Who can write about sex like Émile Zola these days, as in his carnal and edgy Thérèse Raquin of 1867, with everyone currently flinching in advance of ironic but ultimately censo
This incredibly witty and carefully crafted short-story collection is divided into two parts. The first, ‘Blood, Guts and Love’ begins with the title story, in which a caveman
Thora Hjörleifsdóttir is an Icelandic poet and novelist, and has previously published three collections with her poetry collective, Imposter Poets. Magma is her first novel and i
Three Summers by Margarita Liberaki is a modern classic in Greece, and since it first appeared there in 1946, it has never been out of print. It is now reissued as part of the Peng
Flatland’s exquisitely crafted exposé of family life is acutely perceptive, and while her analysis is forensic it is also empathetic, displaying a deep understanding of the stre
Ginzburg’s simplicity often sets her readers a puzzle. Her books are written with such clarity, such apparent directness, it’s sometimes a challenge – although a rather enjoy
Brittany’s agro-industrial factories might not seem like an obvious source of poetic inspiration. On the Line, the novel in verse that transformed casual factory worker Joseph Po
‘Hummingbird’ is the nickname given to this novel’s protagonist, Marco Carrera, by his mother when he was a small, beautiful and agile child. Marco was born in Florence in 19
All good crime novels are psychological thrillers, and all good crime writers are also psychologists, and will reveal in their work something profound about victims and perpetrator
My own stay at the Salpêtrière hospital in Paris, on the Charcot ward for neurological disease, was thankfully rather less eventful than the fictional events set in that same loc
