Our translated fiction guru Laura Garcia Moreno is back with her latest picks – and this month she is joined by the lovely Rohan Wolsey, who has reviewed some of his favourite recent releases…
Mammoth by Eva Baltasar (tr. by Julia Sanches). This book is a ticking bomb. Mammoth’s protagonist is a Barcelona city lesbian whose only aim is to get pregnant. She leaves a steady job to move deep into the countryside, in an isolated and gross home. There are cats, sexy times and gritty men. There is some blood, baby goats and a toothless shepherd. Baltasar’s wit and word prose makes this punchy novella irresistible even as your gut just keeps on shrinking. (LGM)
The Edges by Angelo Tijssens (tr. by Michele Hutchison). A man returns to his hometown to clear out the flat of his recently deceased mother. While there, he cannot resist visiting his former lover, seeking to rekindle something long-buried. A beautiful but unsentimental tale of a man’s search for love and belonging. Will he find a home for his heart after a childhood marked by abuse and a life lived on the margins? For fans of Edouard Louis, with a pinch of Ocean Vuong. (RW)
This is Not Miami by Fernanda Melchor (tr. by Sophie Hughes). These are crónicas set in Veracruz, Mexico. This genre only known to Latin American writing draws from bleak real events. From murders, human trafficking. horror and superstitions; all reported with literary and creative prose with the aim of documenting narco violence in a city that stands on the edge of a knive and at times believes itself to be Miami. (LGM)
If Only by Vigdis Hjorth (tr. by Charlotte Barslund). After an impulsive, whirlwind marital affair with Arnold, Ida sleepwalks through the dissolution of her marriage and break-up of her family. Ignoring his cold aloofness, and her better judgement, she doubles down on her desire for Arnold. Now that she has him all to herself, all the surface pleasures she’s enjoyed can no longer sustain the fantasy. As their relationship begins to unravel, she unravels with it. Feverish and intoxicating writing from one of Norway’s best novelists. (RW)
White Nights by Urszula Honek (tr. by Kate Webster). A brilliantly plotted 13-short story collection that interconnects village in the Beskid Niski region of Southern Poland. These are poetic yet grounded accounts of the miseries that happen to a group of people that grew up together. Some have dreams, some are struggling to merely survive in these cruel and hopeless times. They only ask something of us: to witness them. (LGM)
The Specters of Algeria by Hwang Yeo Jung (tr. by Yewon Jung). During the dictatorship of South Korea’s Fifth Republic, a group of dramatists distribute copies Karl Marx’s only surviving play, The Specters of Algeria, in defiance of the state. The resulting brutal crackdown by the authorities forever changes the lives of those involved. Years later, descendants of the group’s members start piecing together the truth of what really happened. A thought-provoking, tricksy debut full of twists and turns. (RW)