History and human drama collide in Leonid Yuzefovich’s "Horsemen of the Sands", a wonderful tangle of relationships, religions, and realism. The volume consists of two novellas—“The Storm,” set in a Russian elementary school and... Read More

A satirical take on war in the vein of Catch-22 and Slaughterhouse Five, Serbian author David Albahari’s "Checkpoint" is shocking and comic in equal turns, skillfully pulled together by the force of Albahari’s wit. At an isolated... Read More

An intriguing journey spanning two countries and multiple centuries, Daniel Grenier’s "The Longest Year" is at once epic and intimate, heartwarming and grotesque. This is a novel that defies easy categorization. Shades of the tall tale... Read More

Mournful and animate, Yenta Mash’s stories ingather Romanian shtetl lives before, during, and after Soviet disruptions. Each story is a microcosm of the Jewish diaspora: “as long as they bother to go after us, we can be sure we still... Read More

Early in "The Italian Executioners", Simon Levis Sullam points out that Italy’s role in the Holocaust is often ignored, thanks both to the worse actions of its Axis counterpart and to revisionist attempts to absolve the country of... Read More

Jacek Dehnel’s "Lala" is a wonderful mosaic of stories about a woman’s unbelievably adventurous youth; they were shared with family members so many times that her children and grandchildren could recite them practically verbatim.... Read More

Illusions and ghosts populate Sara Gallardo’s stories, collected here in "Land of Smoke". These are tales in which a dream come true—a cozy retirement among the flowers; the ability to fly—is apt to quickly become nightmarish, and... Read More

In "Sentimental Tales", Mikhail Zoshchenko masterfully exhibits a playful seriousness. Hilarity flits over a biting satirical indictment of the 1920s Soviet literary scene. As explained across four comical prefaces, the tales are... Read More