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fall 2021 winter 2022
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Contents
MISSION SUPPORT US
Restless Books is an independent, nonprofit publisher As a nonprofit organization, Restless Books relies on
devoted to championing essential voices from the generosity of our readers and partners to achieve
around the world whose stories speak to us across our mission. Your support enables us to discover
linguistic and cultural borders. We seek extraordinary and promote extraordinary authors from around
international literature for adults and young the world, to champion perspectives from outside
readers that feeds our restlessness: our hunger for the confines of the familiar, and to take risks in our
new perspectives, passion for other cultures and editorial choices, always emphasizing literary value
Letter from the Publisher 4
languages, and eagerness to explore beyond the over the concerns of the market.
confines of the familiar. Adult Trade
Through cultural programming, we aim to Please contribute at
celebrate immigrant writing and bring literature to restlessbooks.org/donate Death Fugue 5
underserved communities. We believe that immigrant
stories are a vital component of our cultural
The Memory Monster 6
consciousness; they help to ensure awareness of our Life Sciences 7
communities, build empathy for our neighbors, and Restless Books gratefully acknowledges the
strengthen our democracy. support of the following organizations for our Mud Sweeter than Honey 10
2021 titles:
BOARD OF DIRECTORS The Murders of Moisés Ville 13
Amazon Literary Partnership, FACE Foundation,
Annette Hochstein, Chair
FILI: Finnish Literature Exchange, Italian Ministry of
Alison Gore, Secretary Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Japan Yonder
Alison Sparks, Treasurer Foundation, Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture
Devin Brooks and Sport
Rat Rule 79 14
Neal Cohen It's OK, Slow Lizard 16
Jodie Corngold
Shaul Hochstein
Steven G. Kellman
Recently Published 18
Ilan Stavans Forthcoming 19
ADVISORY BOARD Yonder Highlights 20
Stephanie Anderson, Assistant Director of Selection
for BookOps (NYPL & BPL)
Restless Classics Highlights 21
Jeff Deutsch, Director of Seminary Co-op Bookstore Rights Highlights 22
Cristina García, Author
Galit Hasan-Rokem, Author
Programs 24
David Bruce Smith, Author
Norton Juster, Architect, Author, and Professor † Cover illustration © Jian Kim, from It's OK, Slow Lizard
Ordering Information 25
Mitchell Kaplan, Owner of Books & Books and
Author photo credits:
Co-Founder of The Miami Book Fair Sheng Keyi (page 3) © Mark King
Mario Vargas Llosa, Author Margo Rejmer (page 10) © Katarzyna Lasoń
Javier Sinay (page 13) © Veronica Martinez
Ruth Ozeki, Author Rivka Galchen (page 14) © Sandy Tait
David L. Ulin, Author
† We mourn the loss of Norton Juster, who passed away in March 2021.
AUGUST
Letter from the Publisher Death Fugue
Sheng Keyi
As the pandemic recedes and surges in turns around the world, it’s time to commit ourselves Translated from the Chinese by Shelly Bryant
to seeing through a global lens. Restless Books is ready. After all, our core mission is to use
the highest-quality literature to bridge cultures and attune ourselves to voices outside of the Banned in China for its taboo allusions to the
American mainstream. Our upcoming lineup is exemplary: an assortment of breathtaking books Tiananmen Square massacre, Death Fugue
from four continents. is a lyrical and explosive dystopian satire of
Sheng Keyi’s no-holds-barred novel Death Fugue, which was banned in China, is an incisive manufactured existence, the erasure of personal
meditation on the authoritarian future with echoes of Franz Kafka and George Orwell. Joy freedom, and the perils of governmental control.
