LONGLISTED FOR THE INTERNATIONAL BOOKER PRIZE 2024

‘Comrade Stalin wishes to speak with you.’

An exciting exploration of the relationship between authors and tyranny, from the winner of the first Man Booker International Prize. In June 1934, Joseph Stalin is alleged to have telephoned the famous novelist and poet Boris Pasternak to discuss the arrest of fellow poet Osip Mandelstam. In a captivating blend of dreams and factual narrative, Ismail Kadare reconstructs the three minutes they spoke and the aftershocks of this tense, mysterious event in modern history. Drawing on testimonies from witnesses, journalists, and authors such as Isaac Berlin and Anna Akhmatova, Kadare tells a gripping tale of power and political structures, as well as the relationship between authors and tyranny. The narrative reveals strange similarities to Kadare's experience of writing under dictatorship, when he received an unexpected phone call.

Translated from the Albanian by John Hodgson

‘One of Europe's most distinguished writers... Seasoned fans [of Kadare] will be enthralled’ Sunday Times

Pages: 224, Dimensions: 12.9x12.9cm