Bøger udgivet af Europa Editions

Translation of: Le cimetiáere des hirondelles.

';In this enjoyable series debut,' four colorful old timers meet regularly a small-town bar in Tuscany, where they gossip, play cards, and solve murders (Publishers Weekly). At Bar Lume, in a small resort village on the Tuscan coast, between shots of espresso and hands of cards, four old-timers and Massimo the barman wile away the time chatting, arguing, and theorizing about the murder of a young woman in their town. The girl's body was found in a dumpster bin on the edge of town. The gossip circulating about the victim's lifestyle suggests her murder was connected to the seedy world of drug trafficking and dangerous sex. The prime suspects in the case are two of the girl's nightlife associates. But for want of something to do, the group of pensioners at Bar Lume begin to pull the case to pieces, forcing the barman Massimo into the role of amateur sleuth. The four old-timers analyze the crime and the suspects, putting a comic spin on their often narrow-minded neighbors. From this ';investigation,' in Marco Malvaldi's lively and colorful prose, emerges a fascinating picture of life in a small Italian town.

"e;Rufin offers his readers a return . . . to a time when the wildest dreamer could be a wealthy merchant-Jacques Coeur, the treasurer poet"e; (Les Echos).After a brilliant career as a trader, Jacques Coeur was summoned to the court of Charles VII and appointed Master of the Mint in 1436. He rose to become the King of France's visionary First Banker who, with his tours of the Far East, his opposition to the crusades, and his efforts to develop trade, brought France out of the darkness toward the Renaissance and modernity. At the height of his success, his ill-considered infatuation with Agnes Sorel, King Charles VII's favorite mistress, precipitated Coeur's fall from grace.In Rufin's delectable prose this true story becomes a gripping tale of adventure, a novel of ideas, and a moving love story."e;The Dream Maker blends with skill and efficiency politics, business, travel and love. All of this written in a classic, elegant prose, of which Jean-Christophe Rufin has long had a command."e; -Le JDD"e;Rufin bestows such immediacy to this artist of finance, such vitality that we hear the sound of Coeur's own voice telling us his life."e; -Telerama"e;Rufin has re-established his eloquence and spirit, that of the great novelist of the people. . . . His new novel is both a chivalric odyssey and a brilliant reflection on power."e; -Lire"e;The vivid portraits of Charles VII and Agnes Sorel give readers an intimate glimpse into court intrigue in 15th-century France."e; -Washington Independent Review of Books"e;A fascinating novel."e; -Historical Novel Society

Questo libro nasce per cercare una piccola consolazione alla nostalgia dei lettori che tanto hanno amato e amano Jean-Claude Izzo, scrittore e personaggio. Raccoglie gli scritti e i racconti inediti dell'autore marsigliese. Testi che hanno a che vedere con quelli che sono i temi fondamentali della sua opera: Marsiglia, il mare e il noir mediterraneo, genere letterario che lui stesso inventò. Ci sono tre brevi, bellissimi testi dedicati a tre grandi protagonisti della cucina e del paesaggio mediterraneo: l'aglio, il basilico e la menta. Ci sono molti scritti su Marsiglia, città unica al mondo, con il suo porto, la sua storia, la musica, gli esuli che ha accolto da ogni angolo della terra. Ci sono pezzi struggenti sulla bellezza del mare, sull'identità del Mediterraneo, necessario punto d'incontro tra i popoli delle sue rive, tra il sud e il nord. C'è la riflessione sul noir mediterraneo. Ci sono i pensieri di Izzo sul suo personaggio più amato, l'ex flic Fabio Montale, e un bel racconto inedito: "La cena di Natale di Fabio Montale". Un piccolo libro che farà la gioia dei tantissimi ammiratori di Izzo, che darà loro notizie in più sull'amato autore, che riaccenderà la commozione che abbiamo provato leggendo i suoi romanzi.