Sorman’s Life Sciences, from France, is an inventive coming-of-age novel about a young woman's
“A stomach-churning, exuberantly written allegory . . . recalls
quest for self-determination despite a centuries-old matrilineal family curse. Margo Rejmer’s
Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World.” —The New York Times
magnificent Mud Sweeter than Honey, an example of journalism of the highest caliber, reflects
on the legacy of Enver Hoxha, Albania’s Communist tyrant, by arranging a chorus of survivors’
“Anyone remotely interested in an insider’s untrammeled,
voices, in the tradition of Studs Terkel and Svetlana Alexeievich. Also a masterful investigative Paperback List Price: US $19.00
authoritative vision of what’s going on in China will jump into this ISBN: 9781632062925
mosaic, Javier Sinay’s autobiographical The Murders of Moisés Ville looks at the tension that
fascinating cauldron of a novel, at risk of being boiled alive.” Publication: Aug 3, 2021
underscored Jewish immigration to Argentina at the end of the nineteenth century through the
—Sydney Review of Books 5.5" x 8.25" • 384 pages
prism of the author’s quest to understand his own Jewish heritage. And from South Korea, the Fiction: China / Politics / Revolution /
enchanting picture book It’s OK, Slow Lizard by Yeorim Yoon and Jian Kim is a wise invitation Dystopian / Speculative Fiction
“[F]ull of clever observations, energy, wit, imaginativeness, and Rights Held: World English excl. ANZ,
to decelerate in order to appreciate life in full. We are also pleased to include two paperback endless lush, colorful landscapes that toe the line between the China, Southeast Asia
reissues: Yishai Sarid’s much-discussed post-Holocaust meditation from Israel, The Memory beautiful and the fantastical.” —Words Without Borders eBook ISBN: 9781632062932
Monster; and Rivka Glachen’s razor-sharp middle-grade novel Rat Rule 79, both favorites among
• An internationally acclaimed
large audiences. One morning, a nine-story tower of excrement inexplicably appears
author: Sheng Keyi received
The work of a nonprofit publishing house like ours is built on trust. Readers trust us to in the capital of Dayang. The government performs a hasty cover-up, the Chinese People’s Literature
canvas the contemporary literary scene to find gems worth rendering into superb English sparking protests that quickly explode in unrest. Mengliu, a young poet, Prize, the Yu Dafu Prize for
translations. In that sense, our task is to curate as sharp and comprehensive a selection as
and his girlfriend Qizi are swept up in the movement—but in the brutal Fiction, and the Chinese
crackdown that follows, Qizi, along with thousands of other protestors, Literature Media Award.
possible. We call on a vast number of friends—authors, translators, editors, and agents—around
disappears. • A voice that can’t be silenced:
the globe to send us eye-opening material. Our responsibility is to be discerning in our diverse
Years later, while searching for Qizi, Mengliu washes ashore in Death Fugue is still unpublished
tastes. To succeed, we, in turn, depend on the trust of readers. The joy and enlightenment the utopian Swan Valley. Initially seduced by the opulence and order in China because of its
the books provide is our reward. We also offer acclaimed literary programs to underserved of Swan Valley, Mengliu soon uncovers the deep, inhumane cost of allegorical depiction of the 1989
communities: reading the classics in prisons, for instance; participating in writing workshops maintaining this perfect society. Lavish, relentless, and occasionally Tiananmen Square massacre
and its confrontation with
geared toward emerging immigrant writers; and discussing classic world literature via Zoom on unhinged, Death Fugue is a profound dystopian meditation on art and
suppression in China.
a monthly basis in partnerships with the New York Public Library and other institutions. freedom.
• A timely examination of
Fulfilling our expanding mission requires all sorts of resources, most crucially from you. protest: Death Fugue grapples
Readers who buy our books, spread the word about them, and make small donations enable us SHENG KEYI is the author of ten novels as well with the necessity of protest in
as numerous short stories and novellas. Her debut effecting social, political, and
to be the avid grassroots organization that we are. Please spread the goodwill for Restless Books
novel in English translation, Northern Girls, was cultural change.
by encouraging more readers to open our books, or by sending a contribution of whatever longlisted for the Man Asian Literary Prize in
size you’re comfortable with. Rest assured that it will go into fresh, startling new literary 2012. She has received numerous literary awards,
explorations that will change audiences everywhere. Gracias! including the Chinese People’s Literature Prize,
the Yu Dafu Prize for Fiction, and the Chinese
—Ilan Stavans Literature Media Award. She lives in New York.
