Penguin Classics edition is translated by Margaret Sayers Peden with an introduction by Colm Tóibín.Infamous for the murder of Maria Iribarne, the artist Juan Pablo Castel is now writing a detailed account of his relationship with the victim from his prison cell: obsessed from the first moment he saw her examining one of his paintings, Castel had become fixated on her over the next months and fantasized over how they might meet again. When he happened upon her one day, a relationship was formed which swiftly convinced him of their mutual love. But Castel''s growing paranoia would lead him to destroy the one thing he truly cared about...Ernesto Sabato (1911-2011) was born in Rojas, a small town in Buenos Aires Province. He read physicTrade Review'An existentialist classic ... Retains a chilling, memorable power' * The New York Times Book Review *'Sabato captures the intensity of passions run into uncharted passages where love promises not tranquillity, but danger' * Los Angeles Times *Heralded by Albert Camus and Thomas Mann and widely translated, ''The Tunnel'' is the brief, obsessive, sometimes delirious confession of a convicted murderer. -- Robert Coover * New York Times Book Review *

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Book SynopsisFyodor Dostoevsky was born in Moscow on 11th November 1821. He had six siblings and his mother died in 1837 and his father in 1839. He graduated from the St Petersburg Academy of Military Engineering in 1846 but decided to change careers and become a writer. His first book, Poor Folk, did very well but on 23rd April 1849 he was arrested for subversion and sentenced to death. After a mock-execution his sentence was commuted to hard labour in Siberia where he developed epilepsy.He was released in 1854. His 1860 book, The House of the Dead was based on these experiences. In 1857 he married Maria Dmitrievna Isaeva. After his release he adopted more conservative and traditional values and rejected his previous socialist position. In the following years he spent a lot of time abroad, struggled with an addiction to gambling and fell deeply in debt. His wife died in 1864 and he married Anna Grigoryeva Snitkina. In the following years he published his most enduring and successful books, includingCrime and Punishment (1865). He died on 9th February 1881.Trade ReviewDostoevsky makes Martin Amis seem as if he was writing 130 years ago and that Dostoevsky is writing now. Read all of Dostoevsky. These books are for now and they matter, because it's up to us to call a halt to our TV producers, politicians, gutless artists, poets and writers: these "teenagers of all ages" who are propelling us towards a consumerist hell of disposability over qualityDostoevsky's finest masterpiece * John Bayley *Donne, Herbert, Shakespeare, Jane Austen, George Eliot, Dostoevsky, Henry James - these are the great psychologists - far greater than Freud or Klein or JungThe best translation of Crime and Punishment currently available... An especially faithful re-creation...with a coiled-spring kinetic energy... Don't miss it * Washington Post *Crime and Punishment...is about a big subject - the meaning of life - yet it is gritty, gripping and it's depiction of city life gives it a modern, timeless feel

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Book Synopsis''the greatest short story writer who has ever lived''Raymond Carver''s unequivocal verdict on Chekhov''s genius has been echoed many times by writers as diverse as Katherine Mansfield, Somerset Maugham, John Cheever and Tobias Wolf. While his popularity as a playwright has sometimes overshadowed his achievements in prose, the importance of Chekhov''s stories is now recognized by readers as well as by fellow authors. Their themes - alienation, the absurdity and tragedy of human existence - have as much relevance today as when they were written, and these superb new translations capture their modernist spirit. Elusive and subtle, spare and unadorned, the stories in this selection are among Chekhov''s most poignant and lyrical. They include well-known pieces such as ''The Lady with the Little Dog'', as well as less familiar work like ''Gusev'', inspired by Chekhov''s travels in the Far East, and ''Rothschild''s Violin'', a haunting and darkly humorous tale about death and loss. ABOUT THETrade Review...outstanding translations of a selection of Chekhov's stories... * Robert Chandler, Literary Review *Bartlett's Chekhov is a masterpiece of texture and rhythm. Not a false word anywhere. * Caryl Emerson, Princeton University *Seventeen peerless examples of how much life you can put into a few pages of fiction if you have Chekhovs economical mind, his eyes and ears, his feel for comedy and his sense of humanity. Chekhov is better known for his plays. But these are small masterpieces of their own, in a revelatory new translation. * Economist *Table of ContentsTHE HUNTSMAN; ON THE ROAD; THE LETTER; FORTUNE; GUSEV; FISH LOVE; THE BLACK MONK; ROTHSCHILD'S VIOLIN; THE STUDENT; THE HOUSE WITH THE MEZZANINE; IN THE CART; THE MAN IN A CASE; GOOSEBERRIES; ABOUT LOVE; THE LADY WITH THE LITTLE DOG; AT CHRISTMAS TIME; THE BISHOP

