Translated from Serbian by Ellen Elias-BursaćPublished by Restless Books “We had no choice but to continue doing what we’d come there to do: guard and watch over the passing of people and goods through the checkpoint. To be honest, we hadn’t even been told whether the checkpoint was on a border lying between two countries …
The Marriage Portrait: Maggie O’Farrell
Review by Susan T. LandryPublished by Knopf and Headline Publishing Group I can't remember the exact circumstances that led me to plunge into Maggie O'Farrell's Hamnet two years ago. I am a reasonably omnivorous reader, but rarely choose historical fiction when looking for a new book to get lost in. Not sure why, exactly; maybe …
Travelling Back in Time: An Interview with David Liss
David Liss is an American author. His novels include A Conspiracy of Paper, The Coffee Trader, The Devil’s Company and The Peculiarities. Most of David’s books are historical fiction, set in the 17th and 18th centuries. In 2001, A Conspiracy of Paper (the first of the Benjamin Weaver series) won the Macavity Award for the …
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Nostalgia: Mircea Cărtărescu
Translated from Romanian by Julian SemilianPublished by Penguin This collection of three short stories and two novellas, set mainly in Bucharest, was written during Nicolae Ceaușescu’s regime and published in 1989, the year his regime fell. Nostalgia was originally published under the title Visul ("The Dream"), which seems appropriate: the pieces are fairly dreamlike and …
Me: Elton John
Published by Pan Books “I didn’t have a clue what I wanted to do, or even what I could do. I knew I could sing and play piano, but I clearly wasn’t pop star material. For one thing, I didn’t look like a pop star, as evidenced by my inability to carry off a kaftan.[1] …
The Eighth Detective: Alex Pavesi
Published by Picador and Michael Joseph (also published as The Eight Detectives) An editor goes to a remote Mediterranean island to meet a reclusive writer, whose book her publisher wants to reprint. In 1937, Grant McAllister drew up a set of mathematical rules for a murder mystery, and wrote seven stories to illustrate these rules. …
Exploring Remote Regions: An Interview with Antonia Bolingbroke-Kent
Antonia Bolingbroke-Kent is a British travel writer, broadcaster and public speaker. Photo: Antonia Bolingbroke-Kent Her books include Land of the Dawn-lit Mountain: A Journey Across India’s Forgotten Frontier, which was a runner-up in the 2018 Edward Stanford Travel Writing Awards; A Short Ride in the Jungle: The Ho Chi Minh Trail by Motorcycle; and Tuk Tuk to the …
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Older Brother: Daniel Mella
Translated from Spanish by Megan McDowellPublished by Charco Press In the summer of 2014, during one of the biggest storms to hit the coast of Uruguay, Alejandro is killed in a lightning strike. Ale, as he was known, was aware that there was an electrical storm brewing. He worked as a lifeguard and knew how …
Lagos Noir: Chris Abani (ed.)
Published by Akashic Books and Cassava Republic Press “Lagos never sleeps. Ever. It stays awake long after New York has faded in a long drawn-out yawn, matched only by the vigil of Cairo. ... “By the way a man sits smoking on the hood of his burned-out Mercedes-Benz, it is clear he wants you to …
Without Ever Reaching the Summit: Paolo Cognetti
Translated from Italian by Stash LuczkiwPublished by Harvill Secker and HarperOne The Snow Leopard, Peter Matthiessen’s book about his trip to the Dolpo region in the Himalayas, was published in 1978. It is a blend of travelogue, philosophy and nature writing. Almost four decades later, in 2017, Paolo Cognetti sets off on a similar journey …
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