The Gurkha’s Daughter: Prajwal Parajuly

Published by Quercus, 2013, 296 pages. A maid with a cleft lip dreams about going to India, a daughter tries to understand her father’s problems, a young woman chooses the wrong husband, and a young man gets so worked up about relatives visiting his tiny house that he ends up upsetting everyone around him. These …

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The Order of Time: Carlo Rovelli

Translated from Italian by Erica Segre and Simon CarnellPublished by Penguin, 2018, 214 pages. Original version published in 2017. What is time? The idea that there is a “now” throughout the cosmos, that the past is behind us and the future is open: these are ways in which we think of time. But the reality …

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A Bookshop in Algiers: Kaouther Adimi

Translated from French by Chris AndrewsPublished by Serpent's Tail, 2020, 146 pages. Original version published in 2017. “This will be a library, a bookstore, a publishing house, but above all a place for friends who love the literature of the Mediterranean.” 1936, Algiers. Edmond Charlot, a Frenchman born in Algeria, opens a bookshop, Les Vraies …

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No Gods Live Here: Conceição Lima

Translated from Portuguese by Shook.Published by Phoneme Media and Deep Vellum, 2024, 255 pages. The original versions of the books from which the poems are taken were published in 2004, 2006, 2011, 2014 and 2024. “The dead ask:Why do roots sprout from our feet? ...What was this kingdom that we planted?”—From Plantation “The enigma is some …

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