Fiction in translation
Quercus Publishing Ladivine
Book SynopsisLonglisted for the Man Booker International Prize 2016Clarisse Rivière's life is shaped by a refusal to admit to her husband Richard and to her daughter Ladivine that her mother is a poor black housekeeper. Instead, weighed down by guilt, she pretends to be an orphan, visiting her mother in secret and telling no-one of her real identity as Malinka, daughter of Ladivine Sylla. In time, her lies turn against her. Richard leaves Clarisse, frustrated by the unbridgeable, indecipherable gulf between them. Clarisse is devastated, but finds solace in a new man, Freddy Moliger, who is let into the secret about her mother, and is even introduced to her. But Ladivine, her daughter, who is now married herself, cannot shake a bad feeling about her mother's new lover, convinced that he can bring only chaos and pain into her life. When she is proved right, in the most tragic circumstances, the only comfort the family can turn to requires a leap of faith beyond any they could have imagined.Centred around three generations of women, whose seemingly cursed lineage is defined by the weight of origins, the pain of alienation and the legacy of shame, Ladivine is a beguiling story of secrets, lies, guilt and forgiveness by one of Europe's most unique literary voices.Translated from the French by Jordan StumpTrade ReviewA haunting, melancholy and immaculately translated novel, a thing of beauty for ugly times. -- Alex Preston * The Observer *A brave, unusual book -- Catherine Humble * Times Literary Supplement *A haunting, powerful new voice in French literature, providing an intriguing, beguiling experience for English readers. -- Mika Provata-Carlone * Bookanista *Ladivine is a wonder indeed ... like a saga that you never want to end because each page reveals new riches. -- Claire Devarrieux * Libération *A sumptuously written novel by a writer at the height of her powers. * Télérama *With its unique phrasing, slow, multi-layered, and each sentence an absolute necessity, Ladivine is a new delight -- Didier Jacob * BiblioObs *In this unique book, Marie NDiaye displays tough, brittle lives in majestic style. -- Maria Schottenius * Dagens Nyheter *This strangely hypnotic novel exudes anguish and loneliness. Marie NDiaye, writes profoundly disturbing novels in such riveting prose that one cannot look away. * Library Journal *Ladivine is a real jewel... impeccable craftsmanship, refined phrasing that swirls with description, and a bewitching story. All of the author's talents are on display here. -- Marianne Payot * Express *Marie NDiaye's new novel is magnificent. A mesmerising dive into the chaos in the lineage of three women. * LaLibreBelgique *A melancholy modern fable ... NDiaye reveals only as much reality as she wants to at any given moment-and therein lies her magic. * Kirkus Review *Sadness, regret, and insidious dread permeate every page of this beautifully crafted, relentless novel. * Publishers Weekly *With this novel, Marie NDiaye proves that she is a majestic storyteller and a deft weaver of literary universes. -- Tilman Krause * Die Welt *The real strengths of NDiaye are her ability to plumb the depths of a character's psychology and her cool but uncompromising dissection of their entire nature. -- Ulrike Baureithel * Der Freitag *NDiaye's manner of writing has often been compared to Proust ... Here she has created a world of mystery, dreams, and sensuality in a very controlled style. -- Adele King * World Literature Today *
£9.49
Quercus Publishing The Bickford Fuse
Book SynopsisCatch-22 meets The Brothers Karamazov in the last great satire of the Soviet EraThe Great Patriotic War is stumbling to a close, but a new darkness has fallen over Soviet Russia. And for a disparate, disconnected clutch of wanderers - many thousands of miles apart but linked by a common goal - four parallel journeys are just beginning.Gorych and his driver, rolling through water, sand and snow on an empty petrol tank; the occupant of a black airship, looking down benevolently as he floats above his Fatherland; young Andrey, who leaves his religious community in search of a new life; and Kharitonov, who trudges from the Sea of Japan to Leningrad, carrying a fuse that, when lit, could blow all and sundry to smithereens.Written in the final years of Communism, The Bickford Fuse is a satirical epic of the Soviet soul, exploring the origins and dead-ends of the Russian mentality from the end of World War Two to the Union's collapse. Blending allegory and fable with real events, and as deliriously absurd as anything Kurkov has written, it is both an elegy for lost years and a song of hope for a future not yet set in stone.Translated from the Russian by Boris DralyukTrade ReviewKurkov's style is spare and effective, drawing us with deceptive ease into a dense, complex world full of wonderful characters. -- Michael Palin.Kurkov is the real thing . . . Comparisons with Bulgakov's