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Book Synopsis''... a human being, an intellectual human being who constantly bends the entire force of his mind on the ridiculous task of forcing a wooden king into the corner of a wooden board, and does it without going mad!''A group of passengers on a cruise ship challenge the world chess champion to a match. At first, they crumble, until they are helped by whispered advice from a stranger in the crowd - a man who will risk everything to win. Stefan Zweig''s acclaimed novella Chess is a disturbing, intensely dramatic depiction of obsession and the price of genius.Trade ReviewA brilliant writer * New York Times *One of the joys of recent years is the translation into English of Stefan Zweig's stories -- Edmund de WaalStefan Zweig was a late and magnificent bloom from the hothouse of fin de siecle Vienna * The Wall Street Journal *Zweig is one of the masters of the short story and novella, and by 'one of the masters' I mean that he's up there with Maupassant, Chekhov, James, Poe, or indeed anyone you care to name -- Nick Lezard * Guardian *A new favourite writer of mine -- Wes AndersonPerhaps the best chess story ever written, perhaps the best about any game -- EconomistHis great achievement in short form * The Times *

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Book Synopsis''Cartarescu is one of the great literary voices of Central Europe'' Olga Tokarczuk, Nobel Prize winner and author of Flights''A Danubian Narnia. . . his writing delivers a rainbow-hued riot of fantasy, imagination and invention'' Boyd Tonkin, SpectatorA dreamlike novel of memory and magic, Nostalgia turns the dark world of Communist Bucharest into a place of strange enchantments. Here a man plays increasingly death-defying games of Russian Roulette, a child messiah works his magic in the tenements, a young man explores gender boundaries, a woman relives her youth and an architect becomes obsessed with the sound of his new car horn - with unexpected consequences. Blending reality and symbolism, time and myth, this is a cult masterwork from Romania''s most celebrated writer.Trade ReviewCartarescu is one of the great literary voices of Central Europe. He daringly questions our usual way of looking at the world, suggesting that rationalism is merely an attempt to create order. In fact, the world is made up of the nuances of our fantasies -- Olga Tokarczuk, author of FlightsA Danubian Narnia. . . his writing delivers a rainbow-hued riot of fantasy, imagination and invention. . . If you looked for the perfect director to film Nostalgia, a joint effort by Guillermo del Toro and Terry Gilliam might just do the trick -- Boyd Tonkin * Spectator *Fiendishly clever, devilishly humorous and stunningly ambitious. . . one of Romania's most eminent novelists has finally reached Britain. It's been long overdue -- Miriam Balanescu * Prospect *Of a rare and wondrous brilliance . . . Julian Semilian's translation of this masterpiece is a heroic achievement -- Paul Bailey * Literary Review *Cartarescu is not only a sophisticated, compelling storyteller but a first-class wordsmith . . . Between them these stories bring forth a fabulous narrative universe, a place where the ordinary and extraordinary intermingle and miracles are a matter of routine -- Costica Bradatan * TLS *Visionary and tormented. . . mixes history, autobiography and magic realism. There are hints of Bulgakov as well as an aura of Donald Cammell's and Nicolas Roeg's cult 1970 film Performance; a whirlwind of seedy glamour and despair that is itself a reflection of a nightmarish totalitarian state, as well as a scintillatingly detailed portrait of adolescence and retrospective longing -- Catherine Taylor * Irish Times *A timeless invitation to dream and embrace the comforting power of personal memory, the only sure bulwark against the effects of totalitarian control. . . Gripping, impassioned, unexpected -- the qualities that the best in literature possesses -- Thomas McGonigle * Los Angeles Times *If mind-warping literature is your thing, read this book, then read it again -- Christopher Byrd * San Francisco Chronicle *A bright star on the firmament of European literature * Le Monde *Creator of a universe that's caught between dream and reality, Cartarescu is a revelation * El Pais *Romania's leading novelist and poet. . . Cartarescu's phantasmagorical world is similar to Dalí's dreamscapes * Kirkus *

