Fiction in translation
Quercus Publishing The Writing on the Wall
Book SynopsisThis is one of Scandinavia's top crime writers in the tradition of Henning Mankell. It was one of those days in February of which there are far too many, despite its being the shortest month of the year. February is the year's parenthesis. The tax forms have already been sent in and the tourist season has not yet started: there is nothing on the schedule. Greyish-brown slush lay in the gutters and the hills around the city were barely visible through the fog. Like the golden buttons on the waistcoat of a forgotten snowman, you could just make out the lights of the funicular up the hillside and the street lamps were lit even in the middle of the day...In this crime drama detective Varg Veum's adventures lead him into a dark world of privileged teenage girls who have been drawn into drugs and prostitution. The situation worsens when the local judge is discovered in a luxury hotel, dead and clad only in women's lingerie. Called in by anxious parents to look for a missing daughter and explain the judge's death, Varg finds clues that lead him only deeper into Bergen's criminal underworld.Trade Review"'An intriguing reworking of an old idea' Time Out"
£10.44
Quercus Publishing Black Sky, Black Sea
Book Synopsis1977. Poised between the secular values of socialism and the conservatism of a tenuously balanced government, Istanbul is a fractured city haunted by demons of its own making. Along with thousands of other left-wing activists, Oak's interest in politics leads him to join the annual May Day rallies. There he encounters Zuhal, a fearless girl with a gun. As battles rage between nationalists and socialists, Oak witnesses the violent suppression of dissident minorities by his fellow citizens. The bewitching Zuhal begins to shape his ideals, bringing him face to face with disillusionment, and death.Trade Review'Accomplished, fascinating and relevant' Aftenposten. * Aftenposten *
£9.99
Dedalus Ltd Ida Brandt
Book Synopsis
£9.99
Vagabond Voices A Happy Little Island
Book SynopsisIn the beginning the page was blank and without form, and the scribe sat in front of it, a world forming inside his head. The world grew large, spilling out of him and on to the page. The scribe shaped the world into an island. He named it Fagero, and populated it with an assortment of likely and plausibly unlikely characters, and saw that it was good for his purposes.The people of Fagero were often divided against each other but united in their appreciation of their happy little island. Then the dead bodies began to arrive: hordes of them, washing ashore with no identification and no one to claim them.The island was changing, and the small-town quirkiness becoming less restrained. And the bodies kept arriving, forcing Fagero's inhabitants to confront the unhappy truth that, even on their remote island, the world's horrors and injustices could not be ignored. This was prescient at the time of writing and is sadly relevant in 2016, the year of this English translation.A Happy Little Island is an elaborate tale told with style and intelligence.The number and variety of Sund's Dramatis Personae make Fagero the perfect stage for an encounter between common humanity and the insularity and fear of change that affect all cultures.Trade Review"In A Happy Little Island, Sund entertains readers in the manner we now expect of him. He achieves this through his ability to invent and exaggerate, with a narrative force to match oral storytelling. He relies on his skilled use of language and his high spirits, humour and serious intent ... and also his empathy with the beliefs his characters hold." - Lyskamsken.net; "Despite all the tall tales, black humour and eccentric characters portrayed with gusto, the small society Lars Sund describes with his unfailing sense for language and visual description is wholly credible. The individual characters have their own way of expressing themselves, and the reader can really hear them. Every episode is visualised in the reader's head like a scene from a film." - Hufvudstadsbladet
£12.95
Vagabond Voices I Loved a German
Book SynopsisThe newly independent Estonia may be moving forward from its dark past, but not quickly enough for young lovers Oskar, an Estonian university student, and Erika, a Baltic German descended from a now defunct nobility. The old prejudices remain, and they are strong between the Baltic Germans and the Estonians who once worked on their estates. After meeting Erika's grandfather to request her hand in marriage, Oskar questions the source of his love: is he merely a slave pining after his master? Does he really love Erika as a person, or is he subconsciously drawn to her ancestry and the dynamics of the old order? Published in 1935, I Loved a German is one of the final and best-known works of celebrated Estonian author A.H. Tammsaare. It has been praised for its psychological realism, its diary format and its rare Baltic German perspective, and has been adapted for both stage and screen.
£12.95
Vagabond Voices Fear in the World
Book SynopsisCorrado Alvaro's Fear in the World was published a decade before Orwell's 1984, but is not well known outside Italy, perhaps because of the timing of the publication just before the Second World War. Alvaro had visited the Soviet Union as a journalist, but was probably motivated to write this dystopian novel by aspects of modernity that concerned him, particularly the use of fear for political purposes, not only in the Russia. He is interested in the psychology of fear and the extent to which individuals and the crowd participate in their own regimentation. The names of countries, cities and leading political figures such as Stalin are never referred to, but as in the works of Orwell, they are clearly there from the descriptions: the author was writing in a Fascist country against a Fascist censor and had to cut his cloth accordingly. This is a dark novel, not quite as dark as 1984, but it is more claustrophobic. The feel of inevitability is there from the first page, and it is experienced as we do in real life. The imagined takes us closer to where we really are. There is a love affair at the core of this novel, which is the cause of their problems, or quite possibly perceived by the lovers as the cause and therefore became the cause. The modern Leviathan appears to be a well-oiled machine, but towards the end it becomes clear that this is merely an appearance of efficiency and omniscience, but appearances can be powerful. Alvaro is particularly interested in how the state uses quasi-religious mechanisms and rituals to assert its power. The central character returns to the country after a long period abroad, and see things initially through foreign eyes, living a life similar to the one Alvaro did when in Russia. He is not a natural rebel, and very much wants to fit in, but it seems difficult to achieve. The regime boasts that it has an ally in history, but destiny is elusive, however much the characters feel that they are driven by it.
