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The Athenian Murders by Jose Carlos Somoza (view source)
Revision as of 09:32, 20 February 2022
, 09:32, 20 February 2022no edit summary
Far from being unnamed, the real translator of the book is Sonia Sotto, who has achieved the complex task of translating a Spanish text into English which evokes ancient Greece. It's a tribute to her that the book flows so well and is eminently readable.
It's a complex novel. It put me in mind of an onion. Each layer that's peeled off reveals another layer. There are stories within stories and then further themes within those stories. If you're looking for an easy read then this won't be the book for you. You might like to try Susanna Gregory's [[An Unholy Alliance]], Josephine Tey's [[The Daughter of Time]] or Alison Weir's [[The Princes in the Tower]]. They're all historical mysteries with a carefully-researched background. On the other hand, if this book does appeal to you then you might like to read Boris Akunin's [[Murder on the Leviathan]], or one of my particular favourites, Carlos Ruiz Zafon's [[Shadow of the Wind]]. We also liked [[The Marathon Conspiracy by Gary Corby]]. For another translation from Spanish which did impress us, try [[This World Does Not Belong To Us by Natalia Garcia Freire]].
{{toptentext|list=Top Ten Books Not Originally Written In English}}