#MacLehose Press

[thegirlwiththelantern]

2024 Literary Books

This is a really exciting year for me. I’m looking forward to literary fiction in ways that I haven’t before. The Storm We Made: A Novel by Vanessa Chan | 02 / 01 / 24 – S&S/Marysue Rucci Books Malaya, 1945. Cecily Alcantara’s family is in terrible danger: her fifteen-year-old son, Abel, has disappeared, and her youngest daughter, Jasmin, is confined in a basement to prevent being pressed into…

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#2024 #Bloomsbury #Books #Dialogue Books #Ecco #Faber & Faber #Graywolf Press #HarperAudio #Harvill Secker #Literature #MacLehose Press #Marysue Rucci Books #Michael Joseph #Pushkin Press #Pushkin Press Classics #releases #S&S #Scribner #Vintage #William Morrow

[weinberl]

Gauz’ ‘Standing Heavy’

“Booker International Prize 2023: Books that made my shortlist for this prize.“Standing Heavy”: In order of reading book number 3. Employers are all too willing to overlook official status. The morphological profile is supposedly appropriate. Morphological profile . . . Black men are heavy-set; Black men are tall; Black men are strong; Black men are deferential; Black men are scary. It is…

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#Booker international Prize shortlist #Le nouvel Attila #Littérature Française #MacLehose Press

[taramysweetlove]

“The memory flew at me like an arrow.”

Lars Mytting, from The Sixteen Trees of the Somme   (MacLehose Press, 2017)      

[bookcoversonly]

Title: Grey Bees | Author: Andrey Kurkov | Publisher: MacLehose Press (2020)

#books #Grey Bees #Andrey Kurkov

[morebedsidebooks]

The Third Day by Chochana Boukhobza

The only time she came alive was when she was playing the cello. The moment she bowed her head towards her instrument, the greyness vanished, light entered her gaze and her body came alive.

  From Chochana Boukhobza an awarded winning Jewish author her novel The Third Day, translated by Alison Anderson, despite coverage in many outlets has appeared to gain little traction with many readers. Set in the 1980s, the story unfolds over three days in Jerusalem following two Israeli women cellists of different generations. Absent for years living in the US, Elisheva is a holocaust survivor who hasn’t truly escaped and is out for revenge against a Nazi. Unaware of her plans Is her protégée Rachel a 23-year-old who left family, and love to pursue her musical dreams. With their arrival back for a concert with the city’s Philharmonic Orchestra it also becomes clear the great value of playing music in both characters’ lives. Music after all allows us to reside and express something different than in words alone. Too winding through the city, characters, and memories the book works into a reflective thriller very much concerned with history, shared and more personal, and what the past may mean for the present and future.

  The Third Day by Chochana Boukhobza is available in English, translated by Alison Anderson, in print and digital from MacLehose Press

#french literature #the third day #chochana boukhobza #le troisième jour #wit month #francophone50 #cw: fatphobia sexism infidelity blood murder antisemitism suicidal thoughts mass murder torture pregnancy hospitalization

[angrenwen]

Cu Sith/

“The Cu Sith (pronounced coo-shee), “fairy dog”, is a great beast associated with the fairies of the Highlands and Islands of Scotland. Fairy dogs are almost always malevolent and implacable with no love for humans. There are some stories of fairy dogs treating humans with kindness, but these are best regarded with suspicion.A fairy dog is hideous in appearance. It appears as an enormous dog the size of a two-year-old stirk, with paw-prints as broad as a man’s outspread hand. The fur is dark green, lightening downwards to the paws. The ears are a deeper green in color. The tail may be flat and plaited, or long and coiled over the dog’s back.

During the day the fairies keep their dogs tied up to keep watch, and even untethered fairy dogs will hide in caves by day. Night-time is when they roam free and are at their most dangerous. They run in straight lines, silently; sometimes they make a sound like a galloping horse. They are deadly to humans and beasts, although at least one tale has them driven off by ordinary, mortal dogs.Most dreaded of all is the cu sith’s bark. A fairy dog will bark three times, with an interval between each bark. The first and second barks are warnings; after the third bark the dogs appear and tear their victims to pieces. On the island of Tiree, those who hear the first baying of a cu sith know to immediately go indoors to safety.Finding a cu sith tooth, on the other hand, is a sign of very good luck. The tooth itself can be placed in drinking water to cure the illnesses of cows, or in milk to cleanse it of a witch’s influence. The teeth tend to be found in odd places and are abandoned after the animal feeds. MacGregor tells of a farmer in Lewis whose potatoes were being stolen on a nightly basis. Yet stakeouts accomplished nothing – he could never catch the thief in the act. Then one day he found a fairy dog’s tooth sticking out of one of the potatoes. The tooth was passed down in the family for generations.

