translation – It's All About the Book

Description

1798: A magical, dark adventure. Fourteen-year-old Pâtca, initiated in the occult arts, comes to Bucharest, to her uncle, Cuviosu Zăval, to retrieve the Book of Perilous Dishes. The recipes in this magical book can bring about damaging sincerity, forgetfulness, the gift of prediction, or hysterical laughter. She finds her uncle murdered and the book missing. All that Zăval has left her is a strange map she must decipher. Travelling from Romania to France and on to Germany to do so, Patca’s family’s true past and powers are revealed, as is her connection to the famous and sublime chef, Silica.

My Thoughts

Over the last few years, I’ve deliberately tried to widen my reading to include more translations and fiction from other parts of the world. What a treat it’s been to discover authors and stories new to me, very much like The Book of Perilous Dishes.

The translation here is extremely well-done, but it’s the story that shines with a beautiful use of language, a fascinating plot, and characters who are by turns terrible, silly, and enchanting people. Patca and Caterina are especially wonderful, although Cuviosu and Maxima piqued my curiosity as well.

To be sure there are some odd things that are not explained outright – what is it about Patca’s teeth and who, indeed, is Cat O’Friday?! – but keep reading and it all becomes clear. I understand this author is well known and loved in her native country and it’s easy to see why. I hope there is more of the author’s work to be translated!

Publication Date: February 2017; May 21, 2024
Published By: Neem Tree Press
Thanks to Book Sirens for the book

Description

The charming international bestseller about an unlikely friendship between an elderly door-to-door bookseller and a nine-year-old girl that changes his life.

Small-town German bookseller Carl Kollhoff delivers his books to special customers in the evening hours after closing time, walking through the picturesque alleys of the city. These people are almost like friends to him, and he is their most important connection to the world.

When Kollhoff unexpectedly loses his job, it takes the power of books and a nine-year-old girl to make them all find the courage to rebuild their bonds with each other.

A bestselling phenomenon internationally, Carsten Henn’s The Door-to-Door Bookstore is a feel-good novel about books and friendship.

My Thoughts

Charming is an appropriate word to describe this gem of a story. The story is somewhat familiar – older person who is essentially alone makes a much younger friend who transforms their life, picking up more new friends along the way, ultimately transforming everyone’s life. This carries a powerful statement on the power of books to affect and connect people. If you enjoy feel-good, inter-generational stories, this one is for you.

Fans of Fredrik Backman’s A Man Called Ove will enjoy this.

Publication Date: July 4, 2023
Published By: Harlequin Trade, Hanover Square Press
Thanks to Netgalley for the review copy