£12.50
And Other Stories The Islands
Book SynopsisBuenos Aires, 1992. Hacker Felipe Félix is summoned to the vertiginous twin towers of magnate Fausto Tamerlán and charged with finding the witnesses to a very public crime. Rejecting the mission is not an option. After a decade spent trying to forget the freezing trench in which he passed the Falklands War, Félix is forced to confront the city around him – and realises to his shock that the war never really ended. A detective novel, a cyber-thriller, an inner-city road trip and a war memoir, The Islands is a hilarious, devastating and dizzyingly surreal account of a history that remains all too raw.Trade Review'Carlos Gamerro has written one of the most ambitious novels about the war.' Jonathan Blitzer, The Nation --------- 'Gamerro picks history's what-the-fuck moments, which when found in fiction are so strange as to knock the reader momentarily out of the imaginary world.' Ben Bollig, The Guardian --------- 'Exhilarating, inventive and consistently absorbing.' Stuart Evers, The Guardian --------- 'A bravura piece of writing, with a cinematic sweep, sustained drama, and pitch-perfect dialogue.' Martin Schifino, The Independent --------- 'The reader is dragged headlong by Barnett's athletic translation - a highly addictive comic voice, its peaks of hectic farce underlaid by a delicate, deadpan absurdism.' Lorna Scott Fox, TLS --------- 'A weird and wonderful thriller - rife with surreal horror and rampant bad taste.' Anthony Cummins, The Observer --------- 'A genre-bending book' Anne McElvoy, BBC Radio 3, Night Waves --------- 'A generational, landmark novel' Andrew Graham Yooll, BBC Radio 3, Feature: Malvinas Madness --------- 'A danger-laden, mind-bending and ultimately redemptive quest. [...] There are more ideas here than most writers would fit in 10 novels.' Tom Bunstead, The Independent on Sunday --------- 'I urge you to find and read a copy of this important novel.' Matthew Crockatt, Huffington Post UK --------- 'A complex and ambitious exploration of how history is memorialised' Michael Sopp, The Literateur 'A dark and uproarious novel' Untitled Books --------- 'Gamerro displays great lyricism in his descriptions of the land of la pampa. He has a poet's touch on the visions and themes he explores throughout the story. It's a triumph.' Ed Hart, Sounds and Colours --------- 'Capacious in its scope; substantial in its themes; fluid in its movements; piercing in its wit; gripping in its horror, astringent in its social critique; and heartbreaking in its rendering of human frailties. Were it originally published in English, it would be a Booker Prize contender.' Rod Jackman, Philadelphia Review of Books --------- 'Gamerro's balls-out novel is a delirious mash-up - [His] gross, bleakly funny, violence-saturated satire of a psychologically damaged society hung up on impossible myth relies on epic hyperbole, masterfully translated by Ian Barnett. There is enough invention here for four novels, but this multilayered nightmare vision is deftly rendered and devastating in its intensity.' Siobhan Murphy, Metro (UK) [20 June 2012, not online] --------- 'Incredible powerful, keeping me alert and uncomfortable and deeply engaged on multiple levels from the intellectual to the dramatic.' Steve Himmer, Necessary Fiction
£7.99
And Other Stories All Dogs are Blue
Book SynopsisAll Dogs are Blue is a scurrilously funny tale of life in a Rio insane asylum. Its raw style and comic inventiveness signal a major voice in Brazilian literature. Sadly, the author died, aged 43, soon after it was published in 2008. An extraordinary autobiographical fiction that speaks of mental illness and its controversial treatment.Trade Review'When I finished reading the book I was so completely taken by it that I could only think about translating it into Spanish and finding a publisher for it. That's what I did.' Juan Pablo Villalobos, author of Down the Rabbit Hole and Quesadillas ------ 'Rodrigo de Souza Leao is an exceptional author and has had a major impact on contemporary Brazilian literature.' Paulo Scott ------'Life is lived intensely and with gusto at the asylum in Rio. All Dogs are Blue kept me curious and it kept me laughing ... Souza Leao is a mind-blowing poet; his attitude seems to be something like: Why not flaunt the language(s) that madness has taught me?' Deborah Levy ------ 'A firecracker of a book' The Independent on Sunday ------ 'Full of heart and soul, All Dogs Are Blue is one of the most powerful reading experiences I've had. A masterpiece.' Cristhiano Aguiar, one of Granta's Best of Young Brazilian Novelists ------'A firecracker of a book' The Independent on Sunday ------'Souza Leao's autobiographical novel - weaves the lives of the poor with the insane, and poetry with psychosis.' The Independent ------'[Rodrigo de Souza Leao's] writing fizzes with vertiginous energy'. Nick Caistor, The TLS ------'Souza Leao uses a kind of language his schizophrenia has taught him, creating a poetry that's at one moment absurd and the next heartbreakingly self-aware. It's an innovative, original book.' Justin Alvarez, The Paris Review ------'All Dogs are Blue is a novel as moving as it is full of humour and irony.' Antonio Moura, Brazilian poet ------'All Dogs Are Blue is sometimes ugly, often beautiful and always alive - and it is unforgettable' The Literateur ------'A candid, frenetically paced portrayal of mental illness that lurches between the darkest realms of consciousness and the most elevated and poetic' Culture critic ------'At once surreal and poignant this is one of the strangest and most haunting