Translated from Portuguese by Benjamin MoserPublished by Picador Ricardo Carvalho, a well-to-do executive, gets into his car in a multistoried car park in Rio de Janeiro, smokes a cigarette and then shoots himself. He leaves behind a gun, a briefcase, 20,000 dollars and a note to the police. The note says that Ricardo wants the …
Continue reading The Silence of the Rain: Luiz Alfredo Garcia-Roza
Translated from Spanish by Suzanne Jill Levine and Aviva KanaPublished by And Other Stories “‘But you must know about the taiga syndrome, right?’ he asked...‘It seems,’ he continued, almost whispering, ‘that certain inhabitants of the taiga begin to suffer terrible anxiety attacks and make suicidal attempts to escape.’ He fell silent, though it seemed like …
Translated from German by Sandra HarperPublished by Vintage Konrad Lang is losing his memory to Alzheimer’s. As his recent memories fade, earlier ones come to the fore. This has Elvira Koch worried. There are secrets buried in Konrad’s mind which, if he unearths, could bring down her business empire. Konrad has lived with the Koch …
Translated from Hindi by Daisy RockwellPublished by Tilted Axis Press Tomb of Sand is the story of Ma, an 80-year-old woman who comes into her own after spending her life in roles dictated by society: as daughter, wife, mother and grandmother. When the book begins, Ma’s husband has died. So she takes to her bed, …
Translated from French by Sophie LewisPublished by Les Fugitives “[B]ut now it’s over, my novel is damaged, the world is damaged, I too am deeply wounded, something has happened here, something real, but everything can still begin, everything can begin again, I firmly believe it... “I must tell this before tomorrow, I must bear witness …
Translated from Lao by Bounheng Inversin, Roger Rumpf, Jacqui Chagnon, Thipason Phimviengkham and William GallowayPublished by University of Washington Press A poor cobbler finds a way to make his contribution to his country's war effort; a young man offers strangers lifts on his bicycle; and a young woman tries to return a silver belt she …
Continue reading Mother’s Beloved—Stories from Laos: Outhine Bounyavong
Translated from Estonian by Matthew HydePublished by Vagabond Voices On 20 August 1991, Estonia formally declared its independence from the Soviet Union, even as Soviet authorities were trying to crush this movement. Set during the last days of the Soviet Union in Estonia, The Death of the Perfect Sentence follows freedom fighters, students, KGB operatives …
Continue reading The Death of the Perfect Sentence: Rein Raud
Translated from Russian by Boris DralyukPublished by MacLehose Press Set in the period after the 2014 Russian invasion of Crimea, this book by Ukrainian writer Andrey Kurkov is particularly timely, given the war that is now unfolding in Ukraine. Sergey Sergeyich lives in Little Starhorodivka, an almost deserted village with three streets in the grey …
Translated from Uzbek and Russian by Shelley Fairweather-VegaPublished by Tilted Axis Press “Life in exile! May it be cursed. Once you have become a stranger, a stranger you shall remain; you may endeavour to make friends, but the task is a difficult one, full end to end with uncertainty.” One night, Uzbek writer Sheikov dreams …
Translated from Croatian by Ellen Elias-BursaćPublished by Seven Stories Press UK “Everyone is running from someone, or from their own past.” Corruption and the long shadows thrown by war are at the heart of this political thriller from Croatia. Nora, a young journalist in Zagreb, is sent to report on a story in another city. …
Continue reading We Trade Our Night for Someone Else’s Day: Ivana Bodrožić
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