Andrey Kurkov's urgent, humane and unforgettable war diaries continue in a poignant, personal account of life under siege in Ukraine – rich with humanity, dark humour, and unforgettable glimpses of resilience amidst devastation. `A vivid, moving and sometimes funny account of the reality of life during Russia's invasion´ Marc Bennetts, The Times `Uplifting and utterly defiant´ Matt Nixson, Daily Express `No one with the slightest interest in this war, or the nation on which it is being waged, should fail to read Andrey Kurkov´ Dominic Lawson, Daily Mail ____ Andrey Kurkov's war diaries continue: A profound and deeply personal chronicle of life under siege. In this second volume of his acclaimed war diaries, Ukraine's greatest living writer bears witness to a nation enduring the unendurable. From his home in Kyiv, Kurkov captures the surreal and the life-shattering: children learning algebra in metro stations turned bomb shelters, holidaymakers sunbathing on mined beaches, and farmers sowing fields shadowed by missile strikes. On its eastern borders, Ukrainian citizens are put into "filtration camps", en route to Russia … or to execution. To the north, Belarusian forces press refugees into service as mine detectors. This is a lived account – rich with startling vignettes, dark humour and devastating detail – of a country adapting, resisting, surviving. A child downloads movies to a smartphone to watch during nightly power cuts. An elderly Japanese man feeds the hungry in Kharkiv. A soldier carefully rehomes a swarm of bees. A winemaker uses scrap wooden shell crates to package gift sets. A Ukrainian gunner inscribes messages on shells and rockets aimed for Russia: "For Bakhmut", he writes. The family of a journalist killed in the Donbas sells their home to open a bookshop in his memory. Our Daily War is Kurkov at his most intimate and insightful: a record of resilience, heartbreak and fierce national pride. Urgent, humane, unforgettable, this is history as it happens, and as only Kurkov can write it. _____ PRAISE FOR ANDREY KURKOV's WAR DIARIES `Clever, passionate´ Roger Boyes, The Times `Thoughtfulness nearly always prevails over anger; the pieces are flawlessly structured; the tone is devoid of self-pity´ Robin Ashenden, Spectator `Andrey Kurkov [is] one of the most articulate ambassadors to the West for the situation in his homeland´ Sam Leith, Spectator `Immediate and important. . . An insider's account of how an ordinary life became extraordinary. It is also about survival, hope and humanity´ Helen Davies, Sunday Times `Packed with surprising details about the human effects of the Russian assault … genial but also impassioned´ Blake Morrison, Guardian `A thoughtful and humane memoir by one of Ukraine's most prominent living authors´ Simon Caterson, Sydney Morning Herald `Here are the kind of stories you don't see on the television news´ Rachel Cooke, Observer `Kurkov, an internationally-lauded novelist, is strongest when he writes on cultural matters. And this, he demonstrates convincingly, is a cultural war´ Ed O'Loughlin, Irish Times `This book makes for essential reading´ Claire Allfree, Metro

Bologna, 1944. World-weary Comandante De Luca is tasked with investigating three brutal murders, with the lives of ten Italian hostages on the line. The pitch-black prequel to the Inspector De Luca quartet, by the master of Italian Noir. `A brutal evocation of a dystopian past, a stunning winter portrait of the debris and human detritus of wartime Bologna, and a gripping and complex trio of murders´ Peter May `Imbued with the cruel compromises of a city on the brink of collapse, immersive, evocative and as opaque as the soot-stained snow, this is historical crime fiction at its finest´ Tom Benjamin `A truly insightful, penetrating and raw portrait of a man and a city ravaged by bloody conflict and the terror of fascism and war´ Paul Burke, European Literature Network _____ In November 1944, in the worst winter ever known in Bologna, in the depths of the war, the bomb-scarred streets are home to starving refugees who have fled the advancing Allies. The Fascist Black Brigades, the officers of the S.S. and the partisans of the Italian Resistance compete for control of the city streets in bloody skirmishes. Comandante De Luca, who has proved himself "the most brilliant