pieces I read this year.' Julia Bell, Books of the Year, Writer's Hub ------'This is a stunning story full of heartbreaking sadness and dark comedy in equal measures' We Love This Book ------ 'Like no other book in the world...All Dogs Are Blue is no book for literary purists, but is a great read for anyone who can embrace the human spirit.' Douglas Messerli, Rain Taxi --------- 'His writing is genuinely thrilling at times, pushing realism to the modernist limits of hallucination with unexpected turns-of-phrase and darkly drawn images undercut by punchlines that seem to materialise out of nowhere' Totally Dublin ------'Souza Leao's autobiographical account of schizophrenia is written with tremendous verve and perspicuity, crisply translated by Zoe Perry and Stefan Tobler. All Dogs are Blue is a profound examination of the tricks and quirks of a fragile mind and Souza Leao demonstrates with startling humour how easy it is to tip from sanity into delusion.' Lucy Popescu, Huffington Post ------'The novel's pained, honest prose left me reeling for much of its length - the headlong rush of prose and ideas becomes breathtaking - for all of the things that we don't know about this brief, crushingly moving book's narrator, we do know that he was once a child; we can experience something of that innocence, and the heart at his core. It's an indication of why we should care about this man, and what warm decency lies at the beginnings of this particular narrative.' Tobias Carroll , Volume 1: Brooklyn ------'All Dogs Are Blue is a captivating and brilliant stream of consciousness novella about mental illness in a Brazilian asylum. Souza Leao's semi-autobiographical story is fantastic - I would go as far as to say that this book is the Brazilian equivalent of The Bell Jar. I wouldn't say this lightly as The Bell Jar is one of my favourite books.' Jessica Patient, A View from Here
£9.50
And Other Stories The Adventure Of The Busts Of Eva Peron
Book Synopsis1975. The cusp of Argentina’s Dirty War. The magnate, Fausto Tamerlán, has been kidnapped by guerrillas, who as part of their ransom demands have stipulated the placement of a bust of Eva Perón in all ninety-two offices of Argentina’s leading construction company, Tamerlán & Sons. Tamerlán’s head of procurement, Ernesto Marroné, is the man tasked with the job, but he soon finds out that his is a mission for executives of a heroic disposition. His subsequent picaresque journey plunges him into a world of occupied factories, the slums of Buenos Aires and the utopian Evita City. Equipped with his trusty copy of Don Quixote: The Executive-Errant, Marroné is a modern knight who finds himself forced to penetrate the ultimate Argentinian mystery: Eva Perón – that maid of myth and legend whom we know as Evita. A stand-alone novel in its own right but also a prequel to his first novel, The Islands (And Other Stories, 2012), Carlos Gamerro’s caustic and utterly original novel is a shattered window onto Argentina’s recent past.Trade Review'The more we laugh at the tragicomic hero Ernesto Marroné, this child of rigorous capitalism turned Montonero revolutionary, the more we empathise with Gamerro, the father of this child who is convinced he can apply the sermons of self-help manuals to breathe new life into the Revolution.' -- Silvina Friera * Página *‘The Adventure of the Busts of Eva Perón is a Salman Rushdie-style retelling of a nation's history from the recollections of an oddball individual, as Carlos Gamerro delves back into a vital passage of Argentina's past from the skewed perspective of a man fundamentally unsuited to his own time . . . The result is a comically charged and slyly satirical tale that strips away the high rhetoric of history and politics, and reveals the squabbling egos underneath.’ -- Ross McIndoe * The Skinny *‘Finally, the novel’s translation deserves high praise. The collaborative effort between the bilingual Gamerro and Ian Barnett turns colourful Spanish prose into funny, distinctly British English that evokes the novel’s working-class bruisers and prim-and-proper business sharks with equal aptitude.’ -- Arthur Dixon * World Literature in Review *‘[A] hilarious political satire . . . Carlos Gamerro provides a comical glimpse into a slice of Argentina’s political past. Here we have an entertaining, absorbing and thought-provoking piece of literature with a loveable protagonist.’ -- Dami Okhiria * Buzz *‘[A] masterful work of comic fiction that opens up a fascinating period in international history. By aiming his barbs at all sides of the political spectrum, Carlos Gamerro exposes the inherent corruption of human nature. As the country becomes increasingly unstable, the chapters grow ever more surreal, culminating in a finale of glorious ridiculousness. This is the work of a master satirist and comes highly recommended.’ * Booktrust *‘Gamerro navigates extreme situations of war and . . . crime with a practiced hand and plenty of humour . . . With its eccentric mixture of politics, terror, domestic minutiae, and business rhetoric, the story of Marroné’s entrance to the guerrilla echelons is a biting commentary on Argentina’s Dirty War . . . a thorough probe at the uglier seams in society, and ultimately, the making of an unlikely hero, The Adventure of the Busts of Eva Peron is satire at its finest.’ -- Karen Rigby * Foreward Reviews *‘This is a bold and imaginative novel which deserves to be celebrated, a reminder that fiction can still take risks and provide the odd shock.’ -- Tom Cuell * Workshyfop *
£9.50
And Other Stories Requiem for a Soldier