zany Moscow are not far-fetched. -- Kapka Kassabova * Guardian. *Some people see him as a latter-day Bulgakov; to others he's a Ukrainian Murakami. -- Phoebe Taplin * Guardian. *His bestselling novels are known for their surreal touches, but Andrey Kurkov, the Ukrainian novelist hailed as a post-Soviet Kafka, also has an uncanny ability to predict events in the real world around him. * Daily Telegraph. *Beguiling ... frequently funny ... completely its own thing. it may even be a little bit of a masterpiece -- Sam Leith * Financial Times *A kind of Ukrainian Kurt Vonnegut . . . If you want to read about the Soviet Union but can't face reading, say, Robert Service, and you have a penchant for the strange and surreal, you could do worse than reading Kurkov. -- Ian Samson * Spectator. *A sharp and funny examination of the Russian soul -- Eileen Battersby * Irish Times *
£10.44
Quercus Publishing Bloodlines
Book SynopsisWhen Giuseppe Mundula first sees Michele Angelo Chironi across the corridor of a Sardinian orphanage, the reserved blacksmith realises he has found the son and heir he never knew he needed. And when, a few years later, Michele himself looks down from a church rooftop and sees the beautiful Mercede, the quiet orphan realises he has found the woman he will marry. So begins Marcello Fois' magisterial domestic epic of the lives and loves of the Chironi family, as they struggle through war and fascism. Deftly endowing familial horrors with mythical resonance, Fois creates a Dantesque triptych that inscribes the history of twentieth-century Sardinia onto a single misbegotten household.Trade ReviewFois' descriptive prose is lavish, powerfully evoking time and place. It's as if nature is possessed of a richness of expression that humans have yet to acquire . . . Mazzarella's translation is flawless -- Jethro Souter * Independent *His poetic style is reminiscent of classics such as Manzoni's The Betrothed and Lampedusa's The Leopard -- David Platzer * Tablet *Written with a lyrical, poetic flair, it's an affecting tale of the brutal realities that make life so hard but also those things that make the struggle worthwhile. * Glasgow Herald *
£8.54
Quercus Publishing Three Seconds: Ewert Grens 4
Book SynopsisWINNER OF THE 2011 CWA INTERNATIONAL DAGGER. A NEW YORK TIMES TOP 5 BESTSELLER. AND SOON TO BE A HOLLYWOOD BLOCKBUSTER - SCANDINAVIAN CRIME DOES NOT GET MORE EXPLOSIVE.'Extraordinarily compelling' Daily Mail'Three Seconds is just about how long it feels it takes to read Three Seconds . . . Terrific' Time OutONE MURDER.Piet Hoffmann is the Swedish police force's best undercover operative. Not even his family know of his double identity. Yet when a drug deal with the Polish mafia goes fatally wrong, his secret life begins to crumble around him. TWO MEN. Detective Inspector Ewert Grens is charged with investigating the drug-related killing. Unaware of Hoffmann's true identity, he believes himself to be on the trail of a dangerous psychopath. THREE SECONDS. Hoffmann must desperately maintain his cover; else he is a dead man walking. But, in the doggedly-perceptive Ewert Grens, he has just made the most relentless of enemies.Can't get enough of DCI Ewert Grens? Then check out Cell 8, named by the Sunday Times as one of the 60 Best Thrillers and Crime Novels of the Past 6 Years.Trade Review'Extraordinarily compelling' Daily Mail. * Daily Mail *'Gripping and intelligent ... Destined for the big screen' Daily Mirror. * Daily Mirror *'Three seconds is just about how long it feels it takes to read Three Seconds ... Terrific' Time Out. * Terrific' Time Out *'The action is non-stop and the tension unlimited' The Times. * The Times *A nail-biter of a book. * New York Times *
£9.49
Quercus Publishing Death and the Devil
Book SynopsisIt's the year 1260 and the great cathedral - the most ambitious building in all of Christendom - is rising above the streets of Cologne. Far below its soaring spires and flying buttresses, an assassin of unnatural talent surveys his new hunting ground. More shadow than man, the assassin is quick to take his first life. But there is a witness to his crime: a flame-haired thief known as Jacob the Fox. Justly terrified by the black-clad spectre, Jacob runs for his life, convinced that he's pursued by the Angel of Death itself. For all his street-smart cunning, the wily Fox cannot shake off the assassin - a cruel, efficient murderer who favours a pistol-grip crossbow as his weapon of choice. Fate, injury and desperation lead Jacob to seek help from a beautiful clothes dyer, her drunken rascal of a father, and her learned uncle, a man of God who loves a battle of wits almost as much as he loves a bottle of wine. With the threat of an untimely death at the end of a crossbow bolt never far way, Jacob's unlikely cabal find themselves faced with a conspiracy born of an unquenchable thirst for revenge, a conspiracy that threatens to tear Cologne apart and stain the city with blood.
