March 9, 2021 Havana Year Zero by Karla Suárez Translated by Christina MacSweeney Reviewed by Pete Freeth Havana Year Zero is a delightfully unusual detective story from Karla Suárez and translated into English…
August 20, 2020 My Summer Reading: The Manual of Darkness by Enrique de Hériz Translated by Frank Wynne Reviewed by Annabel Members of the Shiny reviewing team share previously published books from their shelves that they’re reading this…
July 30, 2020 Rolling Fields by David Trueba Translated from Spanish by Rahul Bery Reviewed by Michael Eaude Too often, reviews are distorted because they are written by someone who knows and…
February 11, 2020 It Would be Night in Caracas by Karina Sainz Borgo Translated by Elizabeth Bryer Reviewed by Susan Osborne Venezuelan writer Karina Sainz Borgo’s It Would Be Night in Caracas is one of three novels…
June 25, 2019 Barcelona Tales, ed Helen Constantine Translated by Peter Bush Review by Karen Langley If you’re an armchair traveller like I am, the “City Tales” collection of books from Oxford…
January 17, 2019 Berta Isla by Javier Marías Translated by Margaret Jull Costa Review by Anna Hollingsworth I’m not one for classic spy stories: I don’t care if the martinis come shaken…
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…
May 29, 2018 House of Beauty by Melba Escobar Translated by Elizabeth Bryer Reviewed by Basil Ransome Davies Each time I walk into town from my house I pass at least one nail/beauty…
October 3, 2017 Return to the Dark Valley by Santiago Gamboa Translated by Howard Curtis Reviewed by Basil Ransome-Davies I found a molten quality in this novel (if it is a novel). It burns off…
February 2, 2017 Death Going Down by María Angélica Bosco Translated by Lucy Greaves Reviewed by Gill Davies Thanks to Shiny – and the publishers – I am discovering and enjoying new crime writers….
December 6, 2016 33 Revolutions by Canek Sánchez Guevara Translated by Howard Curtis Reviewed by Annabel Canek Sánchez Guevara was Che Guevara’s grandson. Was, because he died in early 2015 from complications after…
June 30, 2016 Thus Bad Begins by Javier Marías Translated by Margaret Jull Costa Reviewed by Harriet As a couple, they had spotted me like one of those distant shapes on the ocean…
June 20, 2016 Sudden Death by Álvaro Enrigue Translated by Natasha Wimmer Reviewed by David Hebblethwaite There’s some remarkable literature from Mexico being published in English translation at the moment. Writers such as…
January 21, 2016 The Invisible Guardian by Dolores Redondo Translated by Isabelle Kaufeler Reviewed by Marina Sofia The Baztan valley in the Pyrenees in the north-east of Spain is misty, rainy and remote….
December 9, 2015 The Japanese Lover by Isabel Allende Translated by Nick Caistor and Amanda Hopkinson Reviewed by Alice Farrant The Japanese Lover by Isabel Allende is a tender love story, traversing from the…
