Kadare, I: The Fall of the Stone City

Born in 1936, Ismail Kadare is Albania's best-known poet and novelist. Translations of his novels have appeared in more than forty countries. In 2005 he was awarded the first Man Booker International Prize for 'a body of work written by an author who has had a truly global impact'. The Fall of the Stone City was shortlisted for the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize 2013. Ismail Kadare is the recipient of the highly prestigious 2009 Premio Principe de Asturias de las Letras in Spain.

* One of the most important voices in literature today Metro * A master storyteller -- John Carey * One of the world's greatest living writers -- Simon Sebag Montefiore * There are very few writers alive today with the depth, power and resonance of this remarkable novelist Herald * His fiction offers invaluable insights into life under tyranny - his historical allegories point both to the grand themes and small details that make up life in a restrictive environment. He is a great writer, by any nation's standards Financial Times * One of the great writers of our time Scotsman * Ismail Kadare has sometimes been compared with Kafka, and you can see why Scottish Mail on Sunday * There are books which seem less the second-time round; Kadare's seem more ... one can relish his mastery of tone and the tireless probing intelligence of narrative -- Allan Massie The Scotsman * Both in his deployment of material and in his vision of life, Kadare is the equal of the often invoked Kafka Literary Review * Ismail Kadare is a great writer, by any nation's standards Financial Times * He is seemingly incapable of writing a book that fails to be interesting New York Times * One of the most compelling novelists now writing in any language Wall Street Journal * Kadare is one of Europe's most consistently interesting and powerful contemporary novelists, a writer whose stark, memorable prose imprints itself on the reader's consciousness Los Angeles Times * An outstanding feat of imagination delivered in inimitable style, alternating between the darkly elusive and the menacingly playful -- Peter Carty Independent on Sunday * This novel is a perfect showcase for [Kadare's] wonderfully powerful, eccentric storytelling -- Kate Saunders The Times * Brilliant but unsettling Irish Mail on Sunday * The Fall of the Stone City is written with a persuasive lightness of touch. Kadare's authorial tone is invariably ironic and his fiction is playful, as if he has never lost sight of exactly how