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Look at the Harlequins!
Look at the Harlequins!
Nov 12, 2025 2:16 PM

Author:Vladimir Nabokov

Look at the Harlequins!

'He did us all an honour by electing to use, and transform, our language' Anthony Burgess

'Look at the harlequins ... Play! Invent the world! Invent reality'.

This is the childhood advice given by an aunt to Russian born writer Vadim Vadimovich, who emigrates to England, then Paris, then Germany and then the US, and, now dying, reconstructs his past. He remembers Iris his first wife, Annette his long-necked typist and Bel his daughter, as well as his own bizarre 'numerical nimbus syndrome'.

Reviews

Proust sinks deepest in readers because the book is so exhaustively analytical, so ceaselessly truthful... The experience of reading [the book] becomes, in itself, an unforgettable thing

—— Independent

Imagine our joy when Vintage announced that it is publishing a collection of easily digestible books from the world’s most celebrated writers on the experiences that make us human… They look good and read well. That’s win/win in our book.

—— Stylist

An enchanting, dramatic novel that brings to life iconic mythic characters, including a woman whose voice had long been silenced.

—— Judith Starkston, author of HAND OF FIRE

For the Winner is beautifully descriptive and full of historical detail, easily drawing the reader into a lost world of gods and heroes. By taking the viewpoint of Atalanta, a lesser known character from Greek myth, Hauser gives us a refreshingly original take on Jason's famous quest for the Golden Fleece.

—— Glyn Iliffe, author of KING OF ITHACA

A brilliant, epic tale full of breath-taking action with a shining star at its centre, Atalanta, a female warrior of incredice force and drive. This gem of a book will leave you desperate for the next Emily Hauser novel.

—— Crystal King, author of FEAST OF SORROW

Hauser recreates one of the oldest tales in Greek myth with great skill and panache.

—— Sunday Times

An enthralling re-telling of Greek myth . . . Hauser's rendering of Atalanta is captivating, the story-telling masterful and engaging. The ancient myths are in good hands!

—— Dr Michael Scott, Associate Professor of Classics and Ancient History at Warwick University

An erudite page-turner.

—— Lady

It’s wonderful how Emily Hauser brings alive this Bronze Age world . . . this is immersive writing, marvellously descriptive and evocative . . . an elegant, exciting and in some ways moving story.

—— Kate Atherton , For Winter Nights

It is Atalanta, determined to prove herself every bit as good as a man, who turns this into a story which speaks to us . . . Despite the will of the gods, she is very clearly in charge of her own destiny. It is this mixture of feminism and self-determination which makes For the Winner a very modern and relevant novel.

—— Historical Novel Society

This is the sort of story I dreamed of covering when I was a journalist. The sort of story for which the phrase You couldn’t make it up was invented. The Adversary takes a deep, mesmerising dive into the darkness of a human soul. There were moments when I truly could not believe what I was reading. But unlike other serial killer noirs sitting on my shelves, this horror is real. And so much more chilling for that.

—— Fiona Barton, author of The Widow

[A] book that fairly struck me over the head was The Adversary… it’s the coexistence of almost unimaginably variant realities within a family that haunts you.

—— Megan Nolan , New Statesman, *Books of the Year*

A remarkably thoughtful and unnerving book...mesmerising

—— Sunday Telegraph

Profoundly disturbing...a remarkable and undoubtedly important book - perhaps even a necessary one

—— Daily Express

A fascinating meditation on Jean-Claude Romand and what his bizarre life might mean... Carrère's inquiry is highly personal, written in lucid prose...the narrative is often mesmerizing, and revealing about the fragility of human relationships

—— New York Times

As a writer, Carrère is straight berserk; as a storyteller he is so freakishly talented, so unassuming in grace and power that you only realize the hold he's got on you when you attempt to pull away... You say: True crime and Literature? I don't believe it. I say: Believe it

—— Junot Díaz

Justifiably considered the French In Cold Blood

—— Paris Review

The sense of dread he conveys is authentic – it is a loss of self, of connection to the world...dystopian

—— London Review of Books

It’s fascinating, watching Carrere dig around in Romand’s inner life… By the end you feel this clever, intriguing book is too good for its banal human subject.

—— Robbie Millen , The Times

Dark, strange, astonishing.

—— Marcel Theroux , Big Issue

A jaw-dropping tale of murder and deception that goes right to the heart of what it means to be human... The perfect antidote to an excess of sunshine

—— Paul Murray, author of THE BEE STING , Observer, *Summer Reads of 2023*

The perfect antidote to Trump.

—— Sarah Churchwell , Guardian

This book is a compelling study of the relationship between artist and spectator, and how suffering feeds into art, and he’s made of it a bravura performance… Extraordinary.

—— Alastair Mabbott , Herald

A haunting, intense and Man Booker International prize-winning novel from a great writer.

—— Mail on Sunday

Incredibly fast paced, and the dialogue comes at you like a machine gun… It is powerful in its own right.

—— Sara Garland , Nudge

Abrasive, unexpected and eventually heartbreaking, it is a masterclass in characterisation and structure, and it beat off some exceptionally strong competition to win the prize… A Horse Walks into a Bar is quite unlike any other Grossman book except in one important respect: it’s another masterpiece.

—— Nick Barley , New Statesman

Excellent.

—— Dara Ó Briain , Observer

Pitch-perfect black comedy

—— Salman Rushdie , Guardian
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