Cu sith can be avoided. A man traveling near Kennavara Hill, Tiree, saw a large dog (Campbell describes it as black in color) resting on a sand-dune. He gave it a wide berth and made for home. The next day he revisited the dune and found prints as large as his spread palm. These prints made a trackway leading to and disappearing on the plain. The dog had ignored him.A shepherd from Lorn, Argyll, came upon two cu sith puppies curled up in their lair behind some rocks. They had green backs and sides and – most worryingly – were larger than his own hulking sheepdogs. The shepherd and his dogs wisely left before the parents showed up.

References

Briggs, K. M. (1976) An Encyclopedia of Fairies. Pantheon Books, New York.

Campbell, J. G. (1900) Superstitions of the Highlands and Islands of Scotland. James MacLehose and Sons, Glasgow.

Fleming, M. (2002) Not of this World: Creatures of the Supernatural in Scotland. Mercat Press, Edinburgh.

MacGregor, A. A. (1937) The Peat-Fire Flame: Folk-tales and Traditions of the Highlands and Islands. The Moray Press, Edinburgh.

#Beast of the Week #Fae agus Sidhe #Alba an Misneachail

[somehowwow]

قبل أن تنام الملكة للروائية الفلسطينية حزامة حبايب الصادرة في 2011 عن المؤسسة العربية للدراسات والنشر.

Before the Queen Falls Asleep by Palestinian novelist Huzama Habayeb

Published in March 2024 by MacLehose Press

#huzama habayeb #palestinian literature #bookporn #book cover #حزامة حبايب #أدب فلسطيني #قبل أن تنام الملكة #غلاف كتاب

[delectablywaywardbeard-blog]

Booker Prize 2023, in short list Nettel e Gospodinov

(ANSA) – ROMA, 18 APR – Sono state annunciate le sei opere finaliste dell’International Booker Prize 2023, il premio letterario britannico fra i più prestigiosi per gli scrittori di lingua inglese. Nella shortlist ci sono: ‘Whale’ (Europa Editions) di Cheon Myeong-kwan, tradotto da Chi-Young Kim, in arrivo in Italia a ottobre per le Edizioni E/O; ‘Standing Heavy’ (MacLehose Press) di GauZ’, nella…

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[krizzianbagz-blog]

House With The Stained-Glass Window (Maclehose Press Editions)

#Thread of understanding #Mutual fascination of love #In desire of freedom

[fictionfromafar]

Dark Music by David Lagercrantz

Dark Music

By David Lagercrantz

Translated by Ian Giles

MacLehose Press

Publication Date: 18 August 2022

(USA: 23 Aug)

David Lagercrantz's name shouldl already be familiar to many enthusiasts of Nordic Noir. Following the premature death of legendary Swedish author Stieg Larsson, Lagercrantz was approached to continue Larsson's Millennium series featuring Lisbeth Salander and Mikael Blomkvist. This was a remarkable vote of confidence in an author with only one earlier novel and a cowrite of footballer Zlatan Ibrahimovic's autobiography. Following the writing of The Girl In The Spider's Web and two subsequent stories in the Millennium series, Dark Music is Lagercrantz's first attempt to create a series in his own name.

From the outset, it is very clear that he has opted to provide a contrast to his earlier novels. Dark Music is a character driven novel which follows a slower pace than the preceding novels, although one similarity it does share is having two main characters, one of each gender who might be considered outsiders in society who form an unexpected investigative relationship.

Set in Stockholm in 2003 the reader first encounters Micaela Vargas who was born in Sweden to Chilean political refugees. Despite coming from the wrong side of town and having two brothers with dubious earnings, she has become a community police officer who is unexpectedly pulled into a murder investigation. Afghan refugee and football referee Jamal Kabir is murdered, his skull crushed by a rock following a heavily contested football match that he has officiated where he denied an obvious penalty. The clear suspect for the murder is Costa, the father of a promising football player. Vargas is brought in as she knows this man who was drunk and apoplectic at Kabir's on-field decisions and later seem staggering off with a heavily stained t-shirt. Yet Costa fails to admit his guilt. In a surprise and left field move, the Stockholm police commander urges Vargas and the other investigating officers to meet renowned Stanford psychology professor Hans Rekke to assist. He stuns them by showing remarkable insight into the lives of the police officers demonstrating his incredible powers of deduction. Yet then he angers them with his clear dismissal of the case against Costa through reasoned argument.

