Life Begins on Friday by Ioana Pârvulescu

Despite their best efforts, the publishers have not managed to find any book from Luxembourg translated into English – they’ve compensated by giving Belgium two extra titles. I hope it pans out, and in the meantime, perhaps we can help him out with something.

He is planning a virtual literary festival to celebrate the writers, and is in talks with bookshops about running promotions over the months in the run up to the referendum. The omission, says Lane, is “Because they are in the Commonwealth so we will remain linked to them whether or not we are in the EU, and Ireland is excluded because it’s geographically in the British Isles and our links to them will remain whatever happens.” I’m particularly keen to check out Hungarian Miklós Bánffy’s Transylvanian Trilogy Lane says Bánffy “is an author who should have the stature of Tolstoy”.Įagle-eyed Europhiles might spot that Cyprus, Malta and Ireland are missing from the list. There are 49 titles in total, from a fantastic list of publishers: And Other Stories, Arcadia, Atlas, Bitter Lemon, Comma, Dedalus, Faber & Faber, Garnett Press, Istros, Jantar, Marion Boyars, Norvik Press, Parthian, Peter Owen, Portobello and Pushkin.Īnd the list itself is like a chocolate box of treasures waiting to be discovered. It’s an opportunity to learn something about our neighbours, before we lose them.” “I wanted the list to make a cultural case for Europe, without getting involved in what’s happening at the moment. “It was nice to discover books I’d never heard of,” says Lane. Apothecary Melchior and the Mystery of St Olaf’s Church by Indrek Hargla, translated from the Estonian by Adam Cullen and set in 15th-century Tallinn, “the last foothold before the east”.ĭedalus publisher Eric Lane has worked to put the list together, asking publishers to suggest suitable titles with the main criterion that “they tell you something new or informative about a country”. But there are also lots of names I don’t: Farewell, Cowboy by Olja Savičević, translated from Croatian by Celia Hawkesworth, about a character going back to her hometown on the Adriatic coast to unravel the mystery of her brother’s death.

Diego Marani from Finland, with New Finnish Grammar.

Eça de Queirós from Portugal, with The Crime of Father Amaro. There are names I know – Stefan Zweig from Austria, with Beware of Pity. They are all from UK independent publishers, and all translated into English. Now, independent publisher Dedalus Books is making its own small case for remaining in the EU, with its “Reading Europe” promotion, a selection of novels from EU countries intended to “let the reader know the literature, history and culture of each country better”.

Life Begins on Friday by Ioana Pârvulescu