Robert Drewe: The Bodysurfers
Three generations of the Lang family take up many of the stories in Robert Drewe’s The Bodysurfers (1983), a work that leans in on the men, their faltering relationships, and…
Samanta Schweblin: Seven Empty Houses
Boxes, clothes, and the dead form a common thread in the stories of Samanta Schweblin’s Seven Empty Houses (2015, tr: Megan McDowell, 2022) which invite us into moments of the…
Jennifer Clement: A True Story Based on Lies
Women are at the heart of Jennifer Clement’s 2001 fiction debut, A True Story Based on Lies, which looks at the upstairs downstairs dynamics in wealthy Mexico City. Our gateway…
Jon Fosse: Aliss at the Fire
Jon Fosse’s Aliss at the Fire (2003, tr: Damion Searls, 2010) is as much a showcase of his talent as dramatist as well as writer of prose. His characters converse…
Mike Ashley (ed): From the Depths
From the Depths and Other Strange Tales of the Sea (2018, ed: Mike Ashley) heralded the start of a book series that, seven years later, is showing no signs of…
Jon Fosse: Morning and Evening
Life is what happens in the moments between birth and death, and there’s much mystery found in this fleeting gap in Jon Fosse’s Morning and Evening (2000, tr: Damion Searls,…
Petina Gappah: An Elegy for Easterly
The thirteen stories that comprise Petina Gappah’s debut collection, An Elegy for Easterly (2009), examine Zimbabwe under the regime of Robert Mugabe. While that experience may not be comparable to…
Éric Vuillard: The War of the Poor
The war in Éric Vuillard’s The War of the Poor (2019, tr: Mark Polizzotti , 2021) is not a single point in time but an ongoing campaign fought throughout history.…
Kathryn Scanlan: Kick the Latch
Kathryn Scanlan’s Kick the Latch (2022) is an engaging compression of one woman’s life in the Midwest horse racing circuit. Based on transcribed interviews with the subject, Sonia, Scanlan has…
Chingiz Aïtmatov: Jamilia
When I first read Jamilia (1957, tr: James Riordan, 2007) by the Kyrgyz writer, Chingiz Aïtmatov, I could never square it with the Louis Aragon quote adorning the cover, declaring…