Summer books of 2019: Fiction in translation

Rain: And Other Stories , by Mia Couto, translated by Eric MB Becker, Biblioasis, RRP$14.95

A charming collection of short stories from Mozambique’s master storyteller. Set mostly in the aftermath of his country’s long civil war, the stories capture the daily struggles and triumphs of a people in transition “from the tragedy of war to the misery of peace.” Unsettling and uplifting, and filled with the wisdom of folk tales.

Liar , by Ayelet Gundar-Goshen, translated by Sondra Silverston, Pushkin Press, RRP£12.99

“The truth becomes some people, and others are made beautiful by falsity,” writes the Israeli author in this novel in which 17-year-old Nofar, an ice-cream parlour attendant, finds herself falsely accusing a talent-show star of sexual assault. Gundar-Goshen problematises the relationship between victim and perpetrator in the era of #MeToo and fake news.

Death Is Hard Work , by Khaled Khalifa, translated by Leri Price, Faber, RRP£12.99/Farrar, Straus and Giroux, RRP$25

After their father’s death, Bolbol and his two siblings set out from Damascus on a road trip to bury him in the family’s ancestral village. A journey that might previously have taken a few hours becomes, amid Syria’s civil war, an odyssey, as the protagonists negotiate checkpoints and snipers while reflecting on their family’s history and their country’s fate.

The Goose Fritz , by Sergei Lebedev, translated by Antonina W Bouis, New Vessel Press, RRP£12.99/$17.95

Lebedev’s coming-of-age tale examines Russia’s history of violence as Kirill, a boy staying with his grandmother in a village outside Moscow, learns about the melancholy fate of his once illustrious Germanic ancestors. “Fractional people are more vulnerable than whole ones,” he muses. “It is much easier to present them as demons in the current political bestiary.”

The Pine Islands , by Marion Poschmann, translated by Jen Calleja, Serpent’s Tail, RRP£12.99

Shortlisted for the Man Booker International prize, the latest offering by Germany’s award-winning poet and novelist tells the story of Gilbert Silvester, an unremarkable lecturer following in the footsteps of Japanese haiku master, Bashō, after severing ties to his wife and his work. A dreamlike tale about escape and new beginnings.

The Governesses , by Anne Serre, translated by Mark Hutchinson, Les Fugitives, RRP£10

Serre is the French author of 14 novels but this — her debut — is the first to be translated into English. Infused with the lightness and strangeness of a fairytale, the story of three governesses looking after the children of a wealthy country family is a playful and sinister exploration of female desire.

The Polyglot Lovers , by Lina Wolff, translated by Saskia Vogel, And Other Stories, RRP£10

The Swedish author of Bret Easton Ellis and Other Dogs enjoys nothing more than savaging the myths of male authorship. Here she lays into notions of male genius, as her protagonist, Ellinor, finds herself entangled with a literary critic who is fixated on a narcissistic author who is in turn obsessed with real-life enfant terrible of French letters, Michel Houellebecq.

Tokyo Ueno Station , by Yu Miri, translated by Morgan Giles, Tilted Axis, RRP£9.99

The past haunts the present in the latest novel by the award-winning Korean-Japanese author. Its protagonist, Kazu, born on the same day in 1933 as Japanese emperor Akihito, leaves his native Fukushima and becomes one of the many migrant labourers building venues for the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, before taking up residence among the homeless in the city’s Ueno Park.

For a look at the best summer books across genres, go to ft.com/summerbooks2019

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