£11.04
Quercus Publishing The Last Brother
Book SynopsisRaj is oblivious to the Second World War being fought beyond his tiny exotic island. His mother is his sole company while his father works as a prison guard, so the boy thinks only of making friends. One day, from the far-away world, a ship brings to the island Jewish exiles who have been refused entry to Israel. David, a recently orphaned boy of his own age from Prague, becomes the friend that he has longed for, and Raj takes it upon himself to help David to escape from the prison. As they flee through sub-tropical forests and devastating storms, the boys battle hunger and malaria - and forge a friendship only death could destroy.Trade Review'Sophisticated, confident and beautifully poetic writing that's tender and poignant and consistently captivating ... a remarkable and precise portrait of a childhood that both convinces and moves' Daniel Hahn, Bookseller. * Bookseller *'A lushly beautiful child's-eye tale' Boyd Tonkin, Independent. * Independent *'The rich implications of history ... that lie behind its comparatively simple story would have won the admiration of Margeurite Yourcenar' Paul Binding, Times Literary Supplement. * Literary Supplement *
£9.49
Quercus Publishing River of Shadows: A Commissario Soneri Mystery
Book SynopsisRain falls relentlessly on the Po valley in northern Italy, and the river is swollen to its limits. A huge barge leaves its moorings, steering an erratic course downstream and away into the foggy night. When finally it runs aground hours later, the bargeman is nowhere to be found. That same evening, Commissario Soneri is summoned to investigate the apparent suicide of a man in nearby Parma. He and the bargeman were brothers, and when the detective discovers that they served together in the fascist militia fifty years earlier, the incidents seem likely to be linked. Resentments dating from the savage civil strife between Fascists and Partisans in the closing years of the war still weigh heavily, and as the flood waters begin to ebb, the river yields up its secrets: tales of past brutality, bitter rivalry and revenge. Valerio Varesi is a penetrating analyst of his country's dark and undigested history.Trade Review'The real coups of River of Shadows are twofold: the author's trenchant analysis of his country's ignoble past, married to the narrative acumen of a master storyteller' Barry Forshaw, Independent. * Independent *
£9.49
Quercus Publishing Heaven and Hell
Book SynopsisIn a remote part of Iceland, a boy and his friend Barður join a boat to fish for cod. A winter storm surprises them out at sea and Barður, who has forgotten his waterproof as he was too absorbed in 'Paradise Lost', succumbs to the ferocious cold and dies. Appalled by the death and by the fishermen's callous ability to set about gutting the fatal catch, the boy leaves the village, intending to return the book to its owner. The extreme hardship and danger of the journey is of little consequence to him - he has already resolved to join his friend in death. But once in the town he immerses himself in the stories and lives of its inhabitants, and decides that he cannot be with his friend just yet. Set at the turn of the twentieth century, Heaven and Hell is a perfectly formed, vivid and timeless story, lyrical in style, and as intense a reading experience as the forces of the Icelandic landscape themselves. An outstandingly moving novel.Trade Review'A glinting treasure' Der Spiegel. * Der Spiegel *'An outstanding narrative ... like a long breath from the depths of the sea' Nils C. Ahl, Le Monde. * Nils C. Ahl, Le Monde *'The author has a lyrical, poetic style ... the action unfolds vividly and dramatically, and the reader feels part of the scene. The combination creates an unusually intense reading experience' Alannah Hopkinson, Irish Examiner. * Irish Examiner *
£9.49
Quercus Publishing Harbour
Book Synopsis'Lindqvist is Sweden's answer to Stephen King' Daily MirrorThey only stopped watching her for a couple of minutes. That was all it took. It was a beautiful winter's day. Anders, his wife and their feisty six-year-old, Maja, set out across the ice of the Swedish archipelago to visit the lighthouse. There was no one around, so they let her run on ahead. And she disappeared, seemingly into thin air, and was never found. Two years later, Anders is a broken alcoholic, his life ruined. He returns to the archipelago, the home of his childhood and his family. But all he finds are Maja's toys and through the haze of memory, loss and alcohol, he realizes that someone - or something - is trying to communicate with him. His return sets in motion a series of horrifying events which exposes a mysterious and troubling relationship between the inhabitants of the remote island and the sea.Trade Review'A magician of genre fiction' Independent. * Independent *'Emotionally forceful and superbly plotted' Big Issue. * Big Issue *'Lindqvist is Sweden's answer to Stephen King' Daily Mirror. * Daily Mirror *'This is a third consecutive masterpiece from an author who deserves to be as much a household name as Stephen King' SFX. * SFX *'a gripping portrayal of the devastating effect that the loss of a child can have on a parent' British Fantasy. * British Fantasy *'A very scary tale indeed' Financial Times. * Financial Times *'Eerily good' Marie Claire. * Marie Claire *'A magician of genre fiction' Independent. * Independent *
£9.49
Quercus Publishing Limit: Part 1: Part 1
Book SynopsisThis is the limit - how far would you go?Helium-3 is a rare element that promises to solve all the world's energy problems - and it's been discovered on the Moon, prompting a breathless race between the Americans and Chinese.In Shanghai, cyber-detective Owen Jericho has been hired to find a missing girl, but what started as a routine investigation soon develops into a nightmarish hunt, where he's the quarry: there's a crazed assassin hot on his heels, all because Yoyo accidentally stumbled onto a secret society called Hydra - and now their lives are at risk. Following the Hydra trail takes Jericho and Yoyo round the world and finally to the Moon, where a billionaire entrepreneur is entertaining some of the world's richest and most influential men and women in the Gaia, the planet's very first hotel.But Hydra has its own plans for the Earth - and the Moon. And nothing and no one will be allowed to stand in its way.Trade Review'Enthralling and visionary' Thomas Reiter, Astronaut. 'Full of excitement and danger. [A] complex and well-woven thriller [that] combines a thoughtful vision of the future with relics of the present and creates an atmosphere both alien and familiar' Library Journal.
