The Accident - by Ismail Kadare (Paperback)

About the Book

From the International Man Booker winner - a fever dream of a novel where love, jealousy and obsession collide

Book Synopsis

Why did the taxi crash on the autobahn in Vienna?

Who exactly were Besfort Y and Rovena, the mysterious couple who died after being flung from the back seat?

How was Besfort connected to the war in the Balkans? And why was his affair with Rovena clouded in jealousy and mistrust?

Who wanted them dead?

This is the story of the last forty weeks of their lives - a fever dream where love and obsession collide.

Review Quotes

The Accident cannot be put aide, but rickly teases the reader to try to understand more of the meaning of what, exactly, the cab driver glimpsed in his rear-view mirror.-- "The Independent"

a deliberately mystifying book [with] a continental seriousness about it, a Milan Kundera-like quality about its very un-English mixture of sex and political history.-- "the Sunday Times"

compelling-- "The Guardian"

compulsive and unnerving...a provocative exploration of the sinister underside of human relations.--Mary Fitzgerald "The Observer"

harks back to spy mysteries of the Cold War era...Kadare teasingly guides us through the search for an elusive truth...played out against the power struggles of Europe's states.-- "The Metro"

one goes to him precisely for that quality of indeterminacy, which he uses to advance a very singular vision of the intractable murkiness of human affairs.-- "The Guardian"

A compelling performance...lean, calm and footsure, Kadare's writing keeps you reading.--Phil Baker "The Sunday Times"

A master storyteller.--John Carey

Beautifully told in sparce, simple prose.-- "Scottish Review of Books"

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"

In John Hodgson's translation, Kadare's prose retains its elusive elegance--Jane Shilling "The Sunday Telegraph"

Ismail Kadare has somtimes been compared with Kafka, and you can see why.-- "Scottish Mail on Sunday"

Ismail 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"

One of the great writers of our time.-- "Scotsman"

One of the most important voices in literature today.-- "Metro"

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"

Toys with the reader's mind in something of the same way Hoxha once played with Kadare and his fellow citizens.-- "Herald"

About the Author

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'. He is the recipient of the highly prestigious 2009 Principe de Asturias de las Letras in Spain. He currently lives in Paris, France.