MARCH, 2026 - AUTHORS TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH

 

ASHES IN THE SNOW BY ORIANO RAMMUNO

ROSEMARY S:  The author was born in Melfi in 1980. It is her debut novel published in 2021 and translated in 2022 by Katherine Gregor.  The book was inspired by her grandfather who was in a concentration camp. Rosemary said it feels like two books in one.  On one level it reads like a murder mystery. SS investigator Hugo Fischer is tasked with solving a murder inside Auschwitz, and the slow uncovering of the truth gives the story tension and momentum.  At the same time, the novel confronts the reader with the brutal reality of life in the camp.  The descriptions of suffering and cruelty are graphic and disturbing, forcing the reader to face the atrocities experienced by those imprisoned there.  It was worth reading.

THE LITTLE PRINCE BY ANTOINE SAINT-EXUPERY

JUDY J:  This book was originally published in 1943 in both French and English (translated by T.V.F. Cuffe).  The author was a pilot in France and North Africa. In exile in America, he wrote The Little Prince.

It’s a philosophical children’s fable for adults about a pilot stranded in the Sahara who meets a young prince travelling from another planet.  It explores love, friendship, loss, and the absurdity of adult life through the prince’s journeys. 

THE BOOKSTORE GIRLS BY KEI AONO

LYN:  This book was published in Japan in 2012 and published in the U.K. in 2025. It was translated by Australian Haydn Trowell.  It is the first in a series of books to be translated into English.  It’s a story of female friendship, bookstores and fighting for a cause. It is set in Japan where two employees, Riko and Aki work in different sections of a bookstore, which takes up three floors of the building.  They clash constantly at meetings and have no desire to work together.  When they are told the company is planning to close the branch, they decide they need to work together.  All the staff worked as a team and Lyn found the feeling of friendship and fun was infectious.  She thoroughly enjoyed it and would read a sequel.

THE WIND KNOWS MY NAME BY ISABEL ALLENDE (2023)

JUDY DE:  It is about war, immigration, family, home and a mother’s sacrifice.  Judy loved it. It’s the story of two children from different places and times.  In 1938 a six year old Austrian boy is sent to the UK by his mother to escape the Nazi regime.  In 2019 a seven year old girl flees El Salvador with her mother seeking refuge in the USA. They never stop dreaming.

THE ANOMALY BY HERVE  LE TELLIER (2022)

HELEN:  This book was translated from French by Adriana Hunter.  It’s a modern science fiction literary thriller and social satire.  Tellier is skilled at keeping readers in suspense.  Helen said she could not really collect her thoughts about it. It’s a very wordy book but it drew Helen in.

THE ALCHEMIST BY PAUL COHELO

ROSEMARY W:  It’s the story of a shepherd boy trying to find the meaning of life.  “To realise one’s destiny is a person’s obligation”.  He travels to Morocco. It’s an easy and delightful read – a philosophical book for adults.

AND EVERY MORNING THE WAY HOME GETS LONGER AND LONGER BY FREDERIK BACKMAN

KRIS: This novella is written by the Swedish author of a Man Called Ove in 2015. It’s about an elderly man suffering from Alzheimers disease.

 Grandpa and Noah are sitting on a bench in a square that keeps getting smaller and more confusing every day.  As they sit together on the bench they tell each other jokes, discuss mathematics and talk about grandma who died. It is a wise and heartbreaking celebration of connection while also learning to let go. This novella was a heartwarming and easy read.

GOD OF SMALL THINGS BY ARUNDHATI ROY (1997)

PAMELA: It’s set in Kerala in the southwest part of the Indian continent.  The main characters are twins Estha and Rahel.  The story weaves back and forth between 1969 during a time of political unrest, when the twins were 7 years old and in 1993 when the twins are 31.  Estha was sent away to live with his father, and the twins have not seen each other since they were children. The novel offers a powerful critique of India’s caste system.  It shows how ordinary moments can have devastating effects. Although this book won the Booker prize in 1997, Pamela found the narrative disjointed with unusual words and sentences. She also said the story was very dark and a bit depressing.