£13.49
Quercus Publishing The Foxes Come at Night
Book SynopsisSet in the cities and islands of the Mediterranean, and linked thematically, the eight stories in The Foxes Come at Night read more like a novel, a meditation on memory, life and death. Their protagonists collect and reconstruct fragments of lives lived intensely, and now lost, crystallized in memory or in the detail of a photograph. And yet the tone of these stories is far from pessimistic: it seems that death is nothing to be afraid of.Trade Review'Both wise and beautiful' John de Falbe, Literary Review. * Literary Review *'Exquisite toys for the broken-hearted' Jonathan Gibbs, Independent. * Independent *'Nooteboom is full of surprises and makes every word, every observation, not only count but also linger' Eileen Battersby, Irish Times. * Irish Times *'I much admired Cees Nooteboom's sharply melancholy stories' Julian Barnes, TLS Books of the Year. * Books of the Year *'One of the most remarkable writers of our time' Alberto Manguel, Guardian. * Guardian *'Poignant, wistful, and sometimes bitingly funny studies of memory, longing, regret, and a wry acceptance that this is what being alive is like' Independent on Sunday. * Independent on Sunday *Table of ContentsGondolas. Thunderstorm. Heinz. Late September. Last Afternoon. Paula. Paula II. The Futhermost Point.
£9.49
Darf Publishers Ltd African Titanics
Book SynopsisAfrican Titanics is the untold tale of the African boat people and their desperate exodus to the merciless shores of the Mediterranean. The novel is one of fleeting yet profound friendships, perseverance born of despair and the power of stories to overcome the difficulties of the present. Alternating between fast-paced action and meditative reflection, the novel follows the adventures of Eritrean migrant Abdar. As he journeys north, the narrative mirrors the rhythm of his travels and the tension between life and death, hope and despair.
£7.59
Darf Publishers Ltd Suslov's Daughter
Book SynopsisAs a young man growing up under communism in South Yemen, Imran finds himself drawn to Hawiya, the daughter of an official in the Marxist party. He departs Aden to study in Paris, returning years later to Hawiya again; he finds that she is now a niqab-wearing Salafist, calling on people to join the conservative Islamist movement. The novel spans the 1960s to the early 21st century, from the independence of southern Yemen and the subsequent establishment of The People''s Democratic Republic of Yemen, to the Unification of Yemen in 1990 and the Arab Spring.
£8.54
Darf Publishers Ltd The Confines of the Shadow: Colonial Tales:
Book SynopsisThe Confines of the Shadow is a sequence of novels and short stories that map the transformation of the Libyan city of Benghazi from a sleepy Ottoman backwater in the 1910s to the second capital of an oil-rich kingdom in the 1960s. Employing a cosmopolitan array of characters, ranging from Ottoman functionaries, to Sanussi aristocrats and Italian officers, Spina chronicles Italy''s colonial experience from the euphoria of conquest - giving us a front row seat to the rise and subsequent fall of Fascism in the aftermath of World War II - to Libyan independence in the ''50s.
£9.49
Darf Publishers Ltd Zainab
Book SynopsisZainab, a name which aptly reflects the beauty of this tale''s protagonist is also the title of the first modern Egyptian novel written in native vernacular. Crafted in 1910 by a privileged member of society and a student at the time living in Paris, Mohamed Hassein Heikal later rose through the ranks of Egyptian politics and media. Heikal successfully humanises and contextualises Egypt''s societal issues without too reproachful a voice. As Heikal wrote in his room in Paris he was undoubtedly influenced by his nostalgia and depicts Egyptian scenes as only an Egyptian could.
