The King's English Bookshop

This new translation of Austrian author Zweig’s 1913 Brennendes Geheimnis, by Anthea Bell, makes available to American readers a miniature masterpiece of revelation, as the young Edgar’s eyes are opened, for the first time, to the complexities of adult affections, while, at the same time, his mother gradually comes to recognize her son’s ferocious love and single-minded loyalty. Handsomely written, Zweig’s novel follows Edgar as he traverses the unsteady ground between childhood and adolescence and discovers that the larger outside world is not as safe as he’d always assumed.

Pevear and Volokhonsky, who for years have been providing the English-speaking world with translations of Russian literature that are richly textured and intimately connected to the source material,finally apply their abundant talents to Boris Pasternak’s masterpiece. This new translation, by way of both its exquisite attention to language and its focus on the heretofore unexplored spiritual nature of the original text, has surpassed Max Hayward and Manya Harari’s canonized 1958 effort (which has stood, untouched, on its own merits for half a century). If you haven’t yet read this sprawling, timeless epic about love, poetry, and the human experience, there’s never been a better time!

Many writers, artists, and filmmakers have attempted to re-imagine the work of William Shakespeare with mixed (and sometimes questionable) results. Dexter Palmer’s dreamlike, futuristic retelling of The Tempest, rife with mechanical men and flying machines, is breathtaking, and performs the same way a perpetual motion machine should: it gives off far more energy than it takes. Putting Palmer’s debut aside between readings is like waking from the type of dream you struggle to return to. Highly recommended!