October 7, 2021 The Inseparables by Simone de Beauvoir Translated by Lauren Elkin Review by Karen Langley Simone de Beauvoir is probably best recognised nowadays for her ground-breaking feminist work The Second Sex,…
August 12, 2021 An Evening with Claire by Gaito Gazdanov Translated by Bryan Karetnyk Review by Karen Langley Recent years have seen an upturn of interest in Russian émigré authors from the 20th century;…
December 10, 2020 Revolutionary Women from Gallic Books Reviewed by Karen Langley French literature doesn’t lack a wide range of great women writers; the names which spring most readily to mind are…
September 3, 2020 King Kong Theory by Virginie Despentes Translated by Frank Wynne Reviewed by Annabel I write from the realms of the ugly, for the ugly, the old, the bull dykes, the…
July 7, 2020 The Coral Merchant: Essential Stories by Joseph Roth Review by Eleanor Updegraff Translated by Ruth Martin Austrian author Joseph Roth is best known – if indeed he is known at all –…
June 30, 2020 Chitambo by Hagar Olsson Translated by Sarah Death Reviewed by Karen Langley When we think of Nordic fiction nowadays, we’re probably inevitably aware of the preponderance of Scandi-crime;…
June 30, 2020 Crisis by Karin Boye Translated by Amanda Doxtater Reviewed by Karen Langley When we think of Nordic fiction nowadays, we’re probably inevitably aware of the preponderance of Scandi-crime;…
June 23, 2020 I Remember by Georges Perec Introduced, Translated, Annotated, Edited and Indexed by Philip Terry and David Bellos Reviewed by Karen Langley Regular readers of Shiny New Books may recall…
March 24, 2020 Fandango and Other Stories by Alexander Grin Translated by Bryan Karetnyk Reviewed by Karen Langley Recent years have seen a wave of wonderful new translations of ‘lost’ Russian authors of the…
February 20, 2020 Kallocain by Karin Boye Translated by David McDuff Review by Karen Langley Our modern world often seems to be getting very close to a dystopian nightmare, and most…
February 11, 2020 Abigail by Magda Szabo Translated by Len Rix Reviewed by Harriet This novel, by the award-winning Hungarian novelist Magda Szabo, was first published in 1970. However, it is…
January 23, 2020 Tales of Pirx the Pilot by Stanislaw Lem Translated by Louis Iribarne Review by Karen Langley Polish writer Stanislaw Lem was a prolific author of science fiction works, the most well known…
December 10, 2019 The Honjin Murders by Seishi Yokomizo Translated by Louise Heal Kawai Reviewed by Harriet This delightful reprint from Pushkin Press is widely viewed as one of Japan’s greatest murder mysteries….
December 3, 2019 The Last Two Maigrets by Georges Simenon Maigret and the Informer, translated by William HobsonMaigret and Monsieur Charles, translated by Ros Schwarz Review by Basil Ransome-Davies Simenon was a supercharged writing…
November 5, 2019 The Memoir of an Anti-Hero by Kornel Filipowicz Translated by Anna Zaranko Review by Harriet It could be argued that Anglophone readers are living in a golden age of translated literature; all…
August 1, 2019 Necropolis by Vladislav Khodasevich Translated by Sarah Vitali Review by Karen Langley, The Russian Library series from Columbia University Press has thrown up some marvellous treasures of literature…
August 2, 2018 Sentimental Tales by Mikhail Zoshchenko Translated by Boris Dralyuk Review by Karen Langley Russian satirical writing has a rich heritage, stretching all the way back to the time of…
May 31, 2018 A Dead Rose by Aurora Cáceres Translation, Foreword & Notes by Laura Kanost Reviewed by Karen Langley The female form is often idealised in art and media, from classical sculptures…
April 10, 2018 The Ropewalker and A People Without a Past by Jaan Kross Translated by Merike Lepasaar Beecher Reviewed by Gill Davies Thanks to the wonderful Maclehose Press I have discovered another writer in translation who deserves…
December 7, 2017 City Folk and Country Folk by Sofia Khvoshchinskaya Translated by Nora Seligman Favorov Reviewed by Karen Langley If asked to name any of the great Russian writers of the 19th century, most…
December 5, 2017 The Guesthouse at the Sign of the Teetering Globe by Franziska zu Reventlow Translated by James J. Conway Reviewed by Lizzy Siddal Countess Franziska zu Reventlow was born into the German nobility, and lived in the castle at…
September 19, 2017 Russian Émigré Short Stories from Bunin to Yanovsky, edited by Bryan Karetnyk Reviewed by Karen Langley In the anniversary year of the 1917 Russian Revolution a number of books have been issued which look at that…
August 15, 2017 Rapture by Iliazd Translated by Thomas J. Kitson Reviewed by Karen Langley The early 20th century was a time of great change and upheaval; it produced wars…
June 22, 2017 Letters From Klara and Other Stories by Tove Jansson Translated by Thomas Teal Reviewed by Kate Gardner This penultimate collection of Finnish literary giant Jansson’s short stories has taken 26 years to be…
June 6, 2017 Maigret Goes to School by Georges Simenon Translated by Linda Coverdale Reviewed by Harriet What was he doing there? A hundred times, in the middle of an investigation, he’d had the…