Book SynopsisIn the vast Kazakh steppes of the crumbling Soviet Empire, Alyosha has finished his army service and is promised a gift from his deaf commander: an everlasting steel tooth. As he waits for it in the infirmary, he agrees to help out a medical officer, and they set out on a journey that takes them all the way to the kingdom of the dead.Oleg Pavlov’s kaleidoscope of a tale is peopled with soldiers and prisoners, hoboes and refugees and mice that steal medicines. Their surreal inner world is vividly reflected in Pavlov’s expressive prose, reminiscent of Platonov. Poetic, tragic and darkly comic, the novel is at once a grotesque portrayal of late Soviet reality and an apocalyptic allegory that has drawn comparisons with Faulkner and Kafka.Trade Review‘Oleg Pavlov is a powerful writer, and Requiem for a Soldier is his finest work.’ -- Alla Latynina * Vremya MN *‘Russian Booker Prize-winner Pavlov writes with the confident eccentricity of a man who knows what to do with words.’ -- Jane Andrews * Big Issue *‘Requiem for a Soldier . . . is the standalone third volume in the Russian’s Booker Prize-winning trilogy Tales from the Last Days. Set at the end of the Soviet Empire it’s a slim, dark and poetic volume following Alyosha, a soldier who has finished his service, as he journeys to the kingdom of the dead. It’s both a grotesque portrayal of Soviet reality and an apocalyptic allegory.’ * Big Issue in the North *‘Pavlov’s reputation and style sets him among the ranks of authors such as Genet and Burroughs with comparison also drawn to Faulkner and Kafka. Lovers of the haunting, poetic, literary grotesque of these authors combined with a healthy level of surrealist humour will find great satisfaction in the pages.’ * Booktrust *Chekhov would approve . . . Pavlov [is] a witness with a flair for spectacular images of surreal beauty – a mouse “quivered like a little heart” – which simply ease into a narrative, blending heightened prose descriptions with political satire and punchy dialogue, often expressing exasperation, which is well rendered into colloquial English by Anna Gunin.’ * The Irish Times *‘A triumph of Russian farce . . . At a time when the bodies of soldiers are being returned to their families from a war that the authorities assure us . . . the country is not fighting, we can only marvel at the author’s prescience.’ -- George Walden * Times Literary Supplement *‘A meditation on death and the downfall of the Soviet Union suffused with all the bleak absurdity of a Samuel Beckett play . . . The final novel of the Tales From The Last Days trilogy, this is a memorable absurdist satire with great relevance today.’ -- Thom Cuell * Workshy Fop *‘A brutal and thought-provoking book.’ * The Lady *
£9.50
And Other Stories Southeaster
Book Synopsis‘Neither the old man nor Boga ever said more than was needed. And yet they understood each other perfectly.’Over the course of a season, Boga and the old man work side by side on the sandbanks of the Paraná Delta, cutting reeds to sell to local basketweavers. But when the old man falls sick and dies, Boga abandons himself entirely to the river and the life of solitary drifting he has long yearned for.Echoes of John Berger sound throughout the evocative prose of this great Argentinian writer. A twentieth-century classic, Southeaster is a central work in Haroldo Conti’s oeuvre.Trade Review‘Southeaster is a meandering, estuarine version of a road novel, a watery Hemingway-meets-Camus tale of a loner exposed to the elements and in wordless search for some kind of purpose ... sensuous and meticulously observed ... a luminous and troubling South American classic.’ * Financial Times *‘Haroldo Conti was one of the great Argentinian writers.’ -- Gabriel García Márquez‘Haroldo is a river, a delta with many streams that embrace the islands as they pass. His literature is directed at the solitude of others, and it brings a warm embrace, in the same way the river does.’ -- Eduardo Galeano‘The economy of his writing, impregnated with poetry and tenderness, is remarkable . . . Don’t be fooled by the story’s initial, quasi-bucolic, calm. A dramatic crescendo leads to the final roar.’ -- María Esther de Miguel * La Nación *‘Haroldo Conti was one of Argentina's finest prose writers at the time he was “disappeared” by the military junta in the mid 1970s. He was fifty-one years old. This first publication of his work in English introduces us not only to one of South America's finest twentieth-century writers but to a world view, a landscape and a unique literary vision that is essential to our time.’ -- John Burnside‘What a surprise and a treat. I was swept up in the great murky flow of it. Conti is a writer for whom place is character, not backdrop, and what a place, what a character. He’s a revelation.’ -- Tim Winton'Readers in English can at last immerse themselves in the subtle, beautifully wrought journey of the voyager . . . Southeaster is one of the most original contributions to what Conti himself would term, in an interview in 1974, “a stylistically and imaginatively Argentine literature”.’ -- University of Professor John King (School of Comparative American Studies Warwick)‘Conti’s work occurs at the point where landscape and human psychology meet and there’s a soulfulness to his writing that I find deeply touching and nourishing. One of the best books published this year.’ -- Foyle's Staff PicksSoutheaster is a meandering, estuarine version of a road novel, a watery Hemingway-meets-Camus tale of a loner exposed to the elements and in wordless search for some kind of purpose . . . sensuous and meticulously observed . . . a luminous and troubling South American classic.’ -- Melissa Harrison * Financial Times *‘With his plain but indefatigably inventive descriptions, Conti conveys how “the river always changes” . . . In long winding sentences full of alternately subordinating clauses, Conti slackens the narrative to match the river’s pace . . . but Conti also knows how to make time buckle, and the last fifty pages . . . are exhilarating.’ -- Sophie Hughes * Times Literary Supplement *‘Southeaster is a particularly rich evocation of interiority . . . organising a chaos of memories, observations, thoughts, and feelings into meaningfulness.’ -- Jessica Sequeira * Boston Review *‘Despite the obvious romance of the delta, of Conti’s strange, distorting setting, this is not a novel which romanticises the lives of those who live in it. It leaves the reader with a savage beauty to contemplate, something contradictory, tense, and ultimately self-destructive in a way that seems to correspond with so much of Argentina’s recent history.’ * 3am Magazine *‘Conti’s frequent change of tense and the rhythm of his translated prose echo the ever-changing nature of the water itself . . . a beautifully written story.’ * We Love This Book *‘In this novel . . . man and nature coexist on every page, but the relationship is fathoms-deep and the indifference of the natural world strikes the loudest chord. There is no heavy-handed philosophising here, just gentle meditations and some wonderful writing . . . Special praise goes to Jon Lindsay Miles for his splendid translation.’ * Geographical Magazine *‘The description of the waters and their changing moods elevate the river to a character in its own right.’ * Workshy Fop *
£9.50
And Other Stories Crossing the Sea: With Syrians on the Exodus to
Book SynopsisAward-winning journalist Wolfgang Bauer and photographer Stanislav Krupař were the first undercover reporters to document the journey of Syrian refugees from Egypt to Europe. Posing as English teachers in 2014, they were direct witnesses to the brutality of smuggler gangs, the processes of detainment and deportation, the dangers of sea-crossing on rickety boats, and the final furtive journey through Europe. Combining their own travels with other eyewitness accounts in the first book of reportage of its kind, Crossing the Sea brings to life both the systemic problems and the individual faces behind the crisis, and is a passionate appeal for more humanitarian refugee policies.Trade Review'The last words of this book are "Have mercy." There is no more to say. Wolfgang Bauer’s impressive and brutally honest depiction of the fates of refugees speaks for itself.' -- Berthold Merkle * Der Tagesspiegel *'The book affects you on two levels. There is the gripping reportage that brings us very close to the people, and there is also the epilogue’s entreating words. Bauer’s accusation is powerful.' * Südwest Presse Ulm *'Wolfgang Bauer is a sophisticated and conscientious reporter, an expert on the Arab Spring and its aftermath, and a brilliant writer.' -- author of Mislaid and The Nell Zink Wallcreeper‘It’s not just the detail in this book that counts. It’s the anger.’ -- Robert Fisk * The Independent *‘An excellent book.’ -- Melissa Fleming (Spokesperson and Head of Communications UNHCR)‘In 2014, journalist Wolfgang Bauer went undercover to document the flight of Syrian refugees firsthand . . . An incisive portrait both of the lives behind the crisis, and the systemic problems that constitute it.’ * Publishers Weekly *‘Crossing The Sea offers an inside perspective on their plight, and tells a story rarely told . . . The refugees’ stories and remarkable photos provide a counter-narrative to the popular media rhetoric.’ -- Antonia Charlesworth * Big Issue North *
£17.88
Haus Publishing Thirst: A Novel of the Iran-Iraq War
Book SynopsisDuring the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s, an Iraqi journalist is given a tour of a military prison. He is informed by the major in charge about what is expected of him: he is to write a fabricated report about a murder that has occurred in the camp, in order to demoralise the enemy soldiers. The journalist is unwilling to write this story. In a long night of intense discussion at his home, he speaks to the major of a historic conflict between the two countries and tells him that he is writing a novel about a group of soldiers trapped on a hill, dying of thirst as they compete for a water tank with a group of enemy soldiers on the opposite hill. So far the water tank has remained undamaged at the bottom of a rift between the hills, but neither group has a hope of reaching it without being shot by the other. Delirious, the soldiers await their end: either being saved by a fabled female lion who feeds her milk to all who are thirsty, or morphing into doves once they are martyred. At the same time, in Iran, another writer remembers how he first came into contact with a gun...In a narrative riddled with surreal images, shifting perspectives and dark humour, Dowlatabadi blurs the boundaries between the two warring countries as he questions the meaning of national identity when confronted with time and human suffering.Trade ReviewPraise for The Colonel: "Mr. Dowlatabadi draws a detailed, realist picture of Iranian life, especially that of the rural poor, in language that is complex and lyrical, rather than simplistic." - The Financial Times "It's about time everyone even remotely interested in Iran read this novel." - The Independent
£7.59
Bitter Lemon Press Hotel Brasil: The Mystery of the Severed Heads
