BookBlast

Fractured France: A Journey Through a Divided Nation is Andrew Hussey’s latest exploration of French culture and history, published by Granta Books on 11 September. A patchwork of memoir, interviews, cultural references, historic context and actual observations, it is an engaging and informative read. Hussey’s narrative is peppered with references, insights and entertaining anecdotes. The tone is…

Liquid Reflections is a headlong dive into the coming-of-age of Liliane Lijn as an artist. The linear, raw narrative starts in Paris in 1958 where she lands from America. She is just eighteen and enrols in the Sorbonne and École du Louvre. The story ends in London in 1966, having taken in Switzerland, Italy, Greece, Spain and New York. As Lijn goes on her way, she transforms everything from paper…

BookBlast® is delighted to bring you news about this year’s The Children’s Bookshow. The much loved and hugely popular national tour of writers and illustrators of children’s literature brings the joy of books and reading to children across the UK each autumn. A series of free workshops runs alongside the performances in the theatres. “The Children’s Bookshow takes children’s authors to meet tens…

My Sister’s Red Shirt by Tie Ning, beautifully translated from the Chinese by Annelise Finegan, is an unusual bestselling semi-autobiographical novella written through the lens of a young woman reflecting on a family in crisis with a particular focus on her younger sister’s life. It touches on the universal themes of generational conflict, tradition vs. modernity, academic success, saving face in…

The BookBlast® Translation Book Club meets in person at 6pm on the second Monday of each month at Hatchards, Piccadilly, to discuss engaging, well-written fiction in translation from the past decade, offering enjoyable reads and insights into global cultures. Surprise guests include translators, publishers, editors or authors who occasionally join in, offering insights into their work and…

Daybreak in Gaza: Stories of Palestinian Lives and Culture edited by Mahmoud Muna and Matthew Teller, with Juliette Touma and Jayyab Abusafia (Saqi Books), and From the River to the Sea and Other Poems by Samer Abu Hawwash (Banipal Books) are a testament to the resistance and courage of Palestinian people in the face of extraordinary brutality. Both books challenge the dehumanising narrative of…

Small Boat by Vincent Delecroix is a stark, tragic novel which confronts the moral bankruptcy and paralysis of Western humanism and liberalism. Set against the backdrop of desperate migrants attempting to cross the English Channel from France — many fleeing wars or societal collapse that are consequences, in part, of Western imperial and geopolitical meddling — the novel challenges the…