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The 2013 Winners are In!



Daunt Books Children's Short Story Competition 2013

Southern & Mediterranean Europe

• Italy
• Spain
• Portugal
• Greece
• Balkans

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  Skios by Michael Frayn

  Price: £7.99    Add to Basket

  When beleaguered Dr Norman Wilfred arrives on Skios to give the annual lecture at the Fred Toppler Foundation, he collects the wrong suitcase from baggage claim and is whisked to the other side of the island, into the bed of a young woman awaiting her lover. Meanwhile, a surprisingly young, charming and reckless Dr Wilfred arrives at the FTF to deliver his speech. Frayn’s highly-stylised farce is not for everyone, but those who suspend disbelief will be rewarded with witty dialogue and a rollicking plot. A favourite for this year’s Booker Prize.

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  Dog Day by Alicia Gimenez-Bartlett

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  A brilliant murder-mystery by one of contemporary Spain's finest authors, published by the excellent Europa. Investigating the death of a tramp, Petra Delicado and her canine sidekick Garzon are drawn into a sinister world of dogfighting reminiscent of classic Mexican film 'Amores Perros'. Highly recommended.

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  Andalus by trans. by T. Gorton

  Price: £5.99    Add to Basket

  A selection of Moorish songs from the region about love and wine, translated by Ted Gorton.
  
  "They said 'Your hair's gone grey!' and I said:,
  'So what? It's just dawn piercing through the darkness!,
  It's no sign of ageing: when the bay stallion of love has run so much,
  It must get dusty, and look more like a grey.'"

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  Soldiers of Salamis by Javier Cercas

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  This slender but complex novel is terrific - a moving and intricately crafted exploration of the way the Civil War haunts Spain to this day. Cercas toys with his reader both stylistically and emotionally, to remarkable effect.

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  Me and You by Niccolo Ammaniti

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  From the author of I'm Not Scared comes this though-provoking novel. Telling the story of a boy who seems to have everything, and how he is thrown into confusion by the appearance of his troubled sister in his top-flight prep school in Rome, this is a remarkable, warm and beautifully-written novel about the discovery of what responsibility means.

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  Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

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  The bold move to rewrite Homer pays off in this entertaining and enlightening narrative. At once a scholar's homage to The Iliad and startlingly original work of art by a talented new novelist.

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  The Jewels of Paradise by Donna Leon

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  In Venice a young musicologist sets out to find the truthful heir to an alleged fortune, hidden away by a forgotten composer. A captivating tale of intrigue, music, history and greed, from a master of literary crime fiction.

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  The Free World by David Bezmozgis

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  It is 1978, and thousands of Soviet-Jewish migrants are stranded in Rome when their passage to America is obstructed by endless bureaucracy. As the eccentric Krasnansky family - an old communist, his wheeler-dealing elder son and womanising younger son - await their fate, they find themselves at the heart of a series of love affairs and criminal liaisons. This subtle, multi-generational saga of migration and cultural change is infused with a wry humour that has spawned well-deserved comparisons with Jewish writers Saul Bellow and Mordecai Richler.

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  The Golden Egg by Donna Leon

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  Commissario Brunetti returns, for his 22nd outing! This time Donna Leon's hero is trying to track down the history of a mentally-challenged man who has been found dead. What does his untimely demise have to do with the Mayor of Leon's beautifully-drawn Venice, and how can this man's sad, lonely existence tell Brunetti about a much bigger mystery? Leon has done it again, with the passionate characters, the evocative locations and the enigmatic puzzles we have come to expect from one of our best Crime Writers.

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  In The Sea There Are Crocodiles by Fabio Geda

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  Ten-year-old Enaiatollah Akbari’s world is turned upside down when his father is murdered by bandits and he and his mother are forced to flee Afghanistan in search of a safe haven. When his mother warns him ‘in a strange, low voice as warming as embers’ that he must never steal or cheat, Enaiatollah doesn’t realise that soon she too will leave his side. Based on the true story of one child’s remarkable journey through Iran, Turkey, Greece and Italy in search of asylum.

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  Jeff in Venice, Death in Varanasi by Geoff Dyer

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  Comprising two novellas, both of which feel rather like fictionalised travelogues. Dyer writes with great skill and humour, and his reworking of Mann's 'Death in Venice' does a neat job of skewering the modern hedonistic tourist. The graphic sex is however perhaps rather overwrought. The Varanasi section is better, but could not be recommended ahead of the many Indian novels of greater scope.