Book SynopsisRio de Janeiro. A family hotel whose clients reflect Brazilian society, multi-racial, with starkly contrasting backgrounds, and destitute. Rio is the perfect backdrop with its dictatorships, drug wars, child gangs and violent policing tactics. The first victim is found decapitated in bed, the head lying on the floor of his room. An eerie Mona Lisa smile on the victim's face and no evidence of a struggle indicate a murderer received as a friend. Other hotel guests are eventually killed, all decapitated. A classical crime novel in one way but really an opportunity for the author to describe Brazilian society, especially those left behind. Fascinating back stories are told such as that of the maid who dreams of making it in television soaps, and the female pimp who has survived incestuous rape, wrapped in a suspenseful intrigue that could have been thought up by Ruth Rendell.Trade Review"A wonderful classic mystery novel written to the best standards of the genre. Between layers of the investigation of an unsolvable crime, Betto slips in a view of the real Brazil, raw and bleeding." Le Monde Diplomatique "A roman noir, but above all a bitter sweet novel, Hotel Brasil plunges the reader into the heart of a Rio that feeds on its people." Metro
£8.54
Peirene Press Ltd The Man I Became
Book SynopsisWarning: This story is narrated by a gorilla. He is plucked from the jungle. He learns to chat and passes the ultimate test: a cocktail party. Eventually he is moved to an amusement park, where he acts in a play about the history of civilisation. But as the gorilla becomes increasingly aware of human frailties, he must choose between his instincts and his training, between principles and self-preservation. ----- Why Peirene chose to publish this book: 'This is Peirene's first book narrated by an ape. Animal fables are usually not my thing. It needed Belgian deadpan humour to convince me otherwise. Mixing Huxley's Brave New World with Orwell's Animal Farm, the fast-paced plot leaves behind images that play in your mind long after you have closed the book.' Meike Ziervogel, PublisherTrade Review'Again we can salute this enterprising publisher for chipping away at our insularity. A haunting, apocalyptic novella, supremely and deliberately difficult to pin down... We are in a fictional landscape where literalism is no help to us, and we are all the richer for it.' NICHOLAS LEZARD, THE GUARDIAN; 'A stunning exploration of man's inherent inhumanity... The first of Peirene's 2016 Fairy Tale: End of Innocence series, this exceptional opener packs a powerful punch as we follow the gorilla's rollercoaster journey from blissful naivete in his jungle home to the ruthless training that makes him 'human.' PAM NORFOLK, LANCASHIRE EVENING POST
£11.40
Peirene Press Ltd You Would Have Missed Me
Book SynopsisA family is torn apart by their dream of a better future in the West. A true story narrated through the eyes of a child. West Germany, early 1960s: A little girl arrives with her parents from East Germany in a camp for displaced people. The girl's father is abusive, the mother ignores her. Soon she will celebrate her seventh birthday and all she wants is a cat. Instead she receives an illuminated globe. The girl can't hide her disappointment - but then she discovers that the globe offers her a way to escape the misery of the camp.Trade Review`Impressive and clever.' DEUTSCHLANDFUNK `A novel full of pain, humour and hope.' WDR, SCARLA-BUCHER
£11.40
Valley Press How Old Dan Became a Tree
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£9.49
Dedalus Ltd My Little Husband
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£7.99
Dedalus Ltd God's dog
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£9.99
Dedalus Ltd Book of Nights
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£9.99
Jacaranda Books Art Music Ltd Seven Stones
Book SynopsisIn a remote community on the edge of a windswept desert, a woman has been condemned to death by stoning. Steeped in the harsh values of her traditional, patriarchal society, Noor accepts her fate. When an aid worker befriends her, urging her to defend herself and her unborn child, the two women form a bond. Together with Amina, Noor's outspoken friend, they struggle to defy the law. Written in prose imbued with the rhythms and images of the author's native language, Arabic, this is a tale of the bonds of female friendships, solidarity and empowerment in a society where a woman's voice, especially in the public sphere, has been denied.Trade Review"A timely and necessary read... powerful and endlessly smart, it's a crucial work of fiction for people of all ages."
£10.42
Quercus Publishing Escape
Book SynopsisIt's 1987. Two prisoners, both Italian, break out of prison in a rubbish lorry. One heads for Paris, the other to Milan. The first Carlo, is killed in a shoot-out during a bank robbery - under suspicious circumstances. Frightened by the manhunt launched by Interpol, the second prisoner, Filippo, returns to Paris where he becomes a security guard. He spends his nights writing the story of a Red Brigadier, as recounted to him in prison by Carlo. His landlady Cristina finds him a publisher and the book becomes a bestseller. Filippo, carefully coached by his publishers press office, steadfastly refuses to own the story, insisting that all his stories are fiction and that this is a work of imagination. The public don t buy it, neither do the police, and dogged investigations begin to produce the reasons why. Ultimately Filippo cannot escape his fate: that of a man with an assumed identity that carries far greater risks than his own.
