2024 translated fiction highlights
By far and away our bestselling translated fiction for 2024 has been Asako Yuzuki's Butter, translated from Japanese by Polly Barton. In fact, as you'll notice below, Japanese fiction in general has been increasing in popularity from publishers and readers alike. You'll also find wonderful books translated from French, German, Italian, Spanish, Polish and Icelandic, rounding up a stellar year!
Butter by Asako Yuzuki, translated from Japanese by Polly Barton
Manako Kajii sits in Tokyo Detention Centre convicted of the serial murders of lonely businessmen, who she is said to have seduced with her delicious cooking. The case has captured the nation’s imagination but Kajii refuses to speak with the press. That is, until journalist Rika Machida writes a letter asking for her recipe for beef stew and Kajii can’t resist writing back.
Rika, the only woman in her news office, works late each night, rarely cooking more than ramen. As the visits unfold between her and the steely Kajii, they are closer to a masterclass in food than journalistic research. Rika hopes this gastronomic exchange will help her soften Kajii but it seems that she might be the one changing. With each meal she eats, something is awakening in her body – might she and Kaji have more in common than she once thought?
Read our staff review here.
The City and Its Uncertain Walls by Haruki Murakami, translated from Japanese by Philip Gabriel
A novel about the porous boundary between the real and shadow worlds. After losing his beloved as a teenager, the narrator finds his way to the Town, a mysterious place where he finds work as a Dream Reader in the library. Back in the real world as an adult he tries to recapture his time in the Town by taking a job as a librarian in a remote location in Fukushima province, where he takes over the job from a ghost. When a boy, M, who visits the library every day, vanishes, the boundaries between spatial and temporal realities, and between individuals, seems to have been breached. A novel about the barriers, imaginary and real, that we put up between and within ourselves.
Read our staff review here.
Annihilation by Michel Houellebecq, translated from French by Shaun Whiteside
It is 2027. France is in a state of economic decline and moral decay. As the country plunges into a closely-fought presidential campaign, the French state falls victim to a series of mysterious and unsettling cyberattacks. The sophisticated nature of the attacks leaves the best computer scientists at the DGSI – the French counter-terrorism agency – scrambling for answers.
An advisor to the country’s Finance Minister, Paul Raison is close to the heart of government. His wife Prudence is a Treasury official, while his father Édouard, now retired, has spent his career working for the DGSI. When Édouard has a stroke, his children have an opportunity to repair their strained relationships, as they determine to free their father from the medical centre where he is wasting away.
Read our staff review here.
Mina's Matchbox by Yoko Ogawa, translated from Japanese by Stephen Snyder
After the death of her father, twelve-year-old Tomoko is sent to live for a year with her uncle in a coastal town. It is a year that will change her life. The 1970s are bringing changes to Japan and her uncle's colonial mansion opens up a new and unfamiliar world for Tomoko. Her growing friendship with her cousin Mina draws her into an world full of secret crushes and elaborate storytelling.
As the two girls share confidences their eyes are opened to the complications of the adult world. Tomoko's understanding of her uncle's absences, her grandmother's wartime experiences and her aunt's unhappiness will all come into clearer focus as she and Mina build an enduring bond.
Read our staff review here.
The Granddaughter by Bernhard Schlink, translated from German by Charlotte Collins
1964. At a youth festival in East Berlin, an unlikely young couple fall in love. It is only years later that Kaspar discovers the price his wife paid to get to him into West Berlin. Shattered by grief, Kaspar sets off to uncover Birgit’s secrets in the East. His search leads him to a rural community of neo-Nazis, and to a young girl.
This tale from the author of The Reader transports us from the divided Germany of the 1960s to contemporary Australia, asking what might be found when it seems like all is lost.
We'll Prescribe You a Cat by Syou Ishida, translated from Japanese by E. Madison Shimoda
A cat a day keeps the doctor away . . .
On the top floor of an old building at the end of a cobbled alley in Kyoto lies the Kokoro Clinic for the Soul. Only a select few – those who feel genuine emotional pain – can find it. The mysterious centre offers a unique treatment for its troubled patients: it prescribes cats as medication.
As the clinic's patients navigate their inner turmoil and seek resolution, their feline companions lead them towards healing, self-discovery and newfound hope.
Read our staff review here.
Her Side of the Story by Alba de Céspedes, translated from Italian by Jill Foulston
Looking back over her life, Alessandra Corteggiani recalls her youth during the rise of fascism in 1930s Rome. A sensitive child, she was always alert to the loneliness and dissatisfaction of her mother and the other women in their crowded apartment block. Observing how their lives were weighed down by housework and the longing for romance, she became determined to seek another future for herself. This conviction will lead her to rebel against the expectations of her family, rail against the unjust treatment of women and seek to build a life with an anti-fascist professor. As her independence grows, so too does resistance against it – even from those closest to her.
A Perfect Day to be Alone by Nanae Aoyama, translated from Japanese by Jesse Kirkwood
When her mother emigrates to China for work, twenty-year-old Chizu moves in with 71-year-old Ginko, an eccentric distant relative, taking a room in her ramshackle Tokyo home, with its two resident cats and the persistent rattle of passing trains.
Living their lives in imperfect symmetry, they establish an uneasy alliance, stress tested by Chizu's flashes of youthful spite. As the four seasons pass, Chizu navigates a series of tedious part-time jobs and unsatisfying relationships, before eventually finding her feet and salvaging a fierce independence from her solitude.
