April 28, 2022 In the Margins by Elena Ferrante Translated by Ann Goldstein Review by Anna Hollingsworth There’s something fascinating about writers writing about, well, writing and reading. I care more about writers’…
October 21, 2021 Trust, by Domenico Starnone Translated by Jhumpa Lahiri Reviewed by Basil Ransome-Davis My initial recommendation for any readers of this novel would be to turn to Jhumpa Lahiri’s…
September 23, 2021 Mary Magdalene by Adriana Valerio Translated by Wendy Wheatley Reviewed by Harriet Adriana Valerio is an Italian historian and theologian. One of the first women in Italy to be…
February 2, 2021 Reviewer’s Choice: A New Sublime – Ten Timeless Lessons on the Classics by Piero Boitani While Shiny New Books concentrates on the new, occasionally, we give our reviewers room to share previously published – ie: ‘not Shiny New Books’…
October 22, 2020 The Lying Life of Adults by Elena Ferrante Translated by Anne Goldstein Reviewed by Anna Hollingsworth Adolescence can be brutal, and in The Lying Life of Adults Elena Ferrante brings it out…
May 19, 2020 Diary Of A Foreigner In Paris, by Curzio Malaparte Translated by Stephen Twilley Reviewed by Basil Ransome-Davies An adjective frequently applied to Curzio Malaparte is ‘colourful’. To the Cambridge dictionary it means ‘vivid,…
February 20, 2020 Snow, Dog, Foot by Claudio Morandini Translated by J. Ockenden Reviewed by Rebecca Foster Who could resist the title of this Italian bestseller? A black comedy about a hermit in…
November 21, 2019 The Measure of a Man by Marco Malvaldi Review by Terence Jagger I was intrigued to see this novel on my doormat: Malvaldi is better known (to me at least) as a…
September 5, 2019 Sanctuary by Luca D’Andrea Translated by Howard Curtis and Katherine Gregor Review by Basil Ransome-Davies Big fleas have little fleas upon their backs to bite ‘em/And little fleas…
July 30, 2019 A Girl Returned by Donatella Di Pietrantonio Translated by Ann Goldstein Review by Gill Davies It is 1975, somewhere in the south of Italy. A thirteen year old girl drags a…
June 4, 2019 Cold For the Bastards of Pizzofalcone by Maurizio de Giovanni Translated by Antony Shugaar Reviewed by Gill Davies This is the third book in a series of police procedural novels by the successful Italian…
March 19, 2019 The Sect Of Angels by Andrea Camilleri Translated by Stephen Sartarelli Reviewed by Gill Davies In addition to the Inspector Montalbano novels, best known to English readers from the TV adaptations…
December 12, 2017 The Apothecary’s Shop by Roberto Tiraboschi Translated by Katherine Gregor Reviewed by Terence Jagger In early twelfth century Venice set we our scene, although the cod historical touch is maybe…
August 8, 2017 Can You Hear Me? by Elena Varvello Translated by Alex Valente Review by Annabel Can you hear me? is no ordinary psychological thriller – to pigeonhole it into that sub-genre would…
December 15, 2016 A Different Sea – Claudio Magris Translated from the Italian by M. S. Spurr Reviewed by Hayley Anderton This is a book that really needs an introduction, or even an…
August 9, 2016 For All the Gold in the World by Massimo Carlotto Translated by Antony Shugaar Reviewed by Terence Jagger This is ‘an Alligator mystery’, latest in a series featuring an independent and unlicensed private investigator, Marco…
January 19, 2016 Numero Zero by Umberto Eco Translated by Richard Dixon Reviewed by Paul Fishman For a short novel, Numero Zero is amazingly leisurely and discursive. It’s like an Arabian Nights for conspiracy theorists, historians…
December 9, 2015 Pushkin Vertigo – titles by Piero Chiara & Leo Perutz Reviewed by Victoria Pushkin Vertigo, the new crime imprint from Pushkin Press has got off to a flying start with its first batch of…
December 2, 2014 Three-Card Monte by Marco Malvaldi Translated by Howard Curtis Reviewed by Terence Jagger I knew nothing of this author, but enjoyed this light, untroubling murder mystery set in the…
October 10, 2014 The Neapolitan Novels by Elena Ferrante Translated by Ann Goldstein Review by Lizzie Siddal Every recent piece about Elena Ferrante seems to begin with the question, who is she? I’m…
July 31, 2014 The Day of the Dead by Maurizio de Giovanni Translated by Antony Shugaar Reviewed by Falaise On a miserable morning in 1930, a small, undernourished child is found dead at the foot of the…
July 8, 2014 Sworn Virgin by Elvira Dones Translated by Clarissa Botsford Reviewed by Susan Osborne Reading fiction in translation offers us a glimpse into different worlds, cultures that we can never experience…
April 25, 2014 Tristano: A Novel by Nanni Balestrini Translated by Mike Harakis Reviewed by Helen Parry The philosophy that a text is created by the reader as well as the writer is…