fall 2021 winter 2022 | restless books 5
SEPTEMBER OCTOBER
The Memory Monster Life Sciences
Yishai Sarid Joy Sorman
Translated from the Hebrew by Yardenne Greenspan Translated from the French by Lara Vergnaud
Introduction by Catherine Lacey
A New York Times Book Review 100 Notable Books
of 2020 Selection—now in paperback “Women are heiresses, inheritors of a thousand
demented and limiting ideas of what a woman
“[A] slim but powerful novel, rendered beautifully in English by
can or should be. Most women know this; many
translator Greenspan. . . . A bold, masterful exploration of the
resist.” —Catherine Lacey, from the Introduction
banality of evil and the nature of revenge, controversial no matter
how it is read.” —Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review “The strong and tender prose combined with the stubborn
dedication of a teenager battling a matrilineal curse transforms
“A brilliant, challenging, and uncompromising novel” Sorman’s novel into a brave and superb saga of pain, wherein
Paperback List Price: US $16.00 —Jewish Currents darkness turns to light, to life.” —Diacritik Paperback List Price: US $18.00
ISBN: 9781632060600 ISBN: 9781632062956
Publication: Sep 7, 2021 Publication: Oct 12, 2021
5" x 7.125" • 192 pages
“A brilliant short novel that serves as a brave, sharp-toothed brief “Life Sciences is a text containing countless possible 5" x 7.125" • 272 pages
Fiction: Israeli / Holocaust / Jewish / against letting the past devour the present” (The New York Times interpretations—almost everything is already there, unfolded, Fiction: Chronic Illness / Women /
Literary Fiction Book Review), The Memory Monster is a harrowing parable of a young Relationships / Medicine
aligned to the surface.” —Le Monde
Rights Held: World English, Audio historian who becomes consumed by the memory of the Holocaust. Rights Held: World English, Audio
eBook ISBN: 9781632062727 eBook ISBN: 9781632062963
Written as a report to the chairman of Yad Vashem, Israel’s memorial
Ninon Moise is cursed. So is her mother, Esther, and so was the eldest
to the victims of the Holocaust, our unnamed narrator recounts his
• A New York Times Book female member of every generation in her lineage going back to the • The English debut of a bold,
Review 100 Notable Books of own undoing. Hired as a promising young historian, he soon becomes subversive talent: Joy Sorman
Middle Ages. Each matriarch has been marked by a uniquely obscure
2020 Selection a leading expert on Nazi methods of extermination at concentration is a prolific, celebrated author
disease or ailment, all without apparent explanation, origin, or cure.
camps in Poland during World War II and guides tours through the sites known for pushing genres and
• A timely, unflinching portrait Ninon grows up comforted and fascinated by her mother’s recitation
of human atrocity: At a time for students and visiting dignitaries. He hungrily devours every detail of boundaries.
of these bizarre medical mysteries, forewarned that something will
of resurgent global conflict, life and death in the camps and takes pride in being able to recreate for • An award-winning
happen to her. Her own entry into this litany of maladies appears one
this story is an urgent call to his audience the excruciating last moments of the victims’ lives. translation: Lara Vergnaud
morning in the form of an excruciatingly painful response to touch,
recognize our darker impulses With the perspicuity of Kafka’s The Trial and the obsessions of received the French Voices
and avoid repeating the past. but only on the skin from her wrists to her shoulders. Award Grand Prize in 2018 for
Delillo’s White Noise, The Memory Monster confronts difficult questions
Embarking on a dizzying and frustrating cycle of doctors, her translation.
• A captivating literary parable: that are all too relevant to Israel and the world today: How do we
specialists, procedures, and therapists, seventeen-year-old Ninon
A great pick for book clubs. process human brutality? What makes us choose sides in conflict? And • Introduction by Catherine
becomes consumed by her need to rationalize her pain and end Lacey: Award-winning author
• A growing profile: Sarid has how do we honor the memory of horror without becoming consumed
the curse. As Ninon tries to break free from the life she’s been of Nobody Is Ever Missing, The
been shortlisted for the Dublin by it?
