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Charlotte Carter
Drumsticks
Published May 2001 by Serpent's Tail at £15.99
ISBN: 1852426799
See Review by
Bob Cornwell
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Mia Couto
Under the Frangipani
Pbk published May 2001 by Serpent's Tail at £10.00
ISBN: 1852427299Translated by David Brookshaw
The best in African magical realism by Mozambique's most prominent writer
An alluring novel that challenges categorisation - part thriller, part conscious exploration of language - Under the Frangipani confirms Mia Couto's richly deserved reputation as the master of literary magic realism.
A police inspector is investigating a strange murder case, one in which all the suspects are eager to claim responsibility. Set in a former Portuguese fort which held slaves and ivory, this exceptional work seamlessly blends fable and allegory, dreams and myths with an earthy humour.
With a masterful command of plot, language and literary technique, Couto has created a novel of dazzling brilliance, where the dead meet the living, language is in a constant state of flux, and reality is constantly
re-invented.
Mia Couto was born in 1955 in Mozambique and is considered the most prominent of the younger generation of writers in Portuguese-speaking Africa. He has been active as a journalist and is the author of two collections of short stories, Voices Made Night and Every Man Is A Race.
Manuel Vazquez Montalban
Offside
Pbk published May 2001 by Serpent's Tail at £6.99
ISBN: 1852427426See Review by
Ralph Lees
See Review by
Val McDermid
- Gold Dagger winner & creator of Lindsay Gordon, Kate Brannigan & Tony Hill
To revive its sagging fortunes, Barcelona FC have bought Jack Mortimer, European Footballer of the Year. But no sooner has he taken possession of his company Porsche than death threats start arriving. Are they are hoax, or connnected to the land deals that are tearing Barcelona apart?
George Pelecanos
The Big Blowdown
Pbk published June 2001 by Serpent's Tail at £6.99
ISBN: 1852427388Washington DC 1946, Pete Karras and Joey Recevo find work after the war providing muscle for Mr Burke who runs a protection racket with the Mafia, but Pete Karras is too soft on his fellow immigrants. Three years later Pete and Joey meet up again for a final confrontation.
Fernando Vallejo
Our Lady of the Assassins
Pbk published April 2001 by Serpent's Tail at £7.99
ISBN: 1852426470Published to coincide with release of the film directed by Barbet Schroeder
Extraordinary autobiographical novel from the bleeding heart of South America's murder capital.
Although violent and brutal, Our Lady of the Assassins is essentially a lover story. An
exiled writer, Fernando, returns to the city of Medellin after an absence of 30 years. He
meets Alexis, 16 years old, a male prostitute and a hitman, with whom he falls in love.
Bound by an intense passion, the couple play out their lives moving from church to
church, from murder to murder. Their love is doomed: mirroring the reality of the streets
of contemporary Medellin. Alexis mercilessly opens fire on any one who wrongs him,
until inevitably he himself is the victim of murder. Caught up in this desperate cycle of
death. Fernando unwittingly takes up with his former lovers killer.