The second historical mystery featuring Commissario Ricciardi, "e;one of the most interesting and well-drawn detectives in fiction"e; (The Daily Beast).Commissario Ricciardi has visions. He sees and hears the final seconds in the lives of victims of violent deaths. It is both a gift and a curse. It has helped him become one of the most acute and successful homicide detectives in the Naples police force. But all that horror and suffering has hollowed him out emotionally. He drinks and doesn't sleep. Other than his loyal partner, Brigadier Maione, he has no friends.Naples, 1931. In a working-class apartment in the Sanita neighborhood, an elderly woman by the name of Carmela Calise has been beaten to death. When Ricciardi and Maione arrive at the scene, they learn that Calise was moonlighting as a fortuneteller and moneylender whose clients were some of the city's rich and powerful. She predicted their futures in such a way as to manipulate and deceive and made many enemies-those indebted to her, swayed by her lies, disappointed by her prophesies or destroyed by her machinations. Murder suspects in this atmospheric thriller abound and Commissario Ricciardi, one of the most original and intriguing investigators in contemporary crime fiction, will have his work cut out for him."e;The promise that each life will intersect keeps Ricciardi and Maione's investigation lively."e; -Publishers Weekly"e;A well-crafted, ultimately moving crime novel set in 1931 Naples . . . This is a solid series with an intriguing detective, and fans will eagerly await the third volume."e; -Library Journal

Second in the renowned Marseilles trilogy following Total Chaos, ';one of the masterpieces of modern noir' (Michael Dirda, The Washington Post). This second novel in Izzo's acclaimed Marseilles trilogy is a touching tribute to the author's beloved city, in all its color and complexity. Fabio Montale is an unwitting hero in this city of melancholy beauty. Montale has left a police force marred by corruption, xenophobia, and greed. But getting out is not going to be so easy. When his cousin's son goes missing, Montale is dragged back onto the mean streets of a violent, crime-infested Marseilles. To discover the truth about the boy's disappearance, he infiltrates a dangerous underworld of mobsters, religious fanatics, crooked cops, and ordinary people driven to extremes by desperation. ';Noir at its finest.' The Times Literary Supplement ';Izzo, who died in 2000, is more than adept at noir conventionsgritty light, sudden switches of scene, the pervasive rot of cynicism, which sullies even the best intentions. But what makes his work haunting is his extraordinary ability to convey the tastes and smells of Marseilles, and the way memory and obligation dog every step his hero takes.' The New Yorker ';Like the best American practitioners in the genre, Izzo refrains from any sugarcoating of the city he depicts or the broken and imperfect men and women who people it.' Publishers Weekly ';This hard-hitting series captures all the world-weariness of the contemporary European crime novel, but Izzo mixes it with a hero who is as virile as he is burned out.' Booklist

An ex-cop takes on the mafia in the blockbuster novel that kicks off the Marseilles trilogy with what ';may be the most lyrical hard-boiled writing yet' (The Nation). In Jean-Claude Izzo's ';Mediterranean noir' mysteries, the city of Marseilles is explosive, breathtakingly beautiful, and deadly. Total Chaos introduces readers to Fabio Montale, a disenchanted cop who turns his back on a police force marred by corruption and racism and, in the name of friendship, takes the fight against the mafia into his own hands. Ugo, Manu, and Fabio grew up together on the mean streets of Marseilles where friendship means everything. They promised to stay true to one another and swore that nothing would break their bond. But people and circumstances change. Ugo and Manu have been drawn into the criminal underworld of Europe's toughest and most violent city. When Manu is murdered and Ugo returns from abroad to avenge his friend's death, only to be killed himself, it is left to the third in this trio, Det. Fabio Montale, to ensure justice is done. Despite warnings from both his colleagues in law enforcement and his acquaintances in the underworld, Montale cannot forget the promise he once made Manu and Ugo. He's going to find their killer no matter the consequences. ';One of the masterpieces of modern noir.' The Washington Post ';Like the best noir writersand make no mistake, he is among the bestIzzo not only has a keen eye for detail... but also digs deep into what makes men weep.' Time Out New York ';The holy grail of noir fiction... a fast paced and stylishly told modern tragedy.' NB Magazine

Else Krischner, a vigorous and effervescent woman, refuses to be imprisoned by society's rules and mors. A sweeping epic that spans the first half of the 20th century and praised as a German "Gone with the Wind" will delight and surprise readers.