IMPAC Prize and Germany’s
conditioned to accept and reclaim both her body and her future, Life Answers, Certain American
International Literature Prize. Sciences provocatively questions our understanding of illness, health, States, and Pew.
His next novel, Victorious, will and the female condition. • A triumph of determination
be published by Restless in YISHAI SARID (b. 1965) was born and raised in Tel over determinism: Ninon
2022. Aviv, Israel. The author of six acclaimed novels that pushes back against the
dismissal of her symptoms and
have been translated into ten languages, Sarid is one JOY SORMAN is a novelist and documentarian who lives and works the frustrating all-too-common
of Israel’s most prominent contemporary writers. in Paris. She published her first novel Boys, boys, boys in 2005 which experience of having one’s pain
was awarded the Prix de Flore. In 2013, she received the Prix François invalidated, misunderstood, or
Mauriac from l’Académie française for Comme un bête. ignored.
6 restless books | fall 2021 winter 2022 fall 2021 winter 2022 | restless books 7
Rue des Dames; she’s gone through puberty, by an act—if her daughter were to con- of uncustomary discomfort, of irritation
is fairly average, 5'4, 120 pounds, 34A, some template climbing Everest without oxygen, and soon pain that pulls her from her sleep,
acne, unwanted hair tamed, a brunette, Esther Moise would undoubtedly feel no like a bad dream that leaves a bitter after-
girlfriends, acceptable grades, the occa- surprise, no joy, not even worry. taste and crust in the eyes, a disagreeable
sional swim, movie theater, mall, cigarette, posture that stiffens the body during the
vodka-OJ, parties and stolen kisses, nothing No warning sign will be detected, no alert, night, an inflammation of the nerves of the
more. Average, reserved, ordinary-looking, no malfunction or change in Ninon’s gen- kind brought on by stormy weather. It takes
From Life Sciences
sometimes to the despair of a mother who’s eral state able to signal the affliction that Ninon a few seconds to emerge from this
secretly waiting for Ninon to be chosen, a finally strikes. If this affliction had been dis- disagreeable torpor, a few seconds for body
mother who could be judged as misguided, creetly advancing through the silence and and mind to reconnect, crackling, for her
Ninon Moise turns three, seven, eleven, reckless even, torn between the relief of obscurity of her organs, she hadn’t heard bedroom to take form again—south-facing
doesn’t suffer from any ailments, no disease knowing her daughter to be in good health it. No notable event either, no trauma or window, gray carpet, an Ikea desk in light
has manifested, nothing suspicious, a rather and the impatience of seeing her struck in accident liable to have triggered the disease. pine—and then comes the urgent, imposing
cheerful child, lulled by baleful and comical her turn, curious to learn what fate and the That’s how it is, today’s the day, you need a sensation of the sheet on her skin.