investigator" in Bologna, but who is now unwillingly working for the Political Police in a building that doubles as a torture facility, finds himself in trouble when three murders land on his desk: a professor shot through the eye, an engineer beaten to death, and a German corporal left to be gnawed on by rats in a flooded cellar. De Luca must rapidly unravel all three cases with ten lives on the line: ten Italian hostages who will face a Nazi firing squad if the corporal's killing is not solved to the German command's satisfaction. As he navigates a web of personal and political motivations – his life increasingly at risk – De Luca will not stop until he has uncovered the dangerous secrets concealed in the frozen heart of his city. _____ `One of Italy's most acclaimed crime authors´ Barry Forshaw `The unravelling of the three cases is fraught with hazard and takes the reader on a dark journey into the terrible place that Bologna has become … not just a gripping whodunnit, but also a glimpse into the grim winter where this murder mystery is set´ Historical Novel Society `Tasked with an impossible job in a world in turmoil for which the "noir" adjective seems almost inadequate, De Luca must survive on his wits and beyond in a tense race against time in a world of torn loyalties, both political and personal. The return of a much-tortured but believable character´ Maxim Jakubowski, CrimeTime `A stripped-down historical thriller loaded with tension´ La Repubblica `The Darkest Winter paints the portrait of a city devastated by war, scarred by bombs and with its poorest inhabitants living in desperation. The result is a living fresco, a snapshot of an era. The quality of Lucarelli's research, in-depth analysis and narrative style put him in a league of his own´ Corriere della Serra `Lucarelli has proven yet again that he is an extraordinary writer, navigating with ease the murky waters between crime fiction, historical novel and social commentary´ La Nuova

When the Soviet Union invaded Finland in November 1939, they were not expecting the Finns to fight back – much less to prevail. Olivier Norek's riveting, heart-pounding, epic historical thriller is a story of barely imaginable courage, astonishing resilience, and the best sniper the world has ever seen. 'Impeccably researched and beautifully written, The Winter Warriors is perfect for fans of Ben Macintyre and Robert Harris' Paula Hawkins 'A novel you will not put down. Maybe never' Richard Ford 'There are echoes of Vasily Grossman in this gripping, chillingly urgent story of the horrors and heroism of war' A.D. Miller 'A fascinating and gripping novel about a forgotten corner of the Second World War. Remarkable and revelatory' William Boyd ***Over 270,000 copies sold in French*** _____ November, 1939. A conscription officer arrives in the peaceful farming village of Rautjärvi. The Soviet Union has invaded, and for the first time in its history as an independent country, Finland is at war. Setting off into the depths of winter to face the Red Army, the small group of childhood friends recruited from Rautjärvi have no idea whether any of them will ever return home. But their unit has a secret weapon: the young sniper Simo Häyhä, whose lethal skill in the snow-bound forests of the front line will earn him the nickname 'The White Death'. Drawing on the real-life figures and battles of the Finnish-Soviet Winter War, The Winter Warriors is a riveting, heart-pounding, utterly epic historical thriller from one of Europe's most acclaimed crime writers. ____ 'A well-researched, heart-rending account of a tragic war' Sunday Times 'Horribly topical and wholly immersive, with descriptions vivid enough to make you shiver, this astonishing book is not only a testament to bravery and resilience, but a powerful indictment of the cruelty and needless suffering that result when ideology comes up against reality' Guardian 'Young men fighting for their country have rarely been so movingly portrayed. As the temperature falls and the body count rises, the echoes of this powerful historical page-turner can be seen in Ukraine today' Daily Express 'A sniper's life, a thriller of the highest quality, as timely as it is gripping, by a very fine writer' Philippe Sands 'Over and beyond the vivid visceral writing, character-driven narrative and a chillingly