£8.54
Darf Publishers Ltd Farewell Damascus
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£8.54
Darf Publishers Ltd The Little House
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£10.44
Darf Publishers Ltd My Father was a Man on Land and a Whale in the
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£8.54
Darf Publishers Ltd The Tree
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£6.99
Darf Publishers Ltd Cry in a Long Night
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£10.44
Oneworld Publications Things We Left Unsaid: The award-winning
Book Synopsis A heartwarming and humorous insight into the hopes and aspirations of Iranians in the years that led up to the Islamic Revolution Deep in an Iranian suburb, made rich by the booming oil industry, Clarice Ayvazian lives a comfortable life surrounded by the gentle bickering of her children and her gossiping friends and relatives. Happy being at the heart of her family, she devotes herself to their every need. But when an enigmatic Armenian family move in across the street, something begins to gnaw at Clarice's contentment: a feeling that there may be more to life – and to her – than this. Dizzy with the sweltering heat and simmering emotions, Clarice begins to feel herself come alive to possibilities previously unimaginable. Set in Iran prior to the Islamic revolution, Zoya Pirzad's award-winning novel is perfect for fans of Anne Tyler, crafting an intimate portrait of family life – its joys and its compromises – and how we find a happiness that endures.Trade Review"A note-perfect portrait...by a wonderful writer." -- Frank Huyler, author of Right of ThirstThe sparked imagination for both characters and reader is beautiful, but it is truly the things Pirzad leaves unsaid that make this book so good." * Austin Chronicle *"A rising star of Iranian literature, Zoya Pirzad transcends the everyday with her luminous writing." * Elle *"A grand, panoramic family saga... Pirzad writes with wit and precision, deftly evoking the daily routines and rhythms of a city on the cusp of revolutionary changes." * New Internationalist *
£22.03
Oneworld Publications The Space Between Us
Book Synopsis Love, family and religion clash in the unforgettable novel from the internationally acclaimed author of Things We Left Unsaid, set in contemporary Iran In a small town on the edge of the Caspian Sea, Edmond Lazarian and his best friend Tahereh pass their days playing together, drifting between the delights of beachcombing and the joys of the sherbet shop. Although Edmond is Armenian and Tahereh is the Muslim daughter of the school’s janitor, they remain blissfully unaware of the disquiet that ripples the calm surface of their close-knit community. But years later, when Edmond’s daughter chooses to marry a Muslim, tension begins to build. Unable to continue ignoring the prejudices around him, Edmond is finally forced to make a choice, one that will haunt him for years to come. For fans of Anne Tyler, The Space Between Us is a poignant, wistful story about belonging and otherness, pride and prejudice, and the pressures and family expectations that inform our decisions. Trade Review'A rising star of Iranian literature, Zoya Pirzad transcends the everyday with her luminous writing.' * Elle *‘Rich in allusion and suggestion. The prize-winning Iranian-Armenian author is less concerned with a straightforward narrative as with the desire to encapsulate the important things which are left unsaid and undone. These are what haunt her story.’ * Daily Mail *‘Set in tension-filled Iran, Zoya Pirzad’s novel explores the meaning of family and the consequences of choice through the life of Edmond, an Armenian man, and his daughter, who desires to marry a Muslim. Full of rich prose, this book tackles the deep questions of prejudice in the Middle East while showing the rich diversity of cultures in Iran.’ * World Literature Today *‘Moving.’ * Mother and Baby *
£12.84
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Fathers and Sons
£22.99
Everyman The Good Soldier Svejk
Book SynopsisAn attack on war which broadens into a satire on the ANCIEN REGIME of the Austro-Hungarian empire, THE GOOD SOLDIER SVEJK recreates the age-old figure of the simple soldier whose sheer determination to survive brings into question the mighty social and political institutions he confronts. Set in a Central Europe which has long since vanished, Hasek's novel is nevertheless a timeless portrait of the 'little man' doughtily waging his own war against authority
£16.20
Everyman The Makioka Sisters
Book SynopsisHailed as the greatest Japanese novel of the Twentieth century, THE MAKIOKA SISTERS is a subtle tale of domestic oppression worthy of Balzac or Chekhov, In this saga of the once prosperous but now declining Makioka family struggling to marry off one of their daughters, Tanizaki presents the picture of a family and a society striving to preserve their self-respect as they come to terms with disturbing new ways in a classic confrontation of innovasion and tradition. A wonderful portrait of Japanese life in the first half of the twentieth century.
£12.99
Everyman Zeno's Conscience
Book SynopsisThe modern Italian classic discovered and championed by James Joyce, ZENO'S CONSCIENCE is a marvel of psychological insight, published here in a fine new translation by William Weaver - the first in more than seventy years.Italo Svevo's masterpiece tells the story of a hapless, doubting, guilt-ridden man paralyzed by fits of ecstasy and despair and tickled by his own cleverness. His doctor advises him, as a form of therapy, to write his memoirs; in doing so, Zeno reconstructs and ultimately reshapes the events of his life into a palatable reality for himself - a reality, however, founded on compromise, delusion, and rationalization.With cigarette in hand, Zeno sets out in search of health and happiness, hoping along the way to free himself from countless vices, not least of which is his accursed "last cigarette!" (Zeno's famously ineffectual refrain is inevitably followed by a lapse in resolve.) His amorous wanderings win him the shrill affections of an aspiring coloratura, and his confidence in his financial savoir-faire involves him in a hopeless speculative enterprise. Meanwhile, his trusting wife reliably awaits his return at appointed mealtimes. Zeno's adventures rise to antic heights in this pioneering psychoanalytic novel, as his restlessly self-preserving commentary inevitably embroiders the truth. Absorbing and devilishly entertaining, ZENO'S CONSCIENCE is at once a comedy of errors, a sly testimonial to he joys of procrastination, and a surpassingly lucid vision of human nature by one of the most important Italian literary figures of the twentieth century.