Hardcover List Price: $22
accounts, though she’s somewhat solitary, inexhaustible resources of the genome have beginning, a date, an age, it’s a January nine- Lying in the fetal position, body huddled
ISBN: 9781632062239
like her mother, the solitude of a little girl in store for her. Esther Moise always told teenth, in the morning when she wakes up. up beneath the Publication:
comforter, 5/26/2020
Ninon is wear-
5” x 7.125” • 240 pages
whose head is full of tales as captivating as Ninon her genealogical sagas with such It won’t be gradual, it won’t be underlying ing pajama pantsMemoir:
and Motherhood
a tank top, and the
/ Childbirth /
they are burdensome, whose heart some- enthusiasm, irrigating her daughter’s young then exponential until it fully manifests; the contact of the sheet Women / Feminism
on her naked, exposed
Rights Held: World English
times tightens in worry—when will misfor- malleable and porous brain with legends, anomaly and the pain are absent from her arms is extraordinary, she can’t feel any-
eBook ISBN:9781632062246
tune strike? what will its name be?—though because she herself had never been unhappy body on January eighteenth, and present the thing else, it weighs heavy (lead), it burns
• Marketing bullet
she’s also awaiting it with some excitement. or overburdened by the disease that struck nineteenth, revealed, and when her trou- (acid), it chafes (sandpaper), her two pained
• Marketing bullet
Ninon isn’t traumatized by these cruel her, awareness of her uniqueness largely bling and unusual symptoms appear, Ninon arms seem enormous to her, a brutal, crazy,
• Marketing bullet
stories, didn’t grow up any faster from hear- making up for the diminishment of her quickly understands that this is it, the thing impossible sensation that matches nothing
• Marketing bullet
ing them, or any slower, just a little more faculties—to the point that one could sus- she can no longer name now that she’s the she’s ever known.• Marketing bullet
alert than other children her age, forever pect her of having wanted to get sick, to be host, the object, she knows perfectly well
waiting for a sign, monitoring her own anointed by sickness, join an extraordinary that this malady didn’t land on her ran- In a burst of panic, Ninon jumps out of her
body, an interior sentinel. Of course this lineage, remove herself from the anonymous domly, that it didn’t come out of nowhere, bed like it’s on fire, rolls onto the carpet,
attentiveness sometimes prompts bouts of masses, and have a destiny, consolations in but from a slowly formed bed of history and which likewise burns her skin, lays still on
hypochondria, but most often she floats which Ester Moise had always taken pride. time, from layers of pathological strata—so, her back, holds her arms above her, pre-
carefree in a cloudy zone where the fictions It’s therefore time for her daughter to on this nineteenth of January, in the morn- pared to find them red, scratched, bleeding
told by her mother blend with real life, with stand out, and it’s as though that distinc- ing, existence as she knows it suddenly van- maybe, her skin raw, flayed, but nothing,
life waiting to be lived. tiveness can only be revealed through her ishes, an underground life takes power, the the epidermis is smooth and white and the
genes, as though uniqueness can only be hereditary poison spreads through her body. pain recedes as quickly as it appeared, like a
Ninon is seventeen, a senior at Jules Ferry expressed by a cell line, as though the force Normally it’s the Rihanna ringtone on hallucination gone without a trace.
High School, in Paris’s Place de Clichy, of a person’s existence is resorbed whole by her cellphone—Bitch better have my money—
on the literature track, she’ll take her final the transmission of genetic characteristics that wakes her at seven a.m., but this morn-
exams soon, lives with her mother in a hoped to be rare and mysterious, as though ing she opened her eyes a little earlier, the
three-room Hausmannian building on the that force can’t be incarnated, for example, bluish screen indicates 6:39 and it’s a feeling
8 restless books | fall 2021 winter 2022 fall 2021 winter 2022 | restless books 9
NOVEMBER
From Mud Sweeter than Honey holiday resorts. We spent our time at work-
Mud Sweeter than Honey ers’ holiday camps or in a tent.
Once I asked my aunt to send me some Here in Shkodër there were constant
Margo Rejmer
shoes. And wanting to make me happy, she rumors that Hoxha, the Red Pharaoh, was
Translated from the Polish by
found me something special: some orange growing weaker, and when he died, the
Zosia Krasodomska-Jones and Antonia Lloyd-Jones
pumps. When I opened the parcel, I was so bolder people among us joked: “There’s so
Introduction by Tony Barber
amazed I had to sit down. My darling, naive little meat they’ve probably sliced him up for
A revelatory oral history of the people who suffered, auntie, she really had no idea about life in cold cuts by now.”
rebelled, and survived under the dictatorship of Albania! Everything around us was the color “At least that’s one communist fewer,”
Enver Hoxha in communist Albania, one of the of dust, dirt and grime, while that orange we sighed.
twentieth century’s most brutal and Kafkaesque color was a challenge to the predators: “Go Something did change. At last the author-
regimes. get her!” In Albania, those shoes were more ities began to worry that the people wouldn’t
For nearly half a century Albania was held captive by one man. A cruel conspicuous than a pair of Martians would put up with the poverty anymore and would
Hardcover List Price: US $28.00 dictator with a deep paranoid streak, Enver Hoxha sealed the country’s have been, but I didn’t have any others, so finally rebel, so they loosened their grip.