BEFORE THE COFFEE GETS COLD BY TOSHIKAZU KAWAGUCHI (2015)

SHEILA:  It was first written as a play in 2010.  She found it a bit boring. Perhaps the story was lost in translation.  It tells the story of a café in Tokyo that allows its customers to travel back in time, if they return before their coffee gets cold.  The question was “If you could go back in time, who would you want to meet to confront someone in your life or perhaps repair a relationship".

THE ACTS OF MY MOTHER BY ANDRAS FORGACH (2018)

THERESA: She felt the same as Sheila that perhaps the story was lost in translation making it a difficult and boring read. Theresa felt it didn’t flow and said it had too many characters, it was very confusing. 30 years after communism in Hungary, Forgach investigates his family’s past and discovers his mother was an informant for the Kadar regime.  She informed not only on acquaintances but also on family, friends and even her children.  Forgach must confront the truth about the woman who was simultaneously an informant, as well as a tender loving mother.

THE BELL IN THE LAKE BY LARS MYTTING (2019)

PAT:  This book was translated by Deborah Dawkin. The story is set in in a little village in Norway.  The lake is frozen and it is too hard to bury their dead. In 1879 a young pastor moves to the village where a young outspoken woman, Astrid lives.  She wants a different life.  The new pastor wants to change things and to build a mortuary and a new church. The historic old church would need to be pulled down to build the new church.  The villagers have their own ideas. Astrid saw the pastor as her chance to lead a different life, but then the pastor brings in n architect from Dresden. Both show an interest in her and eventually Astrid must make a choice between the two men.  Pat has not finished the book yet.

UNTIL AUGUST BY GABRIEL GARCIA MARQUEZ (2024)

JOAN:  This is a 110 page story of fiction translated by Anne McLean.  It is set in Latin America.  Ana Magdalena Bach is happily married to a gorgeous husband and hasn’t any real reason to escape but for 24 hours every August, she journeys to a Caribbean Island to lay flowers on her mother’s grave and to take a new lover for the night. The story is constantly surprising with a sudden twist at the end.  It’s sensual, a meditation on freedom, regret and the mysteries of love and it’s so absorbing.  Marquez won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1982.He is the author of 100 Years of Solitude.

A MAN WHO SMILED BY HENNING MANKELL (1994)

VAL:  The translator is Laurie Thompson.  The author is a social activist.  This is the fourth crime novel in the Inspector Kurt Wallander series by the Swedish author.  A wealthy businessman employs an elderly lawyer to help him.  On his way to see the businessman he is ruminating about meeting the businessman and worries about what it entails.  He sees a chair on the road and when he gets out of the car he is murdered. His son goes to see Wallander and when his son is also murdered, Wallander treats it as a double murder.  Val said it was very readable and gave you a good feeling of Sweden.

VOICES BY ARNALDUR INDRIDASON

JO:  This 2003 novel was translated into English in 2006 by Bernard Scutter.  The setting is Iceland.  Erlendor Sveinsson investigates a murder of a hotel doorman in the Grand Hotel in Reykjavik.  He is trying to solve the murder while also dealing with his difficult teenage daughter and a possible romantic interest.   He must untangle a web of malice and greed to find the murderer.  Jo found it quite boring.

VIOLETA BY ISABEL ALLENDE (2022)

KERRY:  This book has been translated from Spanish.  It is an epic story of Violeta del Valle whose life spanned 100 years.  She tells her story through a letter to her grandson.  She was born in South America in1920, experienced the great depression, war, two pandemics, the fight for women’s rights and social displacement. She had three marriages and made and lost several fortunes.  She was a bad judge of men. It’s a singular story of survival but Kerry thought it came across as thinly drawn, perhaps due to the long span.

THE PERFECT NANNY BY LEILA SLIMANI (2016)

CINDY:   This novel was translated from French into English by Sam Taylor in 2018. When Myriam, a French Moroccan lawyer, decides to return to work after having children, she and her husband look for a Nanny.  They pick someone who seems to be wonderful, but things become tense as jealousy, suspicions and resentment increase. It’s quite riveting. The story is an exploration of class and domesticity, although it is more a character study of the Nanny.  Cindy didn’t really like it.

ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT BY ERICH MARIA REMARQUE (1928)

PRUE:  This book was translated by Arthur Wesley Wheen from German into English.  This book is a classic.  It is a semi autobiographical account by the author, a veteran of World War 1.  It is the story of a young unknown soldier experiencing the horror and disillusionment of life in the trenches. The story began as a series and in 2018 became a novel, translated into 22 different languages.    It is one of the most popular and well known war books.

AT THE WOLF’S TABLE BY ROSELLA POSTORINO (2019)

LESLEY:  This book was translated by Leah Janeczko. It is historical fiction, based on Margaret Wolk, a German woman who was forced to become one of Hitler’s food tasters during WWII.  Rosa is the main character. She moved to the country to live with her in laws, a rural farming community when the SS arrived and ordered her to become a food tester for Hitler. Hitler was obsessed he would be poisoned so 15 women were collected each day, taken to his residence (the Wolf’s lair) and made to sample all the dishes the cook had prepared. It’s a book about love, hunger, danger and survival.  The narrative moves slowly, mirroring her movements, the care taken to conserve energy, her meagre possessions and her sanity.

THE GRANDDAUGHTER BY BERNARD SCHLINK (1995)

MARGARET:  This was translated from German by Charlotte Collins.From the bestselling author of the Reader, a striking work of historical fiction exploring the past told through the story of a German bookseller’s attempt to connect to his radicalized granddaughter. He has discovered his wife had to leave her baby behind when she escaped to the west. He goes to a remote rural area in Germany where he finds the daughter and granddaughter are part of a Neo Nazi group.

THE NIGHTS ARE QUIET IN TEHRAN BY SHIDA BAZYAR (2016)

JUDY A:  This book was translated from German by Ruth Martin.The story begins in 1979 with the Iranian Revolution, the downing of the Shah and the rise of the mullahs, but it’s not about the forty years of turmoil that follow. That is on the periphery.  It’s about the impact on the lives of a family living in exile and it’s told in five difference voices. The father, Behzad, a young Communist activist is hopeful the Shah’s departure will usher in change at last. When he sees his friends being jailed by the new regime, he seeks asylum in Germany with his wife and two young children.  10 years later we hear from his wife, Nahid who struggles with cultural differences and yearns for home.  Another ten years on we learn about Laleh, a young girl when her family fled Iran.  She is now a teenager in Germany. Jumping to 2009, the brother, Morad is a college student and the most removed from his Iranian identity.    The youngest is Tara, born in Germany.  She is very politically active like her parents.  Judy gave it 3 out of 5.

THE BAGHDAD CLOCK BY SHAHAD AL RAWI (2016)

TAM: This is essentially autobiographical. It was translated by Luke Leafgren in 2018. It is a tale of a young girl, her friends and her neighbourhood in Baghdad from 1991 to 2003.  It invites us to imagine growing up under the cloud of two wars. It shows a community which remains resilient in the face of hardship for as long as it can. Even when your country is falling apart you can still have love, hope and dreams for the future. The story is told in a detached and dreamlike way and wanders in and out of magical realism.  Our unnamed narrator, at 17, meets Nadia in the neighbourhood air raid shelter and they become best friends.  As they maintain their friendship into adulthood they watch their neighbourhood change as people flee their houses leaving them empty or filled with strangers.

AGATHA BY ANNE CATHRINE BOHMANN  (2017)

ED: This book was translated from Danish by Caroline Waight in 2019.  It became a word of mouth success and has been translated into 23 languages.  It’s the story of a psychiatrist who is counting down to retirement at 72.  During sessions with his patients, he does different bird drawings for different patients.  His plans are disrupted when a woman “Agatha” insists that he becomes her therapist.  As Agatha begins to uncover difficult parts of her life, it transpires that talking therapy can be transformative for the doctor as well as the patient. It’s a story about loneliness and what it means to make friends at any stage of life as he and Agatha become friends.  Ed thought it was a lovely heartwarming story.

 

Kris

 

IN APRIL WE WILL BE READING  BOOKS BY AUSTRALIAN AUTHORS