£12.99
Everyman Collected Shorter Fiction Volume 1
Book SynopsisWritten over a period of more than half a century, Tolstoy’s enchanting short stories and novellas reflect every aspect of his developing art and outlook. Volume 1 of the Everyman Collected Shorter Fiction is dominated by the characteristic experiences of his early life as soldier, land-owner, husband and father, the life which shaped Anna Karenina and War and Peace. It also includes several short fables which point to his later preoccupation with the religious life.
£18.00
Carcanet Press Ltd Satyrica
Book SynopsisPetronius lived during the reign of the notorious emperor Nero, a writer in a decadent empire, and in Frederic Raphael he finds a translator who brings his words vividly alive. Petronius' Rome is not the noble civilisation of classical ideals; his Romans are lascivious, amoral and stylish, inhabiting a louche world of ostentatious, nouveau riche extravagance and flirtation with the seductive menace of the Roman underclass. In Raphael's hands, the "Satyrica" becomes a modern novel, Petronius a contemporary. Freed of the weight of classical decorum, the "Satyrica" is racily subversive, scandalously entertaining. This work, writes Raphael, has always been excluded from the curriculum: it offers no improving pieties. Petronius' - and Raphael's - ancient Rome is recognisably the city of Pasolini and Fellini as much as of Virgil.
£17.44
Garnet Publishing Princess Bari
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£9.49
Vintage Publishing The Tale of the Unknown Island
Book Synopsis"A man went to knock at the king's door and said, Give me a boat. The king's house had many other doors, but this was the door for petitions. Since the king spent all his time sitting by the door for favours (favours being offered to the king, you understand), whenever he heard someone knocking on the door for petitions, he would pretend not to hear..." Why the petitioner required a boat, where he was bound for, and who volunteered to crew for him and what cargo it was found to be carrying the reader will discover as this short narrative unfolds. And at the end it will be clear that what night appear to be a children's fable is in fact a wry, witty Philosophical Tale that would not have displeased Voltaire or Swift.Trade ReviewSaramago writes possibly the most beautiful but certainly the most precise and differentiated Portuguese prose of our time -- Walter Haubrich * Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung *Saramago is a writer, like Faulkner, so confident of his resources and ultimate destination that he can bring any improbability to life -- John UpdikeNo candidate for a Nobel Prize has a better claim to lasting recognition than this novelist -- Edmund WhiteHe was the equal of Philip Roth, Günter Grass, Thomas Pynchon and Don DeLillo. His genius was remarkably versatile - he was at once a great comic and a writer of shocking earnestness and grim poignancy -- Harold BloomSaramago is a writer of formidable talent and extraordinary imagination * La Repubblica *
£13.49
Vintage Publishing All The Names
Book SynopsisA subtle and insightful story about boredom, passion, curiosity and memory from the Nobel Prize-winner José SaramagoSenhor José is a lonely civil servant who spends his days labouring in the labyrinthine stacks of Lisbon's central registry. Among the file-cards for the living and the dead, one – of an apparently ordinary woman – will transform his life. Breaking away from his strict routine, José resolves to track the woman down, obsessively following a thread of clues in a bid to rescue her from an oblivion deeper than the grave. 'When a very good book finds us at just the right moment in life, it can become stitched into our own identity. All the Names – a novel about identity and connection – has become stitched into mine' Samantha Harvey, IndependentTrade ReviewA novel that has soul, which Saramago offers to his readers with all his witty, intelligent, tender and magical generosity -- Samantha Harvey * Independent *Offers an unearthly, muted beauty; a freedom from the obvious, the ideological and trivial; an atmosphere of profound serenity, and a benevolent humor * Literary Review *Both delightful and unsettling which is perhaps the mark of true literature -- Anthony Daniels * Sunday Telegraph *A tantalizing novel...shifting and teasing, full of metaphorical labyrinths and false trails * Herald *It is the marriage of the living and the dying...that so strongly characterizes the writing of Jose Saramago * New Statesman *
£9.49
Little, Brown Book Group All Men Are Mortal
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 *
£13.49
Protea Boekhuis Jonkvrou
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£13.25
Auckland University Press Puripaha: Te Pane Kaewa / Bulibasha: King of the
