#RivetingReviews March 2026. Introduction by Sheridan Marshall

Spring is springing here in the UK, and we are showcasing a fantastic crop of European literary talent in our March reviews to match the natural abundance of the season.

Riveter-in-Chief Rosie Goldsmith reviews Julia Franck’s searing work of autofiction, Worlds Apart, which reflects on how the author happened upon writing as a source of creative release amid her chaotic childhood in Berlin. Anna Blasiak introduces us to another writer who uses their writing to consider their own role as an artist, the Polish poet Wojciech Bonowicz, whose Songs at Half Past Three and Other Poems are full of humour and beauty. Nicole Yurcaba talks us through the bilingual Ukrainian-English poetry of Andriy Telibayev in his debut, Empathy Will Pass Someday, in which he uses his skills as a celebrated photographer to focus on forgotten moments from the ongoing war. Marc Levy’s dark thriller, Symphony of Monsters, reviewed by Max Easterman, also responds to the war in Ukraine, drawing attention to the plight of the thousands of Ukrainian children who have been kidnapped and sent to live in Russia.

Max Easterman also reviews Holy F*ck by the Swiss author, Joseph Incardona – a wonderful-sounding read that he dubs “one of the best reads of 2026”. I hope we can tempt you to pick up this – or one of our other literary gems – to see if you agree. I was intrigued by the rave reviews for Vincent Latronico’s novel Perfection since its publication last year, and enjoyed his slick social commentary on the lives of digital natives set in contemporary Berlin – with some reservations! Katja Lange-Müller’s Bad Sheep, reviewed by Sarah Escritt, is set in Berlin half a century earlier and is told through a series of scenes that might have been paintings by Edward Hopper.

West Camel has reviewed two titles this season: The Sun Script, by Estonian novelist Rein Raud, which explores ideas about the philosophy of language with a light touch, as well as Ana Schnabl’s literary crime novel, Flood Tide, translated from the Slovenian. Another Slovenian novel, Miha Mazzini’s Erased, is reviewed by Morelle Smith, who marvels at this funny yet alarming picture of a corrupt and dysfunctional state. 

David Hebblethwaite looks at a forgotten gem originally published in French in 1976, Inès Cagnati’s Crazy Genie, while John Munch also takes us back in literary time in his review of the little-known Romanian author Ludovic Bruckstein’s collection of thirty-three short stories, Maybe Even Happiness. Michael Eaude reviews Imma Monsó’s Catalan novel, The Teacher and the Beast, relishing its unusual plot and cast of eccentric but realistic characters. 

I do hope our March titles will put a spring in your step and help shape your reading list over the coming months. #RivetingReviews will be back in June, edited by West Camel. If you have a book for review or would like to write a review for us, please get in touch at: contact@eurolitnetwork.com

By Sheridan Marshall