Hardcover List Price: $22
ISBN: 9781632062833 borders, severed alliances, and enacted a totalitarian regime of gulags I had to wear them. They instantly caught More and more people came out of
ISBN: 9781632062239
Publication: Nov 2, 2021 and purges. Many thousands suffered and died in silence, a silence that prison, and it was Publication: 5/26/2020
easier and easier to go
6" x 9" • 304 pages the eye of the shift manager at the factory. 5” x 7.125” • 240 pages
lingers today: Thirty years after the end of Hoxha’s regime, its victims
Nonfiction: Reportage / Polish /
are still waiting for justice. She hinted that she could really do with a to college. TheMemoir:
terrorMotherhood
lessened, but the
/ Childbirth /
Albania / Dictatorship / Communism Women / Feminism
Rights Held: North America, Audio In Mud Sweeter than Honey, Albanians break the silence. Margo pair of shoes like those, but I pretended not hunger grew. We made everything
Rights Held: World English
our-
eBook ISBN: 9781632062840 Rejmer spent years in Albania gathering interviews that shed light to understand what she was talking about. selves—cheese, eBook
bread, butter—because at
ISBN:9781632062246
on the four decades of Hoxha’s rule and virtually every walk of life: the market you could only buy chives. Peo-
• In the tradition of Svetlana
The next day she fired me for imperialistic • Marketing bullet
teachers and children, imprisoned and exiled writers, nuns and factory
Alexievich: The result of years workers. She arranges the voices of her interlocutors into a chorus that extravagance in the way I dressed! In place ple became obsessed with food, and didn’t
• Marketing bullet
spent immersed in Albania, the of the factory, I was sent to work at the mar- think twice about stealing. In those days I
bears witness to how ordinary people lived and died. We are immersed • Marketing bullet
book captures the testimonies
of survivors with rigor, depth,
in desperate border crossings, prison revolts, and everyday struggles ket, alongside the Albanian gypsies. was working at a• state-owned
Marketing bullet
florist’s, and
to make a living. We meet a writer who finds secret freedom in a tiny time and again I•managed
Marketing bullet an illicit
to swap
and startling intimacy. Yes, opening those parcels from Italy
village library of banned books, overlooked by censors. We meet a man
• An unparalleled look inside
who still only speaks in a whisper, afraid of being overheard. gave us brief moments of happiness. Hap- bouquet for a piece of cheese . . .
“Europe’s North Korea”:
No other book available in While Albanians endured surveillance, imprisonment, and torture piness was also eating something other than Sometimes I thought Albania had gone
English offers such a detailed under Hoxha, they also read books and fell in love, raised families and bread and cheese. Happiness was going to and that the country had collapsed, but
account of life during Hoxha’s found ways to survive. In the tradition of Svetlana Alexievich, Mud some evil people who wanted to cling onto
dictatorship.
the beach and bathing in Lake Shkodër. We
Sweeter than Honey is our most vivid, intimate portrait available in
English of this little-understood corner of Europe. needed special documents to do that, and power at any cost were trying to convince us
• An important new literary
voice: This is the English- the inspectors always ransacked our bas- that the state still existed. Once when I was
language debut of one of on my way home along the road by the lake,
MAŁGORZATA (MARGO) REJMER is an award- kets, prodding every tomato and fingering
Poland’s most acclaimed young
writers of reportage. winning Polish novelist, reporter, and writer of short the cheese. We only had fifteen days’ leave I saw something floating on the surface of
stories. She is the author of the novel Toximia and
• Simultaneous UK publication: a year and we went on holiday when the the water. I went closer. They were books,
the nonfiction work Bucharest: Dust and Blood, which
Shared publication with
won the Newsweek Award for best book of 2014 and state decided we could: once in May, once books by our beloved leader, the dead, yet
MacLehose Press in the UK will
generate international buzz.
