Our translated fiction expert, Laura Garcia Moreno, is back with her latest selection of fiction from around the world. This month she is joined by our Fiction Lead Tom Mooney.
The Little I Knew by Chiara Valerio (tr. by Aisla Wood). Vittoria dies drowned in her bath in a small Italian coastal town. What follows is village gossip, the exploration of friendship, community, love and memory. There are many questions: about Vittoria, about the woman she has lived with for decades and also the apparition of Vittoria’s unknown husband at the funeral. A perfect summer read for fans of Elena Ferrante with a touch of crime but no detectives. (LGM)
This Mouth is Mine by Yasnaya Elena A. Gil (tr. by Ellen Jones). A linguist’s dream. Short and sharp essays that invite to explore politics in language. There are more than 200 indigenous languages in Mexico and the racist, centralist, capitalistic and colonial dynamics that have been used to segregate native people is still a discourse implemented from the Estate that erases culture and community. This is angry, intelligent and hopeful. (LGM)
Reservoir Bitches by Dahlia de la Cerda (tr. by Heather Cleary and Julia Sanches). Thirteen stories of Mexican womanhood interlinked together to make a piece of work. There is violence, sharpness, visceral anguish, dead and exploited women, hope, prostitution, witchcraft and boldness. De la Cerda interlinks protagonists and black humour as she takes paints a portrait of the dark side of Mexico. (LGM)
Still Born by Guadalupe Nettel (tr. by Rosalind Harvey). Laura will never have children, she has medically taken care of this. And as she enters a new stage of life surrounded by her community of feminist and like-minded people her best friend surprises her by changing her mind and getting pregnant. This is the story of three women with different outlooks on motherhood. This is a nuanced story of motherhood, of choices, of friendship. (LGM)
Requiem: A Hallucination by Antonio Tabucchi (tr. by Margaret Jull Costa). On a hot July day in Lisbon, our narrator takes a walk around this beautiful city, running into a Seller of Stories, an accordionist, and a quirky taxi driver with a fascinating story to tell. But he has another appointment to make – he must met the ghost of the great Fernando Pessoa on a bench. A charming delight and a fierce love letter to the Portuguese from the author of Mr B’s fave, Pereira Maintains. (TSM)
Madonna in a Fur Coat by Sabahattin Ali (tr by David Selim Sayers). A rich, absorbing and tragic love story, Madonna in a Fur Coat begins with an office worker befriending a quiet and mysterious older colleague, Raif. When the colleague becomes ill, he visits him at home, bringing him work to do and building on their friendship a little. When Raif’s condition worsens, he asks his colleague to burn the notebook in his desk drawer. But he can’t do it, and begins to read Raif’s story… In 1920s Berlin, he fell madly, deeply and intensely in love with an artist, a brief but deeply affecting relationship, the fallout of which he never got over. An intensely beautiful story of longing and regret. (TSM)