A summer with Kim Novak

by Håkan Nesser

  Two doppelgänger exiles—both, curiously, named Tony Hanssen—are on the run from the lies and deceit that have defined their lives. When they accidentally meet up, they realise that each could hold the solution to the other’s problems. An allegory of the global economic crisis and of the identity conflict of modern man, Fortunate Slaves is a moral and picaresque novel that is both entertaining and thought-provoking. Just how far will desperate men sink to achieve their aims?

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  Yue Tao • Shanghai Blue

  When Lan comes home to Shanghai after ten years in Europe she finds the city enigmatic: people she knew from childhood seem odd—her own identity is a mystery. An adopted orphan, she tries to locate her biological parents, but everyone who could help is evasive. Her only clue is cricket fighting—a millennium-old Chinese pastime turned gambling racket where the nouveaux riches meet the underworld by night. The deeper she digs into her own mystery, the more obscure and sinister it becomes. The truth takes her by surprise after an illicit encounter on New Year’s Eve: the past is unspeakably worse than she thought—and it is not even past.

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  Erling Kagge • Under Manhattan

  Polar explorer, author and philosopher Erling Kagge was the first person ever to walk alone to the South Pole and to surmount the ‘three poles’: North, South and the summit of Mount Everest. Now he explores New York like never before—underground. Along with Steve Duncan, he descends into the network of sewers, subways and water tunnels that the city has to offer. They walk from the Bronx via Manhattan to the Atlantic Ocean. Through photos, philosophical reflections and accounts of their journey, a world opens up that has never been explored before.

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  Jaap Robben • You Have Me to Love

  Mikael lives with his parents on a small remote island between Scotland and Norway. One day, his father disappears into the sea. Mikael keeps silent about what has happened. Guilt, consolation and reproaches consume him, until Mikael’s mother forces him to do the impossible.

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  Bram Dehouck • A Sleepless Summer

  The seasons come and go in provincial Blaashoek, where the town’s superficial harmony is upended by the arrival of a wind park—a blessing for some, a curse for others. The irritating hum of the turbines keeps butcher Herman Bracke, known far and wide for his delicious ‘summer paté’, awake at night. He falls prey to a deadly fatigue and gradually loses control over his work, setting off a series of blood-curdling events, with fatal consequences for the townspeople. Life in Blaashoek will never be the same again.

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