£10.00
Dedalus Ltd I Malavoglia (the House by the Medlar Tree)
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£11.89
Dedalus Ltd The Life of Courage: The Notorious Thief, Whore
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£8.99
Dedalus Ltd The Illustrious House of Ramires
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£12.34
Dedalus Ltd P Portrait of a Family with a Fat Daughter
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£12.34
Dedalus Ltd S Sappho
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£9.99
Dedalus Ltd P Prepper Room
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£9.99
Dedalus Ltd The Continuation of Simplicissimus
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£7.99
ACA Publishing Limited The Elm Tree (Volume 2): Winds of Autumn
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£17.99
ACA Publishing Limited Songs from the Forest
Book SynopsisSince ancient times, Jiwo village and its forests have been a sanctuary. Man, beast and those somewhere in between live in harmony, all part of a timeless chorus, until one day a discordant note strikes with the emergence of the tyrant Tang Laotuo and his son Tang Tong, stripping the land bare to feed their expanding industrial empire.Among the natives in the spreading dusty haze is the beautiful hedgehog spirit Mei Di, and her headstrong husband Liao Mai. Their home is a rural utopia threatened by the foul noise and smoke belching from the Tang’s factories.As the bulldozers rumble ever closer, the change not only strains the lovers’ relationship but also puts Jiwo’s age-old balance in jeopardy. A reckoning will surely come one day, and as silence falls, will anyone still remember the old songs?
£13.49
Tilted Axis Press The Yogini
Book SynopsisWinner of an English PEN award With her days split between a passionate marriage and a high-octane television studio job, Homi is a thoroughly modern young woman – until one day she is approached by a yogi in the street. This mysterious figure begins to follow her everywhere, visible only to Homi, who finds him both frightening and inexplicably arousing. Convinced that the yogi is a manifestation of fate, Homi embarks on a series of increasingly desperate attempts to prove that her life is ruled by her own free will, much to the alarm of her no-nonsense husband and cattily snobbish mother. Her middle-class Kolkata life, and the relationships that define her identity, are disturbed to the point of disintegration. Following the inexorable pull of tradition, the mystic forces that run beneath the shallow surface of our modern existence like red earth beneath the pavements, Homi ends up in Benaras, the holy city on the banks of the Ganga, where her final battle with fate plays out.Trade ReviewPraise for Panty: `An unnerving, ominous and beautiful meditation on the loneliness of modern life.’ — The Guardian. Praise for Abandon: `Abandon is a bold, important and formidable novel about the demands of life and the responsibilities we have, both to others and to ourselves.’ — Lucy Scholes, The National
£12.09
Quercus Publishing Flesh-Coloured Dominoes
Book Synopsis"Extraordinary and unforgettable characters" WORLD LITERATURE TODAY"Rich and many layered . . . fascinating" CHRISTOPHER MOSELEYWhen Baroness Valtraute von Bruegen's officer husband's body is severed in two she is delighted to find that the lower half has been sewn onto the upper body of the humble local Captain Ulste. She conceives a child only to see the return of her husband in one piece. What happens next is both indescribably funny and darkly painful. A beautifully written Surrealist novel-cum-political allegory, Flesh-Coloured Dominoes transports the reader between 18th-century Baltic gentry and the narrator's life in the modern world. The connection between the two narratives gradually becomes clear in a mesmerising fantasy of love, lust, and loss as Skijuns creates a work of sublime art that is funny, moving, enlightening and philosophical in equal measure.Translated from the Latvian by Kaija StraumanisTrade ReviewSkujins is a master at personae and a cosmopolitan writer, filling his landscapes with extraordinary and unforgettable characters * World Literature Today *
£9.99
And Other Stories Brother in Ice: Longlisted for the 2020
Book Synopsis`She thought that it was precisely when things get uncomfortable or can't be shown that something interesting comes to light. That is the point of no return, the point that must be reached, the point you reach after crossing the border of what has already been said, what has already been seen. It's cold out there.'This hybrid novel-part research notes, part fictionalised diary, and part travelogue-uses the stories of polar exploration to make sense of the protagonist's own concerns as she comes of age as an artist, a daughter, and a sister to an autistic brother. Conceptual and emotionally compelling, it advances fearlessly into the frozen emotional lacunae of difficult family relationships. Deserving winner of multiple awards upon its Catalan and Spanish publication, Brother in Ice is a richly rewarding journey into the unknown.Trade Review'This is fast, fluid, exciting narrative; random, philosophical, alive, questioning, full of precise set pieces, sensations, regret, emotion, self-doubt, defiance, curiosity and a feel for history, fact and human behaviour . . .Brother in Ice is a living book and one to give your most discerning friends.' Eileen Battersby, Irish Times ---- 'Brother in Ice is actually a culmination of Alicia Kopf's art exhibitions. Prose weaves around line drawings, archival photos and diary entries, creating a style of writing that reassesses the seemingly arid and barren landscapes of frozen climes to instead encompass what Kopf describes as "live beings with voluptuous, nourishing forms".' Alexandra Kreese, The Story of Things podcast ---- `In an epistolic, polar update of Melville's Moby-Dick, Alicia Kopf's genre-defying book rises as clear and cold as an Arctic sea, floating with ideas that, like icebergs, are buoyed up by meaning and memory below their surface. This is an icy dissection of actuality and history, a frozen etymology of meaning. Slipping from Catalunya to the Ultima Thule, echoing a rapidly changing environment, Brother in Ice deals in personal retrieval and magical supposition in the whiteness of a disappearing world. In the process, it achieves a fugitive poetry all of its own.' Philip Hoare, author of Leviathan ---- `In another country this book would have changed the course of history.' Enrique Vila-Matas, author of The Illogic of Kassel ---- `As if by sleight of hand, Kopf displays a wide range of emotions before us. Like the Poles, they are constantly shifting, and inevitably epic.' Agustin Fernandez Mallo, author of Nocilla Dream ---- `A unconventional look at a world that makes [Kopf] feel uncomfortable . . . a text in which the feats of polar explorers give way to a central autobiographical story about the equally harsh and arid trips through family relationships and within oneself.' El Pais ---- `Simultaneously serious and light, incidental and yet trascendental.' El Periodico ---- `A book, part essay and part autobiography, that is also a chronicle of a generation stalled in a world without horizons or certainties . . . An unusual book and the deserving winner of the Premi Documenta literary award.' La Vanguardia ----- `A compelling metaphorical journey that compares the struggles and strains of family to polar expeditions, this cleverly written and illustrated novel doesn't flinch from its exploration of coming of age in the modern world.' Note Bene
£9.50
Seven Stories Press UK The Jewish Son
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£10.44
Monsoon Books Harvesting the Storm: A fable from the shores of
Book SynopsisIn this ecological parable, author John Waromi, a member of the Ambai tribe, sheds light on not only the ecology of the southern Papuan coast but also the struggle of the indigenous Papuan people to survive the environmental destruction that is inflicted upon them.