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Book SynopsisFollowing a disjointed, vision-like structure, The Blind Owl is the nightmarish exploration of the psyche of a madman. The narrator is an ailing, solitary misanthrope who suffers from hallucinations, and his dreamlike tale is layered, circular, driven by its own demented logic, and punctuated with macabre and surreal episodes such as the discovery of a mutilated corpse, and a bizarre competition in which two men are locked in a dungeon-like room with a cobra. Initially banned in the author's native Iran, the novel first appeared in Tehran in 1941 and became a bestseller. Full of powerful symbolism and terrifying imagery, this dark novella is Hedayat's masterpiece.Trade ReviewThe father of modern Persian short stories. * The Guardian *

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Book Synopsis'Brilliantly spiky ... As well as boasting compelling, sharp prose, Name forces readers to question what one's name means - and to who' AnOther Magazine, Best Books of 2025'Debré's voice is Camusian, comic, stark, relentless and totally hypnotic' Rachel Kushner'Written with edge and urgency in a voice that is both vulnerable and in full command' Colm Tóibín'Annie Ernaux, just edgier. Her prose is gorgeously spare and practical' Irish IndependentName is Debré's most intense novel yet, a fresh feat of sharp, spare, yet explosive prose. Set partly in the narrator's childhood, it explores ideas about origins and reshapes relationships to our various inheritances: name, family, class, habits. As the novel unravels, freedom is revealed as a redefining of these relationships on one's own terms. Brilliant and unflinching, Name affirms and extends Debré's radical project.

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Book SynopsisEighteen-year old orphan Andrea moves to battle-scarred Barcelona to take up a scholarship at the university. But staying with relatives in their crumbling apartment, her dreams of independence are dashed among the eccentric collection of misfits who surround her, not least her uncle Roman. As Andrea's university friend, the affluent, elegant Ena, enters into a strange relationship with Roman, Andrea can't help but wonder what future lies ahead for her in such a bizarre and disturbing world. Translated by Edith Grossman'One of the great classics of contemporary European literature' Carlos Ruiz ZafonTrade ReviewOne of the great classics of contemporary European literature. -- Carlos Ruiz Zafon * author of The Shadow of the Wind *... a story that Carmen Laforet narrates in prose both exalted and icy, in which what is unspoken is more important than what is said, keeping the reader of the novel submerged in indescribable anguish from beginning to end -- Mario Vargas LlosaRead today, Nada surprises us with its modernity. By its absolute lack of sentimentality, in spite of the atrocities that it relates. By its exact style, clean, sharp as a crystal, and at the same time full of expressive force and poetic originality. * El Mundo *A masterly, original novel, minutely and faithfully observed, with psychological aspects that make you think and feel -- AzorínOne of the best novels of the twentieth century. -- Miguel Delibes * author of The Heretic *

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Book SynopsisArnaldur Indridason worked for many years as a journalist and critic before he began writing novels. His books have since sold over 20 million copies worldwide. Outside Iceland, he is best known for his crime novels featuring Erlendur and Sigurdur Óli, which are consistent bestsellers across Europe. The series has won numerous awards, including the Nordic Glass Key and the CWA Gold Dagger.The Shadow District the first book in the Reykjavík Wartime Mystery series won the Premio RBA de Novela Negra, the world's most lucrative crime fiction prize.