Unlike her colleagues Vargas is in awe of Rekke’s abilities yet as the investigation flounders and she is removed from it back to her routine work she meets another side of him shortly afterwards.

As Professor Hans Rekke’s character is filled out we learn he was born into a wealthy Stockholm family and was once a world touring classic pianist before a severe bout of depression brought this career to an end. Owing to his intelligence he has since become a world-renowned authority on interrogation techniques yet it is his remarkable skills of logic and observation that truly make him stand out. Lagercrantz confirms that Rekke is heavily influenced by Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes and comes across as very unique.

Vargas feels driven to try to solve the investigation into Kabir's death requesting help from Rekke in order to prove her abilities to her colleagues, yet she finds that keeping Rekke on the straight and narrow is a challenge due to his bipolar disorder and resultant substance abuse. Yet as they start to work together and particularly after Rekke identifies certain characteristics from the torture scars photographed on Kabir’s body, it becomes clear that there are other parties who do not wish their probing to continue.

Set the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 bombings and invasion of Afghanistan, Dark Music explores from afar the life that Kabir lived and experiences that he encountered before arriving in Sweden in a climate where music was banned but football just about tolerated. More broadly the novel considers the changes that occurred in the country from the Taliban’s original takeover of the country following the Soviet retreat to the CIA’s involvement in the interrogation of its members following their downfall after the US led invasion.

I found the appeal of the book was particularly on the characters of Rekke and Vargas, their interaction with each other and those that they encounter. At times the connections Rekke was able to foster and contacts that Vargas succeeded in making largely from the former’s apartment did occasionally appear a little implausible. It is actually quite unusual to have an internationally focused story which is almost exclusively set in one place, particularly one set twenty years ago. There are also some flashback scenes that fill in the reader on some historical events.

Lagercrantz does continue the theme of Swedish neutrality which was common to many of the country’s writers such as Mankell during the cold war to the more modern “war on terror.” Yet it is the distinctiveness of the main protagonists in particular that make Dark Music an essential read for those fond on either Scandinavian crime fiction or political thrillers. The English language interpretation of the original Swedish novel was completely superbly by experienced and prolific Ian Giles providing a smooth narrative without any ambiguities.

It is apparent David Lagercrantz intends to continue to develop his new creations. I believe that there is plenty of further scope for both characters to develop their own personal storylines, in particular with their respective brothers. The novel tees up another story for the pair in the closing chapter so it seems inevitable that there will be at least one more story featuring Rekke & Vargas. Therefore, I would definitely recommend that you ensure you commence this with Dark Music

Many thanks to MacLehose Press and NetGalley for an advance copy of Dark Music and for inclusion on the Dark Music blog blast.

#crime fiction #crimeintranslation #european literature #novels in translation #nordicnoir

[annarellix]

Dark Music by David Lagercrantz (Rekke & Vargas #1)

The launch of a new series inspired by Sherlock Holmes. A murder investigation brings together two unlikely allies in a race to uncover a shadowy international conspiracy.

Professor Hans Rekke: born into a wealthy Stockholm family, world authority on interrogation techniques, capable of vertiginous feats of logic and observation . . . But he might just fall apart when the going gets tough, leading to substance abuse and despair. Micaela Vargas: community police officer, born to Chilean political refugees in a tough suburb, with two brothers on the shady side of the law. Vargas feels she has something to prove. She’s tenacious and uncompromising, but she needs Rekke’s unique mind to help her solve the case. Rekke has it all – wealth, reputation – but also a tendency to throw it all away. He needs Vargas to help him get back on an even keel so he can focus his mind on finding the killer before they’re both silenced for good.

Translated from the Swedish by Ian Giles

Buy links: https://www.hachette.co.uk/titles/david-lagercrantz-5/dark-music/9781529413205/ https://www.waterstones.com/book/dark-music/david-lagercrantz/ian-giles/9781529426397

My Review: I'm not the greatest fan of nordic noir but i was curious to read this story as there's echoes of Sherlock Holmes and Henning Menkel. It's not a fast paced or action packed novel as it's character driven and it takes its sweet time to introduce us to the two main character, Rekke and Vargars, who are from the top and lowest social class. A genius and a woman who needs to prove herself. We know since the first pages that she's also seen as a political extremist and politics and history plays an important role in this story. Rekke is a genius, bipolar and addicted to substances as the Sherlock Holmes. But he's also a well thought and interesting character. Vargas' is on the wrong side of the low and she was born in a very poor area. These two unlikely partners work well together and when the action starts this becomes a gripping and twisty story. The author did a good job in mixing social instances, police procedural, and political thriller. There's a lot of potential in this series. This book requires to be patient and if you can wait ti's an interesting and gripping read. Recommended. Many thanks to MacLehose Press and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

The Author: David Lagercrantz was born in 1962, and is an acclaimed author and journalist. In 2015 The Girl in the Spider’s Web (2015), his continuation of Stieg Larsson’s Millennium Trilogy, became a worldwide bestseller and was made into a film by Sony Pictures (2018). He is the author of the acclaimed and bestselling I am Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Fall of Man in Wilmslow, and the fifth and sixth books in the Millennium series, The Girl Who Takes an Eye for an Eye (2017) and The Girl Who Lived Twice (2019). Dark Music, the first Rekke and Vargas Investigation, will be published in the UK in 2022.

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/242659.David_Lagercrantz http://www.davidlagercrantz.se/Home.htm

#MacLehosePress #scandinavian noir #thriller #Netgalley #review

[lalafrombombay]

Violeta Among The Stars, a book review 💙

The novel begins with the protagonist at the confluence between this world and the next. This seemingly ordinary beginning takes a riveting turn, more so owing to the fierce and eccentric nature of our main character.

This is one of the most difficult books I have ever had to read, because it deals with the horrendously neglected fatal effects of fatphobic bullying and abuse. Violeta abhors her body but this emotion emerges with a trigger, she hides away for she knows she will be mocked and in order to cope she hates (or pretends to) herself. She calls her body hair, her enemies and is at war everyday selling body-wax solutions.

What drew me most to the book is the writer's excellence that can be experienced at the sentence level. Metaphors are atmospheric and the transition from one line of thought to another is seamless and yet positively differentiable. 

The prose is deliciously lyrical, the form is fleetingly modern. For example,

tell me a secret

keep me awake

until this night is over

The book also deals with the protagonist's sexuality, something that is often assumed to be either dormant or perverse in fat women. This book is a testament that women are imperfect beings who also happen to be fierce, who also need love to thrive. The book also broaches on important social issues that are at the heart of modern existence like single parenthood, mixed race children, radical difference of political opinion within the family and mental illness.

This book will arouse in you a myriad of emotions, something you did not expect, something that will stay with you a long time.

Read this book for the millions of fat women who convince themselves everyday that they are not enough or that they deserve the hate they're given. Promiscuity as a label is a patriarchal concept which has no place in the 21st century.

Note: This book was provided to me by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. 

#violeta among the stars #dulce maria cardoso #maclehose press #bookreview #booknerd #absurdereviews

[weinberl]

Pierre Lemaitre 'Couleurs de l'incendie'

Little Paul, aged seven, was standing on the window ledge, his arms flung wide. Staring into the void. He was wearing his black mourning suit, but his tie had been ripped off and his white shirt was open. Everyone stared into the heavens as though anticipating the launch of an airship. Paul bent his knees slightly. Before anyone had time to call to him, to run, he let go of the shutters as…

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#Albin Michel #Les enfants du désastre #literature #Littérature Française #MacLehose Press

[universitybookstore]

New from Quercus and the award-winning author of Look Who’s Back, The Hungry and the Fat, by Timur Vermes, translated from the German by Jamie Bulloch. (Read the Guardian review here.)

#books #timur vermes #look who's back #the hungry and the fat #fiction #satire #german literature #translations #jamie bulloch #quercus #maclehose press #new books #new releases #the guardian #book review

[bookcoversonly]

Title: An Inventory of Losses | Author: Judith Schalansky | Publisher: MacLehose Press (2020)

#books #An Inventory of Losses #Judith Schalansky

[dzelonis]

Joël Dicker - The Truth about the Harry Quebert Affair (Marcus Goldman #1)

Joël Dicker – The Truth about the Harry Quebert Affair (Marcus Goldman #1)

Links uz grāmatas Goodreads lapu Izdevniecība: MacLehose Press Manas pārdomas Markuss Goldmens gandrīz pirms diviem gadiem sarakstījis debijas romānu, kas izvērtās par negaidītu dižpārdokli. Tomēr tā vietā, lai apzinīgi ķertos klāt sava otrā romāna rakstīšanai, kā pēc noslēgtā līguma ar izdevniecību, jaunais autors labāk steidz izbaudīt necerēto bagātību un slavu. Diemžēl pa starpu…

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#Crime #Joël Dicker #MacLehose Press #Marcus Goldman #Mystery #Suspense #The Truth about the Harry Quebert Affair #Thriller