Author:Ismail Kadare,David Bellos

From behind the closed door, the man shouts, 'Be on your way - you have no business here!'
'Open up, I am the messenger of Death'.
As spring arrives in the Albanian mountain town of B, some strange things are emerging in the thaw. Bank robbers strike the National Bank. Old terrors are dredged up from the shipwreck of history. And ultra-explosive state secrets are threatening to flood the entire nation. Mark, an artist, finds the peaceful rhythms of his life turned upside down by ancient love and modern barbarism and by the particular brutality of a country surprised and divided by its new freedom.
One of the many pleasures of Mr Kadare's writing is his supremely light touch
—— New York TimesThe themes are so sinister, the prose so genial. Post-communist disillusion and southern playfulness are blended here with such skill and subtlety that one almost fails to register Kadare's shocking originality
—— Independent on SundayOne of Europe's great writers
—— Los Angeles TimesHe has been compared to Gogol, Kafka and Orwell. But Kadare is an original voice, universal, yet deeply rooted in his own soul
—— Independent on SundayKnife-sharp satire...originality shines through
—— The TimesAnyone still wondering why Kadare won the inaugural Man Booker International Prize for literature in 2005 will be enlightened by this tragicomic gem
—— Daily TelegraphOutstanding
—— Vanity FairJean Plaidy conveys the texture of various patches of the past with such rich complexity
—— GuardianRedemption Falls is trauma incarnate, but its effect is both compassionate and luminous
—— TLSBooks of this quality demand to be reread to reveal more of their complexities and layers of meaning. Redemption Falls would reward this on the level of its rich textures of language alone
—— Sunday HeraldOne of the author's most affecting, honest and brilliant works. It is a searingly well written piece by a ridiculously underrated novelist
—— Sunday TelegraphEntertaining... Jacobson's prose is incisive and off-kilter, abrasive and often hilarious
—— The TimesFelix Quinn, the narrator of the book...explains it beautifully - and this is a very good novel... Feeling unsafe makes him feel alive. And loss, of course, is the wellspring of good storytelling
—— Evening StandardThe Act of Love is an ambitious and at times extremely uncomfortable novel
—— The TelegraphIt is an almost frighteningly brilliant achievement. Why did the Booker judges not recognise it?
—— The GuardianThis is a very good novel
—— ScotsmanJacobson's 10th novel is a moving, thought-provoking and darkly witty story of desire and love
—— Irish TimesTrollope explores, with infinite delicacy, the strands that make a family
—— Daily ExpressAn absorbing contemporary novel from one of our most perceptive writers
—— You MagazineTrollope has created a fount of bitchy tension which she manipulates with great skill
—— Evening Standard