From the author of I Regret Everything comes this ';great novel. It's satirical, it's political, it's sexual. All the things that I love dearly' (Larry David, creator of Curb Your Enthusiasm and Seinfeld). Seth Greenland's timely novel is a smart and darkly amusing dissection of the American political establishment in all its sordid glory. Set in the hardscrabble California desert community of Desert Hot Springs and the manicured enclave of Palm Springs, the novel lives at the intersection of the political disarray of today. In this sun-blasted territory, with its equally arid culture, a fiercely contested congressional election is in progress. The wily incumbent, Randall Duke, is unburdened by ethical considerations and his opponent, Mary Swain, is a sexy and well-financed newcomer who does not have a firm grip on American history or elemental economics. As election day nears, the exploitable backgrounds of these two candidates are teased out by the desire to one-up each other. The campaign gets carried away when the personal escapades of friends and family spill over into the election, including lesbian love triangles, and sudden spiritual enlightenment. ';A wild entertainment as well as a novel about the way we live now that dares to dance with the profound.' Los Angeles Times ';The Angry Buddhist approaches all its characters with reliable misanthropy (not for nothing does Larry David provide this book's most visible blurb). And its story unfolds with dexterous ease... A fine, high-end beach read for this election season.' The New York Times Book Review ';A novel about three brothers, The Angry Buddhist is a steamy mix of murder, matching manga kitten tattoos, and a fierce congressional election.' Lion's Roar

A high-ranking official in the Israeli secret service is handed a new assignment: go undercover as an aspiring novelist to befriend Daphna, an Israeli writer, and her friend Hani, a renowned Palestinian poet. The target is Hani's son Yotam, a wanted terrorist leader.

This ';sharp-edged comedic novel of a semi-hapless Italian lawyer' who finds himself employed by the mob was a finalist for Italy's prestigious Strega Prize (Kirkus Reviews). Vincenzo Malinconico is a wildly unsuccessful lawyer who spends most of his time at the office trying to look busy. His wife has left him. His teenage children worry him to death. And he suffers from a chronic inability to control his sentence structure. When he is asked to fill in as the public defender for alleged Mafioso Mimmo 'o Burzone, Malinconico seizes the opportunity to turn his life around. Without dwelling too long on what it might mean to be employed by the mob, he rushes to re-learn the Italian criminal code. Soon, Malinconico's life becomes a comic battle to finish what he has started without falling further into the mafia's clutches. Diego De Silva's rollicking, Naples Prizewinning comic novel orbits the irresistible mind of one of contemporary Italian fiction's most beloved characters. Throughout his travails, Vincenzo contemplates every aspect of the life he sees before him in a wry voice that seduces, entertains, and moves the reader from the first page to the last.

In this ';promising literary debut,' three Japanese citizens and one American reporter rebuild their lives in the aftermath of Japan's WWII surrender (The Independent). Japan, 1945. The country has just surrendered to the Allied forces after suffering the devastation of nuclear warfare. Satsuko Takara and her teenage brother, Hiroshi, have lost both their parents, and each other, during the firestorm that devastated Tokyo five months before. Documenting the destruction of the war is Hal Lynch, a haunted US photojournalist, who stumbles upon a shocking story and is determined to bring it to light. And Osamu Maruki, a dissolute writer and once Satsuko's lover, has returned from the South Pacific a broken and changed man. The war-torn streets of Tokyo come alive in this dazzlingly observed debut novel as the lives of these former enemies come together. Fire Flowers powerfully portrays the shock, the struggles, and the difficult choices that arise from the destruction of war. ';An impressive and nuanced account of a dark moment in history.' The Independent

From the author of The Angry Buddhist: ';An intoxicating and ultimately moving modern romance... A story that's all the sweeter for its shadows' (Los Angeles Review of Books). I Regret Everything confronts the oceanic uncertainty of what it means to be alive, and in love. Jeremy Best, a Manhattan-based trusts and estates lawyer, leads a second life as published poet Jinx Bell. To his boss's daughter, Spaulding Simonson, at thirty-three years old, Jeremy is already halfway to dead. When Spaulding, an aspiring nineteen-year-old writer, discovers Mr. Best's alter poetic ego, the two become bound by a devotion to poetry, and an awareness that time in this world is limited. Their budding relationship strikes at the universality of love and loss, as Jeremy and Spaulding confront their vulnerabilities, revealing themselves to one another and the world for the very first time. A skilled satirist with a talent for biting humor, Seth Greenland creates fully realized characters that quickly reveal themselves as complex renderings of the human conditionat its very best, and utter worst. I Regret Everything explores happiness and heartache with a healthy dose of skepticism, and an understanding that the reality of love encompasses life, death, iambic pentameter, regret, trusts, and estates. ';Affecting and funny.' The New York Times ';Edgy and sweet, witty and wise, I Regret Everything is rollicking good fun. It's also, in the end, a deeply moving love story between two unforgettable characters discovering what it means to truly be alive.' Maria Semple, New York Timesbestselling author of Where'd You Go Bernadette ';A poignant story of dreams and the way they can crash into the reality of the dreamers.' Booklist