the Gryfia Literary Award. In 2018 she was awarded in September and once in February. Holi- immortal Enver Hoxha! I looked around
the Polityka Passport, the most prestigious prize in
days were a privilege and a reward: for the anxiously. I was afraid something bad might
Poland for emerging artists, for Mud Sweeter than Honey. Her books have
been translated into eight languages. She lives in Warsaw and Tirana. workers, for the administration and for the happen to me, so to be on the safe side, I
Sigurimi. The deserving few had their own went to see the factory manager.
10 restless books | fall 2021 winter 2022 fall 2021 winter 2022 | restlessContinues
books ➛ 11
Mud Sweeter than Honey continued F E B R U A RY
“Comrade Manager, I saw the works of And yet . . . So many years have gone by, but The Murders of Moisés Ville
our Supreme Comrade thrown into a lake!” my terror is still lurking in the background.
But the manager merely said: “I see. Go When we came in here, to this café, I looked Javier Sinay
back to work.” around, and I was pleased to see we were Translated from the Spanish by Robert Croll
He didn’t ask where or when, what alone. I picked the most secluded table,
Award-winning journalist Javier Sinay investigates
books or which lake. I thought I saw the and then I took a good look at your clothes: a series of murders from the nineteenth century,
faintest hint of a smile on his face. And then where might you have a bug hidden? Even unearthing the complex history and legacy of
I understood: Albania as we knew it was at though you told me you’d be recording. I Moisés Ville, the “Jerusalem of South America,” and
an end. laid out these books about communism in his personal connection to a little-known period of
Finally, on September 27, 1990, I went front of you and I thought: “It’s lucky no Jewish history in Argentina.
abroad for the first time in my life, to Ven- one can see us.” So many years have passed, cover
In 2009, journalist Javier Sinay discovered an article from 1947, written not
ice, to visit our dear aunt who had saved us and my thinking is still guided by terror, it’s by his great-grandfather Mijl Hacohen Sinay, detailing twenty-two final
with her parcels for all those years. The ship still there inside me. murders that had occurred in Moisés Ville at the end of the nineteenth
Hardcover List Price: US $28.00
was beautiful, clean and luxurious, but the Once, in 1992, I went to a government century. What starts as an investigation into these murders turns
ISBN: 9781632062987
into a deeper exploration of the history of Moisés Ville—one of the
people on board were from another world— office and accidentally found myself in an Publication: Feb 8, 2022
first Jewish agricultural communities in Argentina—and Sinay’s own 6" x 9" • 304 pages
all they had with them was bread, cheese, empty room, where there were stacks of connection to this Jewish epicenter. Nonfiction: History / True Crime /
and tomatoes. The man next to me trembled official files and piles of documents lying on Seeking refuge from the pogroms of Czarist Russia, a group of Jewish Jewish / Yiddish / Immigration /
Argentina / 19th Century South
throughout the journey. the floor. I picked up one of them: In Koplik, immigrants founded Moisés Ville in the late 1880s. Like their town’s
America
prophetic namesake, these immigrants fled one form of persecution
“You don’t realize,” he whispered, “but sixteen people are painting eggs red for Easter. Rights Held: World English, Audio
only to encounter a different set of hardships: exploitative land eBook ISBN: 9781632062994
they can turn us back at any moment.” Neat, rounded letters . . . A message from a prices, starvation, illness, language barriers, and a series of murders
When an Italian sailor said: “Have a bygone world. perpetrated by roving gauchos who preyed upon their vulnerability. • Award-winning author’s
Sinay, though a descendant of these immigrants, is unfamiliar with this English-language debut:
good trip!” I muttered: “Go to hell!” because Lots of people will tell you that com- Javier Sinay is the recipient
turbulent history, and his research into the spate of violence plunges
the only thought in the back of my mind munism in Albania hasn’t ended, because of the 2015 Gabriel García
him into his family’s past.
