Dean Trdak Boeken

Roman Mrtvo more brazilskoga pripovjedača Jorgea Ama­da govori o sudbinama siromašnih ribara i moreplovaca u gradu Salvadoru da Bahiji početkom dvadesetoga sto­ljeća, o teškom životu punom patnje i stradanja na moru, ali i o ljubavima, ljubomorama, pričama i legendama ljudi čiju je sudbinu jednom za svagda odredilo more. U svijetu napučenom božanstvima iz narodne predaje i afrobrazilske religije candomblé, junaci Mrtvog mora tru­de se djelovati u skladu sa zakonima prirode i moralnim zakonima zajednice u kojoj hrabrost i odanost predstav­ljaju najviše vrijednosti. Protagonisti romana su Guma i Lívia, mladi par kojem zavidi cijela zajednica: Guma je hrabar i sposoban moreplovac, a Lívia najljepša žena na dokovima. Ali život na moru pun je pogibelji i Lívia je u neprestanom strahu za Gumin život. Riječi stare pjesme govore kako je „nesretna svaka žena koja pođe za muš­karca s mora“. Ženama mornara suđeno je postati udovi­cama, baš kao što je njihovim supruzima suđeno jednoga dana završiti na dnu mora, gdje ih u zagrljaju čeka božica Iemanjá, majka i ljubavnica svih moreplovaca.

Eleanor Oliphant heeft haar leven vrij goed onder controle. Ze draagt elke dag dezelfde kleren, eet elke dag dezelfde maaltijd, en koopt elk weekend twee flessen wodka. Met Eleanor Oliphant gaat eigenlijk alles goed. Haar zorgvuldig gestructureerde leven loopt op rolletjes en ze mist niks. Of althans, soms (best wel vaak eigenlijk) is ze eenzaam en zou ze gelukkig willen zijn. Als Eleanor op een dag samen met een collega een oudere man helpt die gevallen is, verandert haar hele leven onverwachts. De muren die haar al zo lang beschermen verdwijnen als sneeuw voor de zon, en ze zal voor het eerst de confrontatie met haar angsten en twijfels aan moeten gaan. Want Eleanor Oliphant weet misschien wel hoe ze moet functioneren, maar ze heeft geen idee hoe ze moet leven.

We call them the sleepers . . . At the elite Missing Persons bureau of the Federal Police, Mila Vasquez is tasked with finding the hundreds of lost people who vanished from their former lives. The longer they are gone, the more they are forgotten by the world. Now they are returning. Appearing at random and wielding devastation, they enact a horrifying pattern of murders, leaving Mila scrabbling to discover where they have come from and what they want. Yet the deeper into the case she gets, Mila begins to realise that her colleagues are hiding something from her - something which will jeopardise everything . . . Set in the world of Carrisi's record-breaking debut, The Whisperer, The Vanished Ones is intelligent, thrilling and incredibly compelling.

Winner of the Guardian First Book Award 2013 Shortlisted for the Dublin IMPAC Literary Award 2014 Longlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2013 Winner of Book of the Year at the Irish Book Awards 2012 'Funny, moving and beautifully written’ Edna O'Brien In the aftermath of Ireland’s financial collapse, dangerous tensions surface in an Irish town. As violence flares, the characters face a battle between public persona and inner desires. Through a chorus of unique voices, each struggling to tell their own kind of truth, a single authentic tale unfolds. The Spinning Heart speaks for contemporary Ireland like no other novel. Wry, vulnerable, all-too human, it captures the language and spirit of rural Ireland and with uncanny perception articulates the words and thoughts of a generation. Technically daring and evocative of Patrick McCabe and J.M. Synge, this novel of small-town life is witty, dark and sweetly poignant. 'Filled with light and shade, love and tragedy ... if it was a song you could sing it’ Anne Enright ‘Donal Ryan is the real deal. … a brilliantly realised, utterly resonant state-of-the-nation landscape’ Sunday Independent ‘I can’t imagine a more original, more perceptive or more passionate work than this. Outstanding’ John Boyne ‘It’s furious, it’s moving, it’s darkly funny, it punches you right in the gut’ New York Times

A richly imaginative novel inspired by the true story of Oscar Kokoschka and his life-sized doll - Winner of the European Prize for Literature

Het krachtige debuut van Beatrice Salvioni, winnaar van de Premio Calvino 2021, speelt zich af in Monza, Italië, in 1936. Francesca, dertien jaar oud, ligt aan de oever van de rivier de Lambro onder het gewicht van een dode man die haar probeerde te verkrachten toen hij plotseling stierf. Haar vriendin Maddalena kruipt uit het water en helpt haar om zich van het lichaam te bevrijden, dat ze tussen de struiken verstoppen. De vriendschap tussen de twee meisjes begon een jaar eerder en wordt gekenmerkt door rebellie en de zoektocht naar vrijheid, voorbij de strikte sociale hiërarchie van het dorp. Maddalena, van bescheiden afkomst, wordt "De malnacida" genoemd vanwege haar vermeende duistere krachten. Francesca sluit zich tegen de wil van haar familie aan bij haar vriendengroep en ontdekt een nieuwe manier van leven, los van sociale conventies. Hun band zal de roddels van het dorp overleven, maar zal op de proef worden gesteld door oorlog en fascisme, waarbij de twee vriendinnen moeten beslissen of ze zich verenigen tegen sociale onderdrukking of dat de geschiedenis hen voor altijd zal scheiden.

Traumatized by an accident which 'involved something falling from the sky' and leaves him eight and a half million pounds richer but hopelessly estranged from the world around him, Remainder's hero spends his time and money obsessively reconstructing and re-enacting vaguely remembered scenes and situations from his past: a large building with piano music in the distance, the familiar smells and sounds of liver frying and spluttering, lethargic cats lounging on roofs until they tumble off them... But when this fails to quench his thirst for authenticity, he starts re-enacting more and more violent events, as his repetition addiction spirals out of control. A darkly comic meditation on memory, identity and history, Remainder is a parable for modern times.

U svom novom remek-djelu, Afonso Cruz nastavlja u sličnom stilu kao u prethodnim djelima, s poznatim likovima. Radnja se odvija tijekom Hladnog rata, kada je CIA osmislila plan „Ambasadori jazza“ s ciljem poboljšanja međunarodne percepcije Sjedinjenih Američkih Država putem glazbe. Organizirani su koncerti jazz velikana kako bi se privukli mladi ljudi s istoka, koji su slušali ozbiljnu glazbu, ali su imali malo dodira s jazzom. Američki jazz pijanist Erik Gould živi u Parizu 1960-ih. Genijalan glazbenik sa sinestezijom doživljava glazbu na jedinstven način, osjećajući je cijelim tijelom i doslovno je videći svuda oko sebe. Njegova ljubav prema glazbi rivalizira samo ljubav prema njegovoj ženi, Nataši. Kada Nataša iznenada nestane bez traga, Gould se slama, postajući nesposoban brinuti se za njihovog sina Tristana. Ova situacija ga čini idealnom metom za CIA-in plan. Iako bi se moglo pomisliti da je riječ o trileru, napeta špijunska priča služi kao pozadina za Cruzovu poetičnu i zaigranu naraciju o ljubavi, smrti, umjetnosti i samoći. Naklada Ljevak ponosno predstavlja ovaj izvrstan roman jednog od najvažnijih suvremenih portugalskih autora, čija su djela prevedena na dvadesetak jezika.