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Book Synopsis1871. Pete Ferguson is a wanted man. An army deserter, hunted for murder in Oregon, not to mention theft and arson in Nebraska.Taking the name of Billy Webb, he is hired by bison hunters, but leaves after a bloody dispute. He then takes the Comancheros Road, which he follows to Mexico, and then to Guatemala . . . Whatever he does, wherever he goes, Pete is a magnet for trouble and seems incapable of making the right choices. The violence that follows him keeps him away from those he loves: his brother Oliver, still on the Fitzpatrick ranch with Aileen, Alexandra and Arthur Bowman.It is a woman who will change his destiny, an Indigenous woman driven out of her lands. To save her, Ferguson will sabotage an attempted coup d''état and together, they will go to the Equator that has become Ferguson''s grail, and where the malevolent forces governing this world must finally be defeated.

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Book SynopsisFrom the author of international bestseller Convenience Store Woman comes a collection of short fiction: weird, out of this world and like nothing you've read before. An engaged couple falls out over the husband's dislike of clothes and objects made from human materials; a young girl finds herself deeply enamoured with the curtain in her childhood bedroom; people honour their dead by eating them and then procreating. Published in English for the first time, this exclusive edition also includes the story that first brought Sayaka Murata international acclaim: 'A Clean Marriage', which tells the story of a happily asexual couple who must submit to some radical medical procedures if they are to conceive a longed-for child. Mixing taboo-breaking body horror with feminist revenge fables, old ladies who love each other and young women finding empathy and transformation in unlikely places, Life Ceremony is a wild ride to the outer edges of one of the most original minds in contemporary fiction.Trade ReviewThese stories laid complete claim to me. Ominous and charming. Brilliantly sad. There is not one word wasted here. I lost significant sleep over this collection -- Kiley Reid, author of Such a Fun AgeUndoubtedly shocking... unnerving... bizarre and outrageous... Life Ceremony reminds us how fragile we - and the society we take for granted - really are * New Internationalist *Strangely believable, easy to read and hard to forget * Guardian *

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Book SynopsisFROM THE AWARD-WINNING TRANSLATORS RICHARD PEVEAR AND LARISSA VOLOKHONSKYDostoevsky''s genius is on display in this powerful existential novel.The apology and confession of a minor mid-19th-century Russian official, Notes from Underground, is a half-desperate, half-mocking political critique and a powerful, at times absurdly comical, account of man''s breakaway from society and descent ''underground''.Trade ReviewYou read every shimmering, tormented word, mesmerised. This is Dostoevsky in distillation, a prelude not just to his leading works, but to the entire 20th century... How is it possible to have a character who evokes aspects of Hitler and Pooter, who is hilarious yet disturbing, and both villain and victim? Because Dostoevsky was a genius, and the narrator of Notes From Underground his most protean character, with whom you never quite know how you stand * Sunday Times *Dostoevsky's is a genuinely disembodied voice, speaking for all sufferers and victims * Guardian *

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Book SynopsisBlending political reality with magic realism, fantasy and comic invention, this book is one of the most daringly original works of the twentieth century.Trade ReviewThe book that sort of saved my lifeThe greatest novel in any language of the last 50 yearsShould be required reading for the entire human race * New York Times *

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Book SynopsisHisashi Kashiwai, the author of The Restaurant of Lost Recipes, was born in 1952 and was raised in Kyoto. He graduated from Osaka Dental University. After graduating, he returned to Kyoto and worked as a dentist. He has written extensively about his native city and has collaborated on TV programmes and magazines. The first book in the series was The Kamogawa Food Detectives.

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