Ghazaleh Alizadeh: » خانه ادریسیها (The House of The Edrisis (Volume 1)

The latest addition to my website is Ghazaleh Alizadeh‘s خانه ادریسیها (The House of The Edrisis (Volume 1). The novel is set in what we know as Ashgabat, capital of Turkmenistan, but it had been part of Persia and is now (1910s) part of Russia. The Edrisis are a decaying family living in a large … Read more

Scholastique Mukasonga: Sister Deborah (Sister Deborah)

The latest addition to my website is Scholastique Mukasonga‘s Sister Deborah. The novel is set in Rwanda when it was a Belgian colony. A ,mission consisting of black Americans comes to a village in Rwanda, with Sister Deborah seemingly the leader. She seems to have the gift of healing and helps many, including Ikirezi, the … Read more

Yuri Herrera: La estación del pantano (Season of the Swamp)

The latest addition to my website isYuri Herrera‘s La estación del pantano (Season of the Swamp). Future Mexican president Benito Juárez was exiled by president Antonio López de Santa Anna. Juárez and his companions end up in New Orleans. It is 1853. We know tthey were there for eighteen months but we know nothing of … Read more

Paolo Giordano: Tasmania (Tasmania)

The latest addition to my website is Paolo Giordano‘s Tasmania (Tasmania). Our narrator, called Paolo Giordano, is a science journalist. He is worried about private issues – particularly his marriage, not least because his wife cannot get pregnant but also worldwide issues, such as climate change and terrorism but others as well. He is unsure … Read more

Olga Tokarczuk: Empuzjon (Empusium)

The latest addition to my website isOlga Tokarczuk‘s Empuzjon (Empusium). The novel is set in 1913 in a Magic Mountain-like tuberculosis sanatorium. Our hero is Mieczyslaw Wojnicz, a young Polish student of hydroengineering from Lwow now Lviv. We mainly follow Wojnicz and the other denizens of the boarding house where he is staying. Strange things … Read more

Carlos Paradona Rufino Roque: Tchanaze, a donzela de Sena (Tchanaze (Beauty and the Beads)

The latest addition to my website isCarlos Paradona Rufino Roque‘s Tchanaze, a donzela de Sena (Tchanaze (Beauty and the Beads) . Tchanaze is the most beautiful young woman in the region in Mozambique, coveted by all the men. Mbemba, however, is inflicted with n’fucua which means that the men are not interested. The area seems … Read more

Hassouna Mosbahi: الطلييتيم الدهرالنهر مرتين»، دار الآداب، (We Never Swim in the Same River Twice)

The latest addition to my website is Hassouna Mosbahi‘s النهر مرتين»، دار الآداب، (We Never Swim in the Same River Twice). This book tells the stories of three friends in Tunisia during the failed Arab Spring. Omran is an intellectual who has moved to France (primarily for political reasons) but comes back to Tunisia to … Read more

Olena Stiazhkina: Смерть Лева Сесіла (Cecil the Lion Had to Die)

The latest addition to my website is Olena Stiazhkina‘s Смерть Лева Сесіла (Cecil the Lion Had to Die). In 1986 a group of Ukrainians of German origin in Donetsk decide to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birth of Ernst Thälmann by naming a new-born child after him. Two babies are selected, to be called … Read more