A Sunny Place for Shady People by Mariana Enriquez, translated from Spanish by Megan McDowell
Mariana Enriquez's A Sunny Place for Shady People is her first story collection since the International Booker Prize-shortlisted The Dangers of Smoking in Bed.
Featuring achingly human characters whose lives intertwine with ghosts, the occult and the macabre, the stories explore love, womanhood, LGBTQ counterculture, parenthood and Argentina's brutal past.
Read our staff review here.
Before We Forget Kindness by Toshikazu Kawaguchi, translated from Japanese by Geoffrey Trousselot
In the fifth book in the sensational Before the Coffee Gets Cold series, the mysterious cafe where customers arrive hoping to travel in time welcomes four new guests: The father who could not allow his daughter to get married; A woman who couldn't give Valentine's Day chocolates to her loved one; A boy who wants to show his smile to his divorced parents; A wife holding a child with no name . . . They must follow the cafe's strict rules, however, and come back to the present before their coffee goes cold. In another moving and heartwarming tale from Toshikazu Kawaguchi, our new visitors wish to go back into their past to move on in their present, finding closure and comfort so they can embark on a beautiful future.
The Empusium by Olga Tokarczuk, translated from Polish by Antonia Lloyd-Jones
The Nobel Prize-winner's latest work is a riveting, humorous tale of mystery that takes misogyny to task. In September 1913, Mieczyslaw, a student suffering from tuberculosis, arrives at a health resort in what is now western Poland. Every day, its residents gather in the dining room to imbibe the hallucinogenic local liqueur, to obsess over money and status, and to discuss the great issues of the day: will there be war? Do devils exist? Are women inherently inferior? But disturbing events are happening in the guesthouse and its surroundings. Someone – or something – seems to be infiltrating their world. As our student attempts to decipher the sinister forces at work, little does he realise they have already chosen their next target.
Read our staff review here.
The Full Moon Coffee Shop by Mai Mochizuki, translated from Japanese by Jesse Kirkwood
Based on the Japanese myth of cats returning favours to humans who are kind to them, 'The Full Moon Coffee Shop' is the name of a peculiar cake cafe that is run by talking cats, which has no fixed location and instead materialises unpredictably on the night of a full moon.
Serving fragrant teas, the finest coffees and delicious desserts, the mysterious shop is entirely run by talking cats. The coffee shop attracts people who have lost their way in life. In the middle of the night, the coffee shop’s feline guides take them on an astrological journey which forces the customers to face up to the past. As each of them uncovers their purpose, their paths become intertwined.
Reservoir Bitches by Dahlia de la Cerda, translated from Spanish by Julia Sanches & Heather Cleary
In the linked stories of Reservoir Bitches, thirteen Mexican women prod the bitch that is Life as they fight, sew, skirt, cheat, cry and lie their way through their tangled circumstances. From the all-powerful daughter of a cartel boss to the victim of transfemicide, from a houseful of spinster seamstresses to a socialite who supports her politician husband by faking Indigenous roots, these women spit on their own reduction and invent new ways to survive, telling their stories in bold, unapologetic voices.
At once social critique and black comedy, Reservoir Bitches is a raucous debut from one of Mexico’s most thrilling new writers.
The Last Dream by Pedro Almodovar, translated from Spanish by Frank Wynne
The Last Dream brings together for the first time twelve unpublished stories from Almodovar's personal archive, written between the late sixties and the present day. Both a tantalising glimpse into Almodovar's creative mind and a masterclass in how to tell a story, this intimate and mischievous collection reflects Almodovar's obsessions and many of the themes of his cinematic work, spanning genres from autofiction to comedy, parody, pastiche and gothic.
The title story, 'The Last Dream', is a beautiful chronicle of the death of Almodovar's mother, and other stories include: a love story between Jesus and Barabbas; a cult film director out in search of painkillers on a bank holiday weekend; the primary version of the film Bad Education; and a gothic tale of a repentant vampire among monks.
Read our staff review here.
The Mark by Frida Isberg, translated from Icelandic by Larissa Kyzer
In the near future, in Reykavik society is divided about the controversial Empathy Test, which measures an individual's capacity for compassion and identifies anti-social behaviour in citizens. Two thirds of the country have undergone the test, and 'marked' themselves in an official register, open to the public. One third remains 'unmarked' and more and more private and public spaces are closing their doors to them. In two months' time, citizens face a national referendum, in which they will vote on whether the test should be mandatory or not.
Amid the rising tension and via the voices of four compelling characters we are confronted with urgent ethical dilemmas, prejudice, injustice, and private trauma. The suspense intensifies as these four individuals try to navigate a brave new world. The rules of the game have changed. What are the consequences?
The Third Love by Hiromi Kawakami, translated from Japanese by Ted Goossen
Having married her childhood sweetheart, Riko now finds herself trapped in a relationship that has been soured by infidelity. One day she runs into an old friend who offers friendship, love and an unusual escape: he teaches her the trick of living inside her dreams. And so, each night, she sinks into another life.
As she experiences desire and heartbreak in the past, Riko comes to reconsider her 21st century life and whether, after loving her husband and loving Mr Takaoka, she is now ready for her third great love.