was that a man in uniform means violence the same characters are still in power and Márquez Prize and the 2010
He combs through archives in search of documents about the Rodolfo Walsh Prize
and trouble. nobody has really been punished. What is murders and hires a book detective to track down issues of Der
• A true crime investigation
Physically, my mother lived in Shko- democracy? Voting should be free, shouldn’t Viderkol, the first Yiddish newspaper in Argentina started by his
turns personal: Sinay delves
great-grandfather. Through interviews with his family members, current into his own family history
dër but mentally she spent her whole life it? And yet people here vote because some-
residents of Moisés Ville, historians, and archivists, Sinay compiles as he investigates a series of
in Venice. When I went there, I felt as if one from a particular party got them a job, moving portraits of the victims of these heinous murders and reveals nineteenth-century murders
I were returning to a familiar city, because because someone gave them fifty euros, or the fascinating, complex history of the town once known as the • The fascinating rise and
my mother had told me about every build- because there’s something in it for them. “Jerusalem of South America.” fall of “South America’s
Jerusalem”: A complex history
ing, every square and alleyway, every trip in Nowadays anyone can get away from here, JAVIER SINAY is a writer and journalist based of assimilation, confrontation,
a gondola; I had always dreamed of ending but where are they going to go? Nobody in Buenos Aires. His books include Camino al Este, and transformation
Cuba Stone (co-authored), and Sangre joven, which
up in the land of her stories. wants Albanians in their country. won the Rodolfo Walsh Prize. In 2015 he was
• An intimate exploration
of Yiddish: Sinay immerses
And it came true. With the fall of com- In the past, if you held your tongue you awarded the Gabriel García Márquez Prize for his himself in the rich history,
munism, I regained control of my life. I were safe. These days you can scream, but no article “Rápido. Furioso. Muerto” (“Fast. Furious. literature, and enduring vitality
Dead”) published in Rolling Stone. The Murders of of the Yiddish language
could sing Italian songs whenever I wanted. one will hear you. Moisés Ville is his first book in English.
—
12 restless books | fall 2021 winter 2022 fall 2021 winter 2022 | restless books 13
AUGUST
Chapter Zero
Rat Rule 79
N
away, in fact right here
ot long ago and not far
Rivka Galchen in the living room, there
Fred was not being chased
clan of
was a girl named Fred.
by wolves. She was
space pirates. She did
not battling an intergalactic
Illustrated by Elena Megalos not have ESP, she could
not levitate, she was not
an expert
not eat lightning. You might
say
swordswoman, and she did favorit e sandwich
girl—even if her
Fred was a pretty normal
t butter and pickles on raisin bread.
peanu
“Rivka Galchen delivers joy and cleverness
was
ever happened to her, I would
Even if nothing unusual had because
would care about her simply
care deeply about Fred. I
reminiscent of The Phantom Tollbooth, Alice she was, and is, Fred.
Yet some unusual things
did happen.
in Wonderland, and Hayao Miyazaki movies”
(NPR, Best Books of 2019) in Rat Rule 79—now in
paperback.
“We have been waiting for this book our entire lives.”
—Lemony Snicket The Surprising
3 Dungeon Chapter
Without Assigned
“I love this book. It’s a wonder. I wish I’d had Rat Rule 79 when I was
Paperback List Price: US $15.00 Number
ISBN: 9781632061027 a boy.” —James Gleick, author of The Information 2019/6/17 下午12:01
Page 2- Fred.indd 1
Publication: Aug 10, 2021
5.5" x 8.25" • 256 pages
2-color illustrations
“Rat Rule 79 is an impossibly perfect book.”
—Karen Russell, author of Swamplandia
D id I mention that Fred was wearing
slippers? And planet pajamas? Which
fine for going to sleep but would
preferred attire for social appearances.
fluffy bunny
was perfectly
not be Fred’s
Fred found herself, in
Middle Grade Fiction: Fