Book Reviews by Language

↑A

Ancient Greek
Image shows a letter I with two greek soldiers fighting with spears
Arabic
classic fitzcarraldo editions cover with a sharm white text on a deep blue background
Cover image shows the silhouette of a man's head and shoulders in pink and black, the outlilne filled with storm clouds or perhaps billowing smoke
Cover image for No Windmills in Basra, shows the yellow sails of a windmill with line drawings of amimals, birds a lighthouse and a wristwatch

↑B

Belarusian
A large dark bird on a blue background. A man and a child running away behind thorny red and blue branches.
Bosnian
Cover image shows a collage made up of fragments of a photo showing a woman's body

↑C

Catalan
Image of book cover of The Time of the doves by Merce Rodoreda
Chinese
A man walks towards a pyramid structure on what looks like an alien planet
Czech
Photograph of a sunburnt child emerging from water.

↑D

Danish
Book cover for Mirror Shoulder Signal by Dorthe Nors, Image shows a car door and a coat trapped in it with a hazy image of a woman in profile drivng the car
Dutch
Cover image for The Square of Revenge by Pieter Aspe, the cover shows a photograph of a Belgian street tinged with orange
You Have Me To Love

↑E

Estonian
Book cover for Burning Cities by Kai Aareleid. Image shows a two card tower, the card facing outwards is the five of spades.
Book cover for Pobeda 1946 - A car called victory by Ilmar Taska. Image shows a light coloured car in the foreground against the silhouette of some houses and a church tower.

↑F

Finnish
A moonlit road in a forest with tyre tracks
Cover image of The Rabbit Factor by Antti Tuomainen, cover shows a huge model rabbit with one broken ear. A man stands in front of it with his back turned to us
Flemish
Cover image for The Square of Revenge by Pieter Aspe, the cover shows a photograph of a Belgian street tinged with orange
French
A painting of Place de la Concorde in 1829 by Canella.
Blurry watercolour in browns, showing a couple walking down in a street
Geometrically repeating pattern of colourful hot air balloon shapes
Cartoonish face of a woman with black marker pen scribblies under the eyes
A man faces the camera below and above is shown in profile like a police mug shot.
A yellow wall with a lamp and its shadow
Cover shows a reproduction of Peace by Picasso
Cover shows a reproduction of Picasso's The War
Cover shows and extract from a leaf of the Winchester Bible 1160-1180
Black cover with title in white text and Penguin logo on centre strap
A crowd of men and boys in turn of the century dress outside a sandstone building with columns and arched windows
A deep blue background with a pattern of cream, gold and grey flowers and leaves.
An African landscape in shades of rust, possibly at sunset
A group of well dressed men in suits and top hats on a terrace
Three cigarettes in a cigarette case with cut outs of part of a woman's face, a key and a length of rope.
A woman's hand rests on a blue tinged pillow case on a blue tinged background
Detail from Miners'Wives Carrying Sacks of Coal (1882) Van Gogh
A young woman with a freckled face in close up stares out at the reader
Collage effect with a blue cutout hiding the black and white photographic profile of a classically beautiful woman
Cover shows the title with a background reminiscent of a wrougt iron gate
An old wall, covered in graffiti with a window. A naked woman emerges from the wall.
A detail from a portrait of his wife by Claude Monet
Painting by Manet 'Nana' shows a woman in high heels, short skirt and sleeveless bodice applying makeup.
Cover shows Pierre Bonnard's painting of a woman in a wicker chair.
Painting of a woman with dark hair sitting at a writing desk with her back to the viewer
Silhouette of a cat on a fiery sunset background
Winter in Sokcho cover is in landscape and shows a postcard of a seaside resort overlaid by the title.
A man stands behind a woman on a balcony with his arms around her. The image is black and white and the dress is 1960's style
Cover image for Kaya Days by Carl de Souza. Image shows a young woman in balletic pose, walking on a river bed
Book cover for Disoriental by Négar Djavadi shows a colourful phoenix on a purple background
A stone tower with crows and storm clouds
Our Riches

↑G

German
Night Train to Lisbon
All Quiet on the Western Front
An open book with the pages cut out and the central section removed, inside which we read the title.
A face which is half human, half insect on a blood red and black background
Early photograph. A boy with blond hair wears a white suit with a fur edged cape and holds a tricornered white hat. He looks into the camera with an intent gaze and stands in a militaristic pose.
A bare mountainside rises behind a conifer forest. Below a swiss castle with two pointed turrets and many windows approached by a winding road.
Pencil/charcoal drawing of a woman's face by Francis Picabia 'Olga' 1930
A man in 1930s dress stands with one arm raised open palmed and the other at his temple in a salute.
A dark sky and sea with an oldfashioned liner named Norvid
Cover shows a blonde girl in a white top with a book on her lap.
Cover image shows a large image of a fox made up of a mosaic like design with buildings and more foxes
Image shows book cover of The Pharmacist by Ingrid Noll with a picutre of poison bottles
image shows book cover of The Passenger by Ulrich Boschwitz. A man in a suit looks over his shoulder and runs down a station platform in Nazi Germany as a steam train approaches behind him.
Cover image of Alone in Berlin by Hans Fallada show a black and white photo of 1940s Berlin in the fog
Book cover image of How the soldier repairs the gramophone, image shows a cartoon-like colourful depiction of a wind up old fashioned gramophone with horn
Cover image for The Spoke by Friedrich Glauser shows the shadow of a bicycle on a pavement.
Image of the cover of 'The Reader' by Bernhard Schlink
Image of the cover of the novel 'Why we took the car' by Wolfgang Herrndorf

↑H

Hungarian
Photograph of a young woman with a shadow across her face.
Black and white photo of a grand wrought iron gate standing open and leading into a tree lined drive
Light blue background with crudely drawn stick figures disappearing into the distance
Detective Story
Image of book cover 'Abigail' by Magda Szabó showing a girl dressed in white climbing a spiral staircase
Cover has a painting by Giorgio de Chirico showing a porticoed building in from of which a girl runs with a hoop (Melancholy and Mystery of a Street)

↑I

Icelandic
A figure stands on a promontory on the edge of a body of water looking at an Icelandic style house with red roof. The image is sideways on
A figure in silhoutte stands on the edge of a lava flow with billowing dark grey smoke
Cover of Quake by Auður Jónsdóttir, shows a small red brain in the centre of the cover
Italian
Ears of wheat from below with a bright blue sky and clouds
One quarter face view of young man with dark hair eyebrows and moustache
The Darkest Winter
The cover is red and there are tow small male figures carrying large flags
A scene from the film adaptation showing the two brothers against a backdrop of a mural depiction Lenin and Stalin and the hammer and sickle.
An orange cover showing a square municipa type building
Two Women
A white cover which reprints the text from the opening of the book
Cover shows a blurry images of the same man running in two different directions carrying plates and bottles.
The Leopard
If on a winter's night a traveller
cover features a line drawing of a man climbing up the outside of an old fashioned building
Detail from the Memento Mori, a painting of mediaeval scene in a formal garden with a fountain and various figures, one playing a lyre.
a skeleton with a violin under its arm steps out from the shape of the letter Q
A naked woman on a green background
A castle on a cliff, a rough sea below and gathering clouds above
A man sits at a restaurant table with food and a bottle of wine with mysterious figures in the middle distance.
A French window with ornate stone surround opens inwards to show the silhouette of a figure playing the violin
The Mystery and Melancholy of a Street by Giorgio de Chirico
Splashes of red, yellow and green as the silhouette of a man walks through a portico
A heraldic image of a leopard standing on one leg, on a red background
Fontamara
A diagram of a chain of chemical elements.
A man's hands, handcuffed behind his back. The man is wearing a smart suit and jacket.
Three men in concentration camp uniform look out at the camera
Cover shows a photograph of Aldo Moro's body in the open boot of the Renault 4 car where he was found.
Excursion to Tindari
Silhouette drawing of a man with a gun behind a car, the sea and a town with arid hills above.
Cover image of The Shape of Water by Camilleri
Image shows cover of Umberto Eco's The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana. a Jester holding a bottle stands in a spiral of orange peel
Book cover for Reasonable Doubts by Gianrico Carofiglio, image shows a shadowy male figure walking away from us under an archway leading to a traditional Italian piazza.
Image of book cover for A Walk in the Dark by Gianrico Carofiglio, image shows a woman's bare legs from the knee down, she is standing andwearing a pair of red court shoes
Cover image for Involuntary Witness by Gianrico Carofiglio, image shows the back view of a shirtless boy lying on the ground in tones of blue and grey
Book cover for Charlie Chaplin's Last Dance by Fabio Stassi. Image shows Chaplin dancing with cloaked figure of Death who is holding a scythe.
Image of book cover 'The Garden of the Finzi-Continis' by Giorgio Bassani
Book title has been crossed out and the word "censura" stamped across.
Image of book cover 'Hunting Season' by Andrea Camilleri
Image of book cover 'The Brewer of Preston' by Andrea Camilleri
Image of book cover 'The Story of a New Name' by Elena Ferrante
Trick
Game for Five
My Brilliant Friend
Ferocity
If on a winter's night a traveller
book cover for Catastrophe by Dino Buzzati
Like Family
The Breaking of a Wave
The Measure of a Man

↑J

Japanese
An Id lanyard badge with the picutre of a Japanese woman
A stylised depiction of the sea with blue spirals and white goam in the style of Hokusai
Cartoonlike design of a bookshop with two silhouetted figures through a doorway, two cats and a bicycle
Cover image shows a light blue background with a gold fish in a free floating balloon
Image shows cover of Bullet Train by Kotaro Isaka
Book Cover for How do you live by Genzaburo Yoshino. Cover shows the itle and a lone figure dressed in a kimono style outfit with his back to us facing what might be the universe.
Book cover for Temple Alley Summer shwoing a school girl running down an old fashioned Japnese street with a mysterious building appearing out of the mist in the distance
Image of book cover 'The Ten loves of Mr Nishino' by Hiromi Kawakami
Image of book cover 'The Nakano Thrift Shop' a novel by Hiromi Kawakami
Image of cover for 'Strange Weather in Tokyo' by Hiromi Kawakami
NP

↑N

Norwegian
A cartoon red tree, a cartoon woman in yellow troutsers and shades looks through the lower canopy. It must be evening because the long shadows of the woman and tree disappear off the edge of the book cover.
Image shows a house with a foreground of tall trees in silhouette.

↑P

Persian/Farsi
Image of book cover for In Case of Emergency by Mahsa Mohebali. Image shows book title falling diagonally down the page like a fault, with a backdrop of built up houses in Tehran superimposed with opium poppies.
Polish
Blue Fitzcarraldo cover with white text
Cover image shows a collage with a lady in early 20th century dress, a grand building with lots of windows and a skull
Image of book cover '566 Frames' by Denis Wojda
Portuguese
Paula Rega painting showing a woman in 19th century Portuguese dress holding a sword
Cartoon like image of a man sitting in front of a tv which shines like a spotlight on his face. An actor is shown on the screen who is exactly like him except for a moustache.
Image of a man in 1930s dress, seated hands in pockets, head down eyes closes as if sleeping.
Black and white photo of a boy on a rooftop looking up at a flock of birds.
A crowd of people face the camera, with five stars above the image.
a sepia tinted view of Rio de Janeiro with printed names of Hungarian bridges added.
A blurry image in blues and black of a woman's figure in silhouette walking away from the camera through a park with trees.
A sunset with hills in the background and a church in silhouette in the foreground, bottom right
A woman with long red dredlocks, wearing a blue full skirt adn no top, sits bending forward with her hands round her ankles.
A bald and unadorned human head that looks like it's been moulded from clay, with splashes of bright blue, purple and pink.
A white chameleon cut out on a blue/yellow/green mosaic effect background
Book cover for Phenotypes by Paulo Scott. Image shows blocks of turquoise and light green with the silhouettes of two boys fighting
Cover image for Complete Stories by Clarice Lispector. Image shows detail from a portrait of Lispector by Giorgio de Chirico
Book cover for Near to the Wild Heart by Clarice Lispector. Cover image is a detail from Ariadne by Giorgio de Chirico

↑R

Romanian
Book cover for FEM by Magda Carneci, cover image shows a segmented sphere in deep pastel colours containing the book's title
Russian
A man in a doctor's wite coat in front of a gurney where a heavily pregnant woman is laid, has a book in front of him showing anatomical depictions of a baby about to be born
Picasso-esque representation in blues and reds of a half human-half dog creature smoking and surrounded by mess and a bottle of vodka
a woman in 1940s Russian army uniform
The Aristocrat at Breakfast by Fedotov.
A 19th century lithograph of a group of cossack men wearing traditional clothing and hats
A late nineteenth century Russian woman in a a red dress in front of a railway station building.
Cover shows a Russian military officer against a background of St Petersburg with a bottle of poison and a woman in a cameo brooch.
A futuristic cityscape with a rockets and helicopters flying across a red sky.
A horizontal pyramid of Russian characters, including a peasants and an orthodox priest.
Soviet era graffiti of a person's head on a stairwell wall and some Russian script.
A Woman with a black hooded cloak with a fur collar in profile looking intently out of shot. BBC tie in cover showing actress Morag Hood as Natasha.
Portrait of an unknown woman by Yaroshenko, a woman dressed in black furs with a lace hat is sitting on a chair with a sneering expression.
Black and white line drawing of a gangster in a hearse throwing a gold fish into the air out of the passenger window. A woman wearing shades is driving and a parrot sits on the roof.
An empty hospital bed in front of an open window. Detail from Sleepless night (1903) by Nikolai Romadin
Detail from On The Banks by Repin showing three figures in late nineteenth century dress, a slodier and an older couple, seated in a rural setting with willow trees and a lake.
Black and white close up photographic image of a face in profile
A large dark bird on a blue background. A man and a child running away behind thorny red and blue branches.
Book cover for Lucky Breaks by Yevgenia Belorusets, image shows a broken umbrella that resembles a flower in black ink
Cover image of Grey Bees by Andrej Kurkov shows a beekeeper lifting a comb from a hive on a bright golden yellow background
Image of book cover 'Fathers and sons' by Ivan Turgenev
A black cartoon style penguin on a yellow background

↑S

Spanish
Down the Rabbit Hole
A yellow and black cover with French bulldogs and police cars and stamps.
A young woman with bare shoulders, dark hair wound into a coil with dark pink ribbon and dark pink lipstick looks at a blue and gold macaw sitting at her side.
An elderly military dictator stands in the foreground with a blurry scene with men and palm trees fades into the background
When We Cease to Understand the World
A coffee table dovered with an assortment of items including books, drugs and a glass of possibly port
Watercolour in reds and oranges of a Spanish knight on a tired-lookin horse followed by a man on a donkey.
The Sum of our Days
A detail of a painting by Paul Gaugin of two Polynesian girls called When are you getting married?
Brickmakers
A representation of a river delta which could also be the branching of veins and arteries
Surreal cover illustration by Francisca Alvarez Sanchez depiction a dove and a floating upturned jug as well as crescent moon on top of a giant candlestick
A wonky piano keyboard, the black keys are blue and yellow, two are shaped like bombs.
An Edwardian era black and white photo of a young girl seated sideways on a chair on the front of an old book tied with string.
A panelled door in a grand room with elaborate cornicing opens inwards to reveal an empty room
The Flanders Panel
Like Water For Chocolate
Cover shows the head and shoulders of a woman with dark hair in close up with head bowed
Black and white image of a colonial style church with a blurry image of a cowboy riding a horse in the foreground.
Image shows a green background with white splashes like costellations
Cover shows a carving of the Virgin Mary
Photo fit of a man's face with each quarter being a different look
Cover image shows two men at the stern of a boat looking away from us across a grey, calm ocean.
Cover image shows the yellow chalk outline of a dove or pigeon on a grey background
Cover image for Elena Knows by Claudia Pineiro, image shows a yellow background with silhouette graphic in bright blue of a woman in profile and a red chair superimosed.
The Adventures of China Iron
Book cover for The German Room by Carla Maliandi. Cover image is abstract with black, white and red shapes squares on a mustard background
Image of book cover for 'All Yours' by Claudia Pineiro
Image of a book cover for the novel 'A Crack in the Wall'
A Perfect Cemetery
The House of the Spirits
The Postman (Il Postino)
The Labyrinth of the Spirits
The Prisoner of Heaven
The Watcher in the Shadows
The Midnight Palace
The Angel's Game
The Prince of Mist
The Secret Supper
The Traitor's Emblem
Swedish
Pencil drawing of the torso of a woman in a simple Victorian dress, pregnant belly exposed. A man's hands hold obstetric forceps with a baby's head visible through the stomach of the woman.
Image shows a blurry image of a window pane on one side covered with ice crystals
Image of book cover 'Hunger House' by C/M Edenborg showing young girl approaching abandoned house from a forest

↑T

Turkish
Photograph of a group of westernised Turkish men and women in a luxury convertible car with the Bosphorus and Istanbul's skyline in the background. 1970s
A man in the foreground huddled against the snow with a cigarette in his mouth, in the background teh skyline of a Russian town.
A man in a Turkish fez sits at a destk with a vase of flowers in a thoughtful pose
Photo booth picture in black and white with a man and a woman in 1920s dress

↑U

Ukrainian
A goat's head in red and blue embroidery, with flowers and wedding rings

↑Z

Zulu
A colourful image of an African man in a red suit with a briefcase walking up a rural track with straw-roofed round houses and a cow looking enquiringly at him.

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Night Train to Lisbon

Night Train to Lisbon

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Ears of wheat from below with a bright blue sky and clouds

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One relentlessly hot summer, six children explore the scorched wheat fields that enclose their tiny

A cartoon red tree, a cartoon woman in yellow troutsers and shades looks through the lower canopy. It must be evening because the long shadows of the woman and tree disappear off the edge of the book cover.

Is Mother Dead

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A cat and mouse game of surveillance and psychological torment develops between a middle aged artist