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Easter means many things, but mainly gifts for young and old. If you want to give that something extra to your loved ones and, why not, to yourself, choose a book. New releases of Metaichmio editions will make the choice easier.
Nita Prose’s The Maid, starring the lovable Molly, became a bestseller in Europe and America. In “The Mysterious Visitor” (trans. Voula Augustinou) Molly returns, now a head maid, and searches for the culprit behind the murder of a world-famous mystery writer at the Regency Grand Hotel. The novel was a hit in Germany, Italy, Finland, Israel, Iceland and Croatia, and Universal Studios has bought the film and television rights. Nita Prose brings the charismatic protagonist to life with her beautiful writing and, combining the detective plot with contemporary social issues, gives us an easy-to-read, intelligent and optimistic novel that conveys some of the atmosphere of Agatha Christie’s detectives.
The novel “A Very Pleasant Murder” (trans. Anzi Kounadis) also moves in the spirit of Christie, and in fact of her iconic heroine Miss Marple, only here the author Julia Seales finds a way to combine her love of mystery stories with Jane Austen. In fact, the press has also found similarities with the television series “Bridgerton”. We will find all this in the story of Beatrice Steele, who may not be a “proper miss”, but she is obsessed with crimes. Until she is confronted with the murder of the sought-after bachelor that everyone wishes her sister would win in order to save the family fortune, and she takes action.
Totally in sync with the contemporary debate about the position of women in society today and her fight against stereotypes is “Girl” (trans. Stella Zoumboulakis) by Camille Laurens, which sometimes with humor and sometimes with emotion and tenderness narrates her life Laurence Barracke, the way she herself experienced the limitations of her gender already within her family and her reflections on raising her daughter. Social changes and the importance of words in shaping a life through a deeply personal and powerful novel.
In a new translation by Maria Xylouris, we will again enjoy David Mitchell’s modern classic novel that was first published in 2004 and managed to excite not only the press (“Independent”, “New York Times”) but also personalities such as Bill Gates and A. S. Byatt, who spoke of the author’s genius and narrative skill. In 2012, it was brought to the cinema by the Wachowski sisters and Tom Tickver, again stirring the interest of the public. “Cloud Atlas” is a feat as it traverses space and time, intertwining with characteristic ease the destinies of characters that are somehow transcendentally connected. Mitchell, however, in an interview with “Vima” stated that he cannot understand why “Cloud Atlas” remains so popular. The public knows best!
“Best Book of 2023” by the “Financial Times” and “New Statesman”, “Book of the Week” by BBC Radio 4 and Schroders’ Business Book of the Year: these are his credentials, among others “Material world” by Ed Conway (trans. Kostis Panselinos), which rightly has so far closed more than 15 translation deals. Sand, salt, iron, copper, oil, lithium: the award-winning British journalist, on the six most important materials that built our world and will transform our future, writes a fascinating book, explaining why they matter today more than never. The history of human civilization through a captivating narrative that will make us see differently what we took for granted.
With “Light signals” (trans. Despina Giannaroudis) Dani Shapiro, who returns after an absence of many years, masterfully tells the story of two families connected by a secret and at the same time talks about relationships, family and memory, but mostly about the healing power of connection, honesty and human contact. A lyrical novel that describes how one event can catalyze so many lives, what it means to love someone, lose them and move on. The NPR, the “Time Magazine”the “Washington Post» and Amazon they called it one of the best books of 2022, and it is expected to be brought to the small screen.
