Smoky, noirish novel that follows an actress from her childhood in provincial Hungary to the glamour - and strictures - of her career behind the Iron Curtain.
Escape to the West and life in the East through the eyes of a young woman loyal to the GDR: oppression in conflict with idealism. First published in East Germany in 1963.
Irreverent, witty and often barmy novel about how people make sense of war. Begins in 1940 with a young woman running naked down the boulevard du Montparnasse.
Witty, romantic, light but undeniably literary... the great Chilean novelist has done it again. There are echoes of Auster in his writing: a relish for books about books, stories within stor... read more
Du Maurier, Townsend Warner, three Elizabeths (Bowen, Taylor and Jane Howard) as well as lesser-known names such as Inez Holden and Attia Hosain. There is much to enjoy here.
Five stories - from a young artist and a deserting soldier to an old man reminiscing beneath a lime tree - all interwoven by the common threads of war, memory and German history.
Scanlan's prose is pared back to the bone in this slim novel about an Iowa horse trainer and the scuzzy, feverish world of racing with its trailers and motels...
The subtle and growing bonds between two couples in occupied Turin: this is a classic of wartime Italian fiction, translated now into English for the first time. Bassani called it "successfu... read more
Indian family drama revolving around an ambitious and bright but easily distracted daughter who hasn't yet heard that her father has died. Fraught, lyrical, set against the backdrop of relig... read more