Independence: A powerful adventure tale that encourages self-reliance and self-esteem, and to be resilient and resourceful.Mentorship: A unique story of mentorship and friendship between a boy and a safe adult.Coming-of-age story: Sparse text and beautiful illustrations make Off the Beaten Track an ideal coming-of-age story for kids learning to find their self-confidence and ability to express themselves.

**From the author of Eastbound, a New York Times Top 10 Book of the YearA colorful cast of female characters contends with UFOs, sonic waves, and the legend of Buffalo Bill in a spellbinding novella and 7 short stories about the mysteries of place and language“The translation of any of Maylis de Kerangal’s books is a gift.” — Lauren Oyler, The New Yorker"De Kerangal’s masterful collection examines alienation and grief at pivotal moments in...

Eastbound was developed from a radio commission, written whilst the author was travelling on the Trans-Siberian from Novossibirsk to Vladivostok, as part of the French Ministry of Culture's programme of French-Russian events in 2010. It was inspired by the author's observations on the ground. Published in France two years after her award-winning novel Birth of a Bridge (2010), this novella maps the fast-paced story of two fugitives on the Trans-Siberian railway, where a desperate Russian c...

One of Bill Gates' "Five Best Summer Reads"The basis for the critically-acclaimed film, Heal the Living, directed by Katell Quillévéré and starring Tahar Rahim and Emmanuelle SeignerAlbertine Prize FinalistWinner of the Wellcome Book Prize and the French-American Foundation Translation PrizeJust before dawn on a Sun...

'She entered the house like a shadow … She was like a divine elixir: one drop for each of my thoughts. … I could feel the breath of the warrior, the Queen of Ireland, and it intoxicated me with the wind of hope, like noble wine.'She is Maud Gonne, the muse of writer William Butler Yeats. Yeats here returns as a ghost, having been buried in southern France in January 1939 at Roquebrune-Cap-Martin. Ten years later his remains are repatriated to Ireland. He emerges from his g...

This novel by Maylis Besserie, the first of her Irish trilogy, shows us Samuel Beckett at the end of his life in 1989, living in Le Tiers-Temps retirement home. It is as if Beckett has come to live in one of his own stage productions, peopled with strange, unhinged individuals, waiting for the end of days.Yell, Sam, If You Still Can is filled with voices. From diary notes to clinical reports to daily menus, cool medical voices provide a counterpoint to Beckett himself, who...

Named a most anticipated book of 2021 by The Guardian | The MillionsAn aesthetic and existential coming-of-age novel exploring the apprenticeship of a young female painterIn Maylis de Kerangal’s Painting Time, we are introduced to the burgeoning young artist Paula Karst, who is enrolled at the famous Institut de Peinture in Brussels. Unlike the friends she makes at school, Paula strives to understand the specifics...

Urban and peri-urban land markets in rapidly expanding West African cities operate within and across different coexisting tenure regimes and involve complex procedures to obtain or make land available for housing. Because a structured framework lacks for the analysis of such systems, this book proposes a systemic approach and applies it to Bamako and its surrounding areas. The framework revolves around the description of land delivery channels: starting from the status of tenure when the l...

"A slim, bountiful, beautifully written (and gorgeously translated) 'Portrait of the Chef as a Young Man.'" --Nancy Klinke, The New York Times Book ReviewOne of BBC Culture's Ten Books to Read this March and The Rumpus Book Club Pick for MarchMaylis de Kerangal follows up her acclaimed novel The Heart with a dissection of the world of a young Parisian chefMore like a poetic biographical ess...

At the very centre of the life of one of the twentieth-century's greatest artists was the most unexpected of life-long influences. The aptly named Jessie Lightfoot shielded the young Francis Bacon from the brutish violence of his bullying father, as well as from his worst self-immolating excesses later in life. The tenderness, wit and warmth of this inimitable Nanny stands in illuminating relief to the sulphurous palette that defined Bacon's work.Beyond the humour and heart of this...

Urban and peri-urban land markets in rapidly expanding West African cities operate within and across different coexisting tenure regimes and involve complex procedures to obtain or make land available for housing. Because a structured framework lacks for the analysis of such systems, this book proposes a systemic approach and applies it to Bamako and its surrounding areas. The framework revolves around the description of land delivery channels: starting from the status of tenure when the l...

The issue of population ageing in East-Asia has been extensively studied but we remain in the dark as to the fate of the region’s growing dead population, particularly in the largest metropolitan areas where there is bitter competition for space among the various human activities. From private cemetery developers to undertakers, not to mention a vast array of sub-contractors, death is discreetly helping a multitude of industry players to prosper. The result has been the transformation of f...