Svetlana's Reads and Views

Name of Book: The Translator  Author: Harriet Crawley  ISBN: 978-1-913394-83-7 Publisher:  Bitter Lemon Press  Type of book: Russia, translators, second chances, 2017, oligarch life, secrets, spying, United Kingdom Year it was published: 2023  Summary: The Sunday Best Thrillers of 2023. Financial Best Summer Thrillers of 2023.   “A classic thriller of the new Cold War.” Antony Beevor, author of  Stalingrad.   A highly topical  espionage novel  about a Russian plot to cut the undersea communication cables linking the US to the UK. Also, a passionate love story between two people determined to stop this cataclysmic act. Clive Franklin, a Russian language expert in the Foreign Office, is summoned unexpectedly to Moscow to act as translator for the British Prime Minister. His life is upended when he discovers that his former lover, Marina Volina, is the interpreter to the Russian President. Together they will try to stop the att...

    Name of Book: Dom Casmurro  Author: Machado de Assis (trans Margaret Jull Costa, Robin Patterson)   ISBN:978-1-324-09070-0 Publisher: Live right  Type of book: Rio de Janeiro Brazil, memories, seminary, wealth, love, secrets, 1857-1870s, friendship, marriage, happiness, jealousy, suspiciousness, adolescence, childhood sweetheart, promises, fictional memoirs  Year it was published: 2023 (1899)  Summary: Dom Casmurro is the nickname of Bento Santiago, who, old and alone, reveals his memories. A promise from his mother shaped his destiny as a priest, but Bento Santiago, in love, abandoned the seminary. He studies law and marries his great love, but jealousy and distrust grow. He suspects that he is not the biological father of the couple's son, Ezequiel, but rather his great friend Escobar. Characters: Main characters are Bento Santiago who is best described as naive and takes things at face value. He is a jealous man but also loyal and semi tale...