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  Cassandra by Christa Wolf

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  Cassandra, daughter of the King of Troy, is endowed with the gift of prophecy but fated never to be believed. After ten years of war, Troy has fallen to the Greeks, and Cassandra is now a prisoner, shackled outside the gates of Agamemnon’s Mycenae. Through memories of her childhood and reflections on the long years of conflict, Cassandra pieces together the fall of her city. From a woman living in an age of heroes, here is the untold personal story overshadowed by the battlefield triumphs of Achilles and Hector. This stunning reimagining of the Trojan War is a rich and vivid portrayal of the great tragedy that continues to echo throughout history.
  
  To read more about the book, and author, and to see what the critics have said, click here
  (PDF).

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  The Oresteia by Aeschylus

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  Comprising 'Agamemnon', 'The Libation Bearers' and 'The Eumenides', The Oresteia is the only surviving trilogy in Ancient Greek drama. It follows the royal family of Argos through their dark chain of murder and revenge, and Robert Fagles's unparallelled translation ensures not an ounce of power or beauty is lost.

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  The Three-Cornered Hat by Pedro Antonio de Alarcon

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  A cracking modern translation of one of Spain's best-loved books. Set in 18th century Andalucia, this is a wildly enjoyable tale of intrigue and lust, depicting the determined efforts of a lowly miller and his beautiful wife to ward off the advances of a local lothario.

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  I'm Not Scared by Niccolo Ammaniti

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  As six bored children explore the sun-scorched wheatfields that surround their village, one makes a shocking discovery that changes everything. An exquisite and powerful parable of innocence lost.

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  The Bridge Over The Drina by Ivo Andric

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  This Nobel Prizewinning novel cannot be recommended highly enough. Through the famous bridge in Visegrad, Andric chronicles with great humour and compassion the extraordinary lives of the ordinary Bosnians who build it, cross it and leap from it. A masterpiece of fictionalized history.

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  The Life of Lazarillo de Tormes by Anon

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  This wonderful novella not only delighted readers across Europe after being banned by the Inquisition upon publication in 1554, it also redefined literature and along with Don Quixote laid the foundation for the modern novel. To this day it remains a vigorous and enjoyable read; Merwin's interpretation is first rate. A true Spanish classic.

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  The Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnim

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  Four very different British women are lured to the Italian Riviera by a discreet notice in a newspaper advertising a small medieval castle for rent. Once there they are stirred by the spirit of the Mediterranean and find themselves experiencing remarkable changes. An utterly charming classic from 1922.

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  Ocean Sea by Alessandro Baricco

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  The acclaimed author of 'Silk' and 'Without Blood' here offers a dark tragi-comedy that centres around a remote seaside inn and the interlinked stories of the various guests. By turns playful and profound, this is a compelling and ethereal novel with a sting in its tail.

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  The Garden of the Finzi-Continis by Giorgio Bassani

  £9.99 Price: £8.99    Add to Basket

  A true delight and one of our absolute favourites, Bassani tells of an aristocratic family who offer their luxurious estate as a safe haven for persecuted Jews as anti-semitic sentiment mounts. Reflecting on his experiences long after the war has ended, the narrator relates a poignant and life-affirming tale.

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  Rendezvous in Venice by Philippe Beaussant

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  A sublime and elegant novella of Venice replete with atmosphere and passion. Pierre uncovers the truth of his late uncle's love affairs when delving into the latter's notebooks.

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  Jigsaw by Sybille Bedford

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  A partly autobiographical novel about a young girl growing up in Europe during the 1930s. The story of a wild and glamorous youth and a fraught mother and daughter relationship.

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  A Favourite of the Gods by Sybille Bedford

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  Following the success of the first Daunt Books publication, Saki's Improper Stories, we are delighted to publish this remarkable novel by the Booker-shortlisted author, Sybille Bedford. Set in Rome, London and the French Riviera in the 1920s, A Favourite of the Gods tells the story of three generations of women and the dramatic upheavals of the early twentieth century. The story begins with a beautiful New England heiress, a Roman prince and the confused catastrophe of their marriage. Their daughter, Constanza, has an idyllic childhood spent in crumbling Roman palaces, sun-baked olive groves and at sumptuous parties, until her life is changed forever by a clash of culture and an impulsive decision. You can now buy the second novel in the sequence, A Compass Error, exclusively at Daunt Books.

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  Captain Corelli's Mandolin by Louis de Bernieres

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  De Bernieres's smash bestseller continues to divide readers like no other. Frankly there is no excuse not to have read it by now, and if the author's fondness for whimsy and Marquez-esque magical realism do not appeal, there is at its heart a good old fashioned love-in-war story that packs undeniable punch.

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  Guernica by Dave Boling

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  A powerful novel that entwines a love story set in the town of Guernica, the heart of Basque culture and tradition, with the history of its devastation at the hands of the German Luftwaffe. Not quite a Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, but a literary, heart-felt love story with an interesting historical background.