£8.54
Aurora Metro Publications The Town With Acacia Trees
Book SynopsisBored by religious instruction and painting lessons, a group of friends at a convent school spend their days dreaming of romance, fashion and the latest gramophone records. One by one, they give up their visions of adventure and submit to provincial life, marrying for money and status, like their mothers before them. Plain, jaundiced Lucretia, becomes the envy of her friends when Paul, a glamorous dandy proposes, but she hides a shocking secret that will destroy their marriage and expose them to scandal. Only Adriana Dunea, the most beautiful and talented girl in the school seems destined for happiness with her childhood sweetheart, Gelu. But everything changes when, on a trip to Bucharest, she meets Cello Viorin, a famous composer...Trade Review"Sebastian gives a remarkably sensitive, candid portrayal of the coming of age of a girl seen through the eyes of a suitor. The author's sensitivity to the emotions of his heroine Adriana is captured vividly in this translation in such passages as "every kiss was a wound, in which their lips, their breath, their teeth, the tips of their tongues drowned, warm and wet, and parted slowly, with a final hesitation, leaving on each mouth a blurred, faded smile." - Dennis Deletant, Ion Ratiu Visiting Professor of Romanian Studies, Georgetown University, Washington DC "Reigh handily preserves Sebastian's supple, languid syntax, shaping each sentence to accentuate his exquisite lyricism, as when the couple remains unable to yield entirely to their desire "to be held in such a way that it obliterated everything apart from the ecstasy of the flesh. An endearingly wistful story of young love." - Kirkus Reviews Blue Starred review "In The Town with Acacia Trees, Mihail Sebastian writes with the sensibility of a master jeweller. He crafts with precision and delicacy his characters' intricate souls. Sebastian's profound humanism, his utopian universalism, is as refreshing and urgent in today's climate of rising nationalisms as it was in the interwar period. Gabi Reigh's riveting translation matches Sebastian's writing like a glove." -Alex Boican, PhD in Romanian LiteratureTable of ContentsIntroduction Novel Afterword
£9.99
Valley Press The Howl of the Wolf
Book SynopsisA man does battle with a wolf, two sworn brothers lock horns literally as they drink and brag the night away and an old man turns to his flame-bellied stove for comfort when facing a bitter winter alone. These are just some of the fascinating folk who inhabit the magical stories of Hong Ke. Set in Xinjiang, the gateway between China and Middle Asia, The Howl of the Wolf paints a colourful picture of frontier life in all its earthy glory.
£9.49
Istros Books The Fate of Yaakov Maggid
Book SynopsisOnce again, the extraordinary storyteller, Ludovic Bruckstein, opens the door onto a lost world of Jewish history and lore in the central European Carpathian region, now parts of Hungary, Romania and Ukraine. Invoking the tales of a great maggid – a wandering storyteller within the East-European tradition of Hassidism - he weaves tales of wisdom and mystery which linger inside us long after the story has ended. Bruckstein's previous titles (The Trap, 2019 and With an Unopened Umbrella in the Pouring Rain, 2021) have gained him a growing audience of dedicated readers in the English-speaking world, where his work has been too-long absent. This edition comes complete with a fascinating glossary of terms and historical references complied by the translator.
£12.34
Dedalus Ltd The Medusa Child
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£9.99
Dedalus Ltd The White Dominican
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£9.99
Dedalus Ltd A Woman's Affair
£11.89
Dedalus Ltd Chasing the Dream
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£9.99
Dedalus Ltd Days of Anger
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£9.99
Dedalus Ltd The Pearl Whisperer
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£7.99
Dedalus Ltd This was the Man: Lui
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£11.39
Dedalus Ltd Naples Noir: La Strada degli Americani
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£9.99
The Emma Press After Summer: and other stories
Book SynopsisAfter Summer is an anthology of new writing for young people, produced as part of the Creative Europe-funded READ ON! project. Featuring short stories commissioned, selected and written by young people from Portugal, Norway, Italy and the UK, this is an extraordinarily varied collection of stories spanning the continent.
£999.99