Book SynopsisHe whakamaoritanga i te pukapuka o Puripaha na Witi Ihimaera mo etahi whanau hoariri e rua ki Te Tairawhiti. Ko Puripaha te tapanga ka tukuna ki Te Pane Kaewa, a, ki Te Tairawhiti o Aotearoa e pakanga ana etahi kokoro tokorua kia whakawahia hai pane. Ko Tamihana te upoko o te whanau toa o Mahana, he whanau kuti hipi, he whanau hakinakina hoki. Ko Rupeni Poata tona ito. He rite tonu te tutakitaki a nga whanau nei i nga mahi hakinakina, i nga whakataetae a-ahurea me te whakataetae Piriho Koura e kitea ai te mapu kuti hipi toa katoa o Aotearoa. I waenganui pu, ko te taitama, ko Himiona, ko te mokopuna a te kokoro raua tahi ko tona kuia, ko Ramona, e pakanga ana i ona ake kare a-roto, i ona ake whakapono ano hoki i te riri e tutu ana i nga wahi katoa. Ko te toa o te 1995 Montana New Zealand Book Award, kua whakatinanatia hirahiratia ki te kiriata o Mahana, a, e aroha nuitia ana e nga whakareanga kaipanui maha. Ma tenei whakamaoritanga e tutaki ai tetahi minenga hou ki a Puripaha, ki tetahi o nga tino pukapuka o roto i tona momo. ________ A te reo Maori translation of Witi Ihimaera's award-winning novel about two rival Maori families on the East Coast, Bulibasha. Bulibasha is the title given to the King of the Gypsies, and on the East Coast of New Zealand two patriarchs fight to be proclaimed the king. Tamihana is the leader of the great Mahana family of shearers and sportsmen and women. Rupeni Poata is his arch enemy. The two families clash constantly, in sport, in cultural contests and, finally, in the Golden Fleece competition to find the greatest shearing gang in New Zealand. Caught in the middle of this struggle is the teenager Simeon, grandson of the patriarch and of his grandmother Ramona, struggling with his own feelings and loyalties as the battles rage on many levels. Winner of the 1995 Montana New Zealand Book Award, brilliantly realised in the film Mahana and loved by generations of readers, this powerful te reo Maori translation of a New Zealand classic will introduce Bulibasha to a whole new audience.
£29.96
Dedalus Ltd Night of Amber
Book Synopsis
£8.54
21 Publishing Ltd Against Nature: with illustrations by William
Book Synopsis
£22.50
Garnet Publishing Breaking Knees
Book Synopsis
£9.49
Dedalus Ltd Dedalus Book of Finnish Fantasy
Book Synopsis
£9.49
Dedalus Ltd Lost Musicians
Book Synopsis
£9.99
Dedalus Ltd Architect of Ruins
Book Synopsis
£9.49
Dedalus Ltd Seraphita (and Louis Lambert & the Exiles)
Book Synopsis
£9.49
Dedalus Ltd Hidden Lives
Book Synopsis
£9.49
Bitter Lemon Press The Stronger Sex
Book SynopsisYoung lawyer Alex Zabel defends industrialist Herbert Klofft in a case for wrongful dismissal being brought against him by his former employee and mistress. She is thirty-four, he seventy-eight, a despot, now wheelchair bound and dying of cancer. Alex must deal with a hopeless case, his growing empathy with a repulsive client and his sexual attraction to Klofft's elderly wife.Trade ReviewPraise for Kettenbach: Reading Kettenbach means taking a look into the individual's soul laid bare, into its abyss and its hopeless entanglements. Those who read his books will gain a better understanding of why human beings do the things they do, even the most absurd and horrendous things. The result is stories told along the razor-sharp edge of reality.A" Die Zeit Kettenbach provides answers that are either darkly humorous or melancholically tragic, depending on how black the reader's heart proves to be.A" Booklist
£8.54
Bitter Lemon Press Hotel Bosphorus
Book SynopsisKati Hirschel, in her thirties, is the proud owner of Istanbul's only crime bookshop. When the German director of a film starring an old school friend is found murdered in his hotel room Kati cannot resist the temptation to start her own maverick investigation. After all her friend Petra is the police's principal suspect and reading all those detective novels must have taught Kati something. This is a crime story but also a wonderful book about Istanbul and Turkish society. It uses humour, social commentary and even erotic fantasy to expose Western European prejudices about Turkey as well as Turkish stereotyping of other Europeans.Trade ReviewA wonderful novel about Istanbul. The Turkish way of life, prejudices, men, politics, corruption-Esmahan Aykol writes about all these with a light and humorous touch.A" Petros Markaris, author of Che Committed Suicide and Zone Defence. Bubbling with hedonism, enthusiasm, love of life and books, this should be mandatory reading for those holidaying in Turkey, visitors to Istanbul and lovers of crime novels.A" Hamburger Abendblatt
£8.54
Bitter Lemon Press All Yours
