Why might Hamlet be even longer in Italian?How does the story of Romeo and Juliet begin . . . in Thai?How do you build a joke in German, or recreate a rhyme in Japanese?And why are Lady Macbeth's pronouns such a problem?What does it mean to translate Shakespeare? When we change all the poetry, all the wordplay, all the syntax - all the words! - is i...

Dreams of love come true when they're told to the right person...After walking for days across the harsh Brazilian landscape only to be rejected by his last living relative, Samuel finds his options for survival are dwindling fast - until he comes to the hollow head of a statue, perfect for a boy to crawl into and hide...Whilst sheltering, Samuel realises that he can hear the villagers' whispered prayers to Saint Anthony - confessing lost loves, hopes and fears - and he beg...

Role Play is a searing satire narrated by a wealthy young woman in Rio on the verge of a class-consciousness awakening.Vivian is a curator, not just at her gallery gig in Rio de Janeiro, but in every aspect of her life. Her apartment has designer armchairs. Her wallet is Comme des Garçons. Everything is selected and arranged, even her lovers and friends. In Vivian’s world, everything comes in excess, including her own caustic selfawareness. As she informs ...

Three women find themselves caught in the crossfire in this pulse-pounding saga of a Brazilian community in crisis and the environmental tragedy that threatens to engulf it.On the lush Brazil-Argentina border, greed runs deep. A proposed hydroelectric dam spells doom for both the vibrant ecosystems of the Turvo State Park and the people who call it home. Park ranger Chaya refuses to stand by while her beloved land is razed. Her estranged cousin, Preta, a hardened l...

Paulo Scott's second novel to appear in English probes the old wounds of race in Brazil; and in particular the loss of a black identity independent from the history of slavery. Exploratory rather than didactic; a story of crime; street-life; and regret as much as a satirical novel of ideas; Phenotypes is a seething masterpiece of rage and reconciliation.

What happens when two revolutionaries are left with nothing to believe in, not even each other?Never Did the Fire unfolds in the humdrum of everyday working class existence, making the afterlife of an agitator that of anyone living next door. For one old couple, brought together years ago in an underground cell, the revolution has ended in a small apartment, a grinding job caring for the bodies of the unwell well-to-do, and all the aches and pains that go ...

Brutal and overwhelming, Confession wrestles with the legacy of Argentina’s past and the passions of one young girl.When Mirta López looks out the dining room window, she sees a slim, self-possessed older boy on his way back from school. It’s 1941 in provincial Argentina, and the sight has awakened in her the first uncertain, unnerving vibrations of desire. Naturally, she confesses. But she cannot stop herself.Over thirty years later, in 1977, that...

Friendship makes life worth living, and worth ending too.Eufrasia Vela is a caregiver—it’s not just her job. But when she begins working with Doña Carmen, a bedridden elderly woman who spends her days staring out the window at her now-obstructed view of the sea, she confronts the limits to her ability to help. That is, until Doña Carmen makes a big, last request: to transform her caretaking from helping her stay alive to helping her die. A good death has m...

**A luminous collection of dryly humorous stories that revel in the surreal and fantastic, from the pen of José Eduardo Agualusa, winner of the International Dublin Literary AwardPerfect for readers of Haruki Murakami, Julio Cortázar, and Namwali Serpell’s The Old Drift**Vividly translated into English for the first time by long-time Agualusa collaborator Daniel Hahn, the jewel-like tales gathered in this collection are an exuberant celebration of story-telling in ...

An unforgettable book from Portugal's bestselling author that promises to change how we read about loveThe restaurant is crowded and noisy. The man sits by the window, watching the grey sky, bored, as he is every Monday morning. Suddenly he turns and she's there, standing in front of him. Years have passed since he last saw her, since the day he left, without an explanation, without a reason. Only now does he realise he never stopped loving her, even for a second.

In a small village in the Swiss Alps, in the aftermath of World War II, particle physics and psychiatry grapple with a forever changed world.Nicholas walks the wooded path between the sanitarium where he works and his home, alert to a possible menace lurking in the trees, haunted by the possibility of an evil just out of sight. His days are spent ministering to minds that have been grievously damaged by the years of brutal conflict, violence suffered and violence a...

Weaving outright hilarity with wry tenderness, The Past Pursues Us is a fast-paced and funny whodunit that lovingly speaks to the stories we tell ourselves about home: about what changes, what doesn't, and what should.