The Best of Antal Szerb

“Here you have Szerb in miniature… revealing his multi-faceted genius” Nicholas Lezard, Guardian

Love in a Bottle and Other Stories is, quite simply, Antal Szerb in an exquisite nutshell: in these unforgettable tales, written between 1922 and 1943, the great Hungarian writer displays his irrepressible love of life and the gentle irony that became his hallmark. This new edition of Love in a Bottle (more…)

‘Effortlessly gripping and well paced… highly recommended’ by the Bookbag

'more relevant than ever in today's society of economic desperation and riled-up revolutionaries'

‘The politic aspect of Fatherland is gripping, flitting from one group of characters to another. In Tokyo, Fatherland highlights the shortsightedness of the country’s ministers and politicians, that have more in common with Britain’s politically powerful than is comfortable. In North Korea and their claimed territory in Fukuoka, the North Korean armed forces are brutal and highly-trained – but also unused to dealing with the daily freedoms and decadence of modern Japan. The third group we meet are a band of young criminals living in Fukuoka – damaged boys society has cast aside, taken under the wing of eccentric poet Ishihara and it is through them we learn of the social aspect of the hostile takeover.’

Read the whole review by the Bookbag here

‘A great read… hugely entertaining’ Tony on his Reading List

'See - he can write a novel without destroying Tokyo'

Includes a great (and eloquent!) comparison between Ryu Muramaki and Haruki Murakami… read whole review here

‘Orwellian’ and ‘Timely’, ‘it should be required reading’

Ben East at the Observer reviews Nihad Sirees' The Silence and the Roar

‘A Syrian author writes an award-winning novella in self-imposed exile, exploring in coruscating detail what his country has become at the hands of a controlling dictator. If The Silence and the Roar sounds timely, then it is – except Nihad Sirees wrote it in 2004. (more…)

“This was taken on his first birthday,” she said. “A year later he died of starvation.”

Ryu Murakami on interviewing refugees from North Korea

‘To Japanese citizens like me, the people of North Korea, though geographically close, are practically invisible. When I decided to write a novel about North Korea – now called From the Fatherland, With Love – I was faced with the challenge of creating believable portraits based strictly on source materials and the imagination’

Read Ryu Murakami’s full article in the Guardian in Comment is Free