Book SynopsisThis is a portrait of a wife betrayed, at first desperate to save her marriage but then intent on violent revenge, also an unrelenting dissection of family life among the Argentine middle class. Ines is convinced that every wife is bound to be betrayed one day, so she is not surprised to find a note in her husband's briefcase with a heart smeared in lipstick crossed by the words All YoursA" and signed Your true loveA". She follows him to a park on a rainy winter evening and witnesses a violent quarrel he has with another woman. The woman collapses; Ernesto sinks her body in a nearby lake. When Ernesto becomes a suspect in the case she provides him with an alibi. After all, hatred can bring people together as urgently as love. But Ernesto cannot bring his sexual adventures to an end so Ines concocts a plan for revenge from which there is no return.Trade ReviewPraise for 'Thursday Night Widows'(978-1904738-411): A gripping story; rather like the maids and guards, we stand by and watch evil enter the lives of an obtuse, decadent, pseudo-community. There may be bloody murder at the centre of this novel, but the dystopia portrayed is an indictment not solely of an assassin but of Argentina's class structure and the willful blindness of its petty bourgeoisie.A" TLS Times Literary Supplement 'Thursday Night Widows' is a fine morality tale which explores the dark places societies enter when they place material comfort before social justice, and security before morality.A" Publishers Weekly Makes excellent use of the formula whereby the reader knows from the outset who has died in suspicious circumstances, but not the reasons. Pineiro is particularly skilful at exposing the social forces undermining Argentine society, and the fragility of personal relationships. The build-up to it is riveting.' The Times
£8.54
Bitter Lemon Press Nights of Awe
Book SynopsisDuring the period known as the Days of Awe that lead up to Yom Kippur, Ariel Kafka, inspector in the Violent Crime Unit of the Helsinki police and one of two Jewish policemen in Finland, is confronted with the most difficult case of his career. Two Arabs are killed near the capital and, shortly after, Kafka discovers two more bodies at an Iraqi-owned garage. Are these deaths evidence of gang warfare or international terrorism? When it transpires that an Israeli Minister will make an unofficial visit to Helsinki, matters become truly complicated. The Finnish Security Police and Mossad all have a role to play and Kafka is on a trail that leads back to his youth.Trade Review"An outstanding plot, an entertaining read. Give us more Inspector Kafka novels from the far North" Frankische Zeitung "Nykanen writes clever dialogue and his laconic humour is an enjoyment for every reader" Aamulehti "Unlike his Scandinavian contemporaries, Nykanen delights with an eccentric hero and a wonderful sense for dialogue. This is a tight thriller with an unexpected, explosive end." Hamburger Nachrichten
£8.54
Bitter Lemon Press The Tyrant
Book SynopsisA haunting work, reminiscent of Albert Camus, which portrays with exquisite psychological detail the emotional crisis in the life of a young Swiss schoolteacher. His father's prodigious vitality and virility had crushed his family and ruined his son's childhood. Even after his death the parental ogre haunts his son, sucking him into a vortex of despair. Fits with the contemporary success of autobiographical novels, focused on a tormented childhood, parental persecution and the loneliness of the outlier. Chessex's book is based on the character of his own father, his totalitarian and austere Calvinist upbringing and his escape to the sensual world of serial seduction. These motifs and the meditation on death have informed most of his fiction, especially "The Tyrant", his most successful book by far with 450,000 copies sold.Trade Review'So many pages of rich prose, upsetting, but reflecting the warm essence of life in this novel--a meditation on death.' Express 'A disturbing novel but a realistic one, anchored in the daily, the concrete, a savvy mixture of life and death, landscapes and short thoughts, obsessed by the father's role in a son's life. A novel to be devoured in one go.' Le Monde 'Chessex, a prominent Swiss writer, died in 2009 at age 75. He was the first non-French citizen to win the Prix Goncourt, France's most prestigious literary award. Readers of this particular novel, which is one of Chessex's many, will quickly understand why he was so honored. Read him for the historical context and for the sheer beauty of his prose'. Booklist
£8.54
Bitter Lemon Press No Sale
Book SynopsisMust each man kill the thing he loves? For Victor Cox, a professor of film history, the Hollywood films noirs of the 1940s and 1950s are more real than his daily life. When his wife is found drowned, Cox is the first murder suspect. He falls in love with a student who looks like the 1920s film star Louise Brooks, but she disappears at a Belgian seaside resort. Smeared in lipstick in their hotel room are the words "No Sale", the same words Elizabeth Taylor wrote on a mirror in Butterfield 8 (she won her first Oscar in that film). Subsequently, a series of gruesome killings of young women, all modeled on violent deaths in films that he knows and loves, lead the police back to Cox, who starts to doubt his own sanity and innocence. With its stylish writing, pointed references to cinema classics, and blend of horror and humor, this is a powerful psychological thriller. It won the Diamond Bullet Award, the Dagger award for Belgium.Trade ReviewPraise for Patrick Conrad's "Limousine": "Unremitting black humour." - Literary Review "Exquisite, exciting, stomach-churning, sombre, gruesome, hilarious." - De Morgen - Review "The punishment has rarely been made to fit the crime with such horrifying literalism as in this novel." -- The Times
£8.54