immersive atmosphere, The Winter Warriors is epic in scope. Both moving and thought-provoking, it is literary adrenaline which hooks you from page one' Book Blast 'Grim, funny, poignant, always vivid, this is the best military novel I have read for a long time' Historical Novel Society magazine 'The plot revolves around a small group of village lads who are conscripted together, one of whom, Simo, becomes the so-called White Death, one of the world's most deadly snipers … What makes it tick is the urgent, vital narrative as the Russians surge across the border and the Finns fight back with little more than grenades and rifles' Bookbrunch 'Brutal, violent and heart-rending. Small revealing scenes build a rich emotional landscape, engaging the heart as well as the head. This is a dark tale that powerfully advocates belief, camaraderie and endurance' European Literature Network **Olivier Norek's thriller Between Two Worlds was The Times & Sunday Times Crime Novel of the Year 2024**

A thriller of love and revenge, and an imaginative literary obituary for Kafka, bringing the Cold War to life, from Paris and Istanbul to West Berlin and Tel Aviv. "The novel vaults from interrogation to trial to poetic accounts of Ferdy's youth, rendered in Samî Hêzil's lyrical translation … Sönmez playfully expands Kafka's world in a literary experiment that encourages readers to reimagine the unfinished work of their heroes" Financial Times "The dialogue-led approach makes the book punchy and fast-moving, and brings some surprising twists before the end" Guardian "Did Max Brod commit a crime by not fulfilling Kafka's last will – to burn all his works? Burhan Sönmez is not a judge. He is only a scribe at the Last Judgment, recording the speeches of the parties. And he does his job brilliantly" Mikhail Shishkin "An inventive literary obituary for Kafka, perfect for both Kafka fans and lovers of historical literary page-turners in the vein of Anne Berest's The Postcard and Colm Toibin's The Magician" SA Examiner –––––––––––– West Berlin, 1968. As a youth uprising sweeps over Europe in the shadow of the Cold War, two men face each other across an interrogation table. One, Ferdy Kaplan, has shot and killed a student. Kommissar Müller, the other is trying to find out why. As his interrogation progresses, Kaplan's background is revealed piece by piece, including the love story between him and his childhood friend Amalya, their shared passion for Kafka, and the radical youth movement they joined. When it transpires that Kaplan's intended target was not the student but Max Brod, Franz Kafka's close friend and the executor of his literary estate, the interrogation of a murderer slowly transforms into a dialogue between a passionate admirer of Kafka's work, who is attempting to protect the author's final wish to have his manuscripts burned, and a police commissioner who is learning more about literature than he ever thought possible from a prisoner in his custody. In this gripping, thought-provoking tribute to Kafka, Burhan Sönmez vividly recreates a key period of history in the 1960s, when the Berlin Wall divided Europe. More than a typical mystery, Lovers of Franz K. is an exploration of the value of books, and the issues of anti-Semitism, immigration, and violence that recur in Kafka's life and writings. –––––––––––– "A homage to Franz Kafka, framed as the trial (of course) of Ferdy Kaplan … [Sönmez] queries how far one should go in the pursuit of what is important to us' The Times "The kind of book that will enthral a student and intrigue an Oxford don, thrill a worker on the factory floor and captivate a lifelong reader of Kafka" Lemn Sissay "Did Max Brod commit a crime by not fulfilling Kafka's last will – to burn all his works? Burhan Sönmez is not a judge. He is only a scribe at the Last Judgment, recording the speeches of the parties. And he does his job brilliantly" Mikhail Shishkin "A gripping tale of idealism colliding with history and moral uncertainty" Ava Homa, author of Daughters of Smoke and Fire "PEN International president Sönmez wrestles with fraught questions of loyalty and legacy in this contemplative literary thriller … Sönmez's sharp thematic layering and concise worldbuilding impress. This is a good bet for mystery readers seeking something off the beaten path" Publishers Weekly