';Two Americans have life-altering experiences in Africa a century apart in this environmentalist adventure novel' by the author of Theory of Bastards (Kirkus Reviews). In 1899, Jeremy, a young engineer, leaves a small town in Maine to oversee the construction of a railroad across British East Africa. In charge of hundreds of Indian laborers, he becomes the reluctant hunter of two lions that are killing his men in nightly attacks. Plagued by fear and alienated by a secret he can tell no one, Jeremy takes increasing solace in the company of his African scout. In 2000, Max, an American ethnobotanist, travels to Rwanda where she searches for an obscure vine that could become a lifesaving pharmaceutical. Stationed in the mountains, she shadows a family of gorillasthe last of their group to survive the local poachers. But their precarious freedom is threatened as a violent rebel group from the nearby Congo draws close. Told in alternating perspectives that interweave the two characters and their fates, Audrey Schulman's novel deftly confronts the struggle between progress and preservation, idiosyncrasy and acceptance.

"e;Powerful . . . The vivid descriptions of the Sardinian landscape are a fitting complement to the heroine's conflicted heart"e; (Kirkus Reviews, starred review).As this compelling novel opens, a young unnamed woman reflects on the life of her bewitching, eccentric, and fiercely emotional grandmother, whose abiding search for love spans much of the twentieth century. In 1943, as American bombs fall on the city of Cagliari, she is thirty and considered an old maid, still living at home with her parents. But when the bombing ceases, and despite her protests, her father forces her to marry the first man to propose, an older widower she doesn't love. After suffering several miscarriages, she is sent for treatment at a spa on the mainland, where she falls in love with an injured Italian army veteran. Back home, she gives birth to a son. She never reveals the affair to her husband-but decades later, she returns to the mainland and travels to her former lover's hometown of Milan. Dressed in her finest coat and shoes, she wanders the streets in search of the elusive veteran . . .Set against a backdrop of rugged mountains and Italian villages lost in time, this international bestselling novel is a multigenerational family saga about love, lust, and country."e;Agus's descriptions of the everyday are as beautiful and haunting as her portrayal of life's most dramatic episodes. Add an unexpected ending and the result is a graceful, powerful book."e; -Publishers Weekly (starred review)

This early history of printed literature "e;delves into the delectable intrigues of Renaissance Venice with a degree of detail that will mesmerize readers"e; (La Repubblica).This accessible yet erudite history traces the incredible rise of publishing in the Republic of Venice, the Renaissance's era of global capital of culture and trade. While a number of Venetian innovators drove this new enterprise, one in particular, Aldus Manutius, stands head and shoulders above the rest. Manutius tirelessly promoted the concept of reading for pleasure, and his Aldine Press commissioned the first modern typeface.Beginning in Venice and subsequently across much of the civilized world, bound printed editions of the Talmud, the Koran, the works of Erasmus of Rotterdam, and classics of Greek and Latin poetry and theater began to circulate for the first time, leading to an unprecedented diffusion of human knowledge, and bringing about the birth of the modern world.

';Think The Sopranos meets Goodfellaswithout the Americanized gloss... [A] not-for-the-faint-hearted novel by an Italian master' (Reading Matters). In The Colombian Mule, the author called ';the reigning king of Mediterranean noir' (The Boston Phoenix) and ';the best living Italian crime writer' (Il Manifesto) brings to riveting life the story of Aras Cuevas, who sets in motion a chain of bloody events when police catch him trying to carry a shipment of La Ta's cocaine into Italy. The intended recipient of the coke appears to have been art smuggler Nazzareno Corradi. But Corradi has been set up. He hires a PI known as ';the Alligator' to get him out of the mess he's in. Meanwhile, La Ta, a notoriously ruthless figure in the Colombian drug trade, is determined to move her operation to Italy, where cocaine has become all the rage among the professional classes. There's only one thing standing in her way: the Alligator. The Alligator, an ex-con-turned-investigator, and his two companions, former underworld heavy Beniamino Rossini and Max the Memory, are among Massimo Carlotto's most vivid noir creations. Together, the three men will wade deep into a criminal world of few scruples, testing their own strict and specific moral code along the way. ';The morally ambiguous tone makes this an intriguing read, and the suspense is well maintained.' Manchester Evening News ';A fascinating glimpse into Italian culture and justice system. It's sparely written and though quite short, there's a lot of action ... dark and gritty.' Euro Crime ';[A] brilliant book.' The Friendly Shelf

A new book in the Italian crime series featuring Commissario Ricciardi. Set in Naples in 1932, it sees Ricciardi investigate the murder of the most famous prostitute in a high-class brothel. Translated by Antony Shugaar. 'A superb historical series.' "The New York Times"

A Paris police detective is haunted by a murderous evil in this chillingly macabre mystery.Murder and depravity are Police Commissioner Amedee Mallock's daily bread. As far as he is concerned, mankind has been thoroughly abandoned by God, and the visions that haunt him do nothing to disabuse him of this notion. But nothing he has encountered has prepared him for the sudden appearance of a serial killer dubbed "e;the Makeup Artist."e; The bodies of the killer's first victims, found in four separate neighborhoods of Paris, are monstrous works of art, demented expressions of corrupted piety. These crimes are unprecedented in their ferocity and their intricacy-and the deeper Mallock investigates, the greater the mysteries and the enigmas. Foremost among them: Is a solution to a series of crimes behind which the devil himself seems to lurk even conceivable?A blend of noir mystery, horror, and theological thriller, The Faces of God is ideal for fans of dark, atmospheric crime fiction.

The moment of reckoning has come for Captain Mitsos Avgustas, when, after 12 years at sea, it is time for him to go home. A sweeping saga about love and hope set in modern-day Greece, "Swell" is Karistiani's most moving and gripping novel yet.

On March 5, 2007, Daniele Mastrogiacomo, his driver, and his interpreter were captured by the Taliban. His captors threatened to execute him if Italy did not immediately withdraw its troops from Afghanistan. When Italy refused this demand, the driver, twenty-five-year old Sayed Agha, was decapitated before Mastrogiacomo's eyes. A video of this horrifying event was shown around the world, and Mastrogiacomo spent the rest of his time in captivity, convinced that a similar fate would soon befall him. His jail, however, was not a dark room hidden away in some urban periphery, but a kind of open-air prison: to escape detection, his captors dragged him from village to village, through opium plantations, along dusty roads and over rugged mountains, from one end of Afghanistan to the other. It was a captivity that consisted in a continuous and nerve-racking confrontation with a world that bore no resemblance to that which he had ever known. Mastrogiacomo draws from his experience not only a hostage's tale of captivity but also a story that lies at the heart of the eternal human drama: that of a man's encounter with The Other. As brilliantly crafted as a first-rate suspense novel and with the kind of emotional impact associated with the best literary fiction, Mastrogiacomo's story of courage and tenacity in the face of imminent danger is unforgettable.

The international bestselling story collection. ';Truth and beauty are here brought together with all the visual beauty and power of a major literary work' (Lire Magazine, France). A cast of extravagant and affecting characters lovingly portrayed by Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt animates these eight contemporary fables about people in search of happiness. One of Europes most popular and bestselling authors, Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt captivates the reader with his spirited style and enchanting stories that move effortlessly from the everyday to the fantastical. The eight stories in this collection, his first to be published in English, represent his best and most imaginative storylines: from the touching and surprising love story between Balthazar, a wealthy author, and Odette, a shop clerk, to the tale of a barefooted princess; from the moving title story about a group of female prisoners in a Soviet gulag to the entertaining portrait of a perennially disgruntled perfectionist. Behind each story lies a simple, if elusive, truth: though we may be frequently blind to it, happiness is often right in front of our eyes.

A slim but touching and autobiographical noir novel from one of Italy's best writers in the genre.--"Quanderni Noir" (Italy).

In Broken Colors, Michele Zackheim has written a rich, wonderfully engaging story of a remarkable woman whose long, eventful life takes her to the place where life and art intersect.