The Polyglot Lovers
Translated from Swedish by Saskia Vogel.
- £10.00
- Available
- Paperback published on 02/05/2019
- Page count: 244 pages
- ISBN: 9781911508441
Quick take
Ferocious and irreverent, this multiple prize-winning novel burns down the pretensions of a pompous literary establishment and takes no prisoners.
Synopsis
'Do you have to stare like that?' I asked. 'Think about the actors in porn. They've got no problem showing themselves off.' Think about when I broke your nose,' I replied. Ellinor is thirty-six.
She wears soft black sweatpants and a Michelin Man jacket. She fights. Smart and unsentimental, she tries her hand at online dating, only to be stranded by a snowstorm in Stockholm, far from her village in the south of Sweden.
Ellinor finds herself at the heart of an intrigue involving an ex-wife who happens to be a blind medium, an overweight literary critic with a Houellebecq obsession, and a manuscript: a very important manuscript. Cut to Max Lamas, its author, who dreams of a polyglot lover, a woman who will understand him, in every tongue. His search takes him to Italy, where he befriends a marchesa on the brink of ruin, and where her granddaughter, Lucrezia, brings this tale to its final, shocking conclusion.
The Polyglot Lovers, winner of the 2016 August Prize, Sweden's most prestigious literary prize, is a masterclass in comic plot and timing, as well as a delight for readers, thanks to Wolff's trademark deadpan wit.
About the author
Swedish writer Lina Wolff has lived and worked in Italy and Spain. During her years in Valencia and Madrid, she began to write her short story collection Many People Die Like You. Bret Easton Ellis and the Other Dogs, her first novel, was awarded the prestigious Vi Magazine Literature Prize and shortlisted for the prestigious 2013 Swedish Radio Award for Best Novel of the Year. It was published by And Other Stories in 2018, followed by her second novel, The Polyglot Lovers, in 2019. Wolff now lives in southern Sweden.
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More books published by & Other Stories Press
And Other Stories publishes mainly contemporary writing, including many translations. Their books aim to push people’s reading limits and help them discover authors of adventurous and inspiring writing.
More books by Lina Wolff
More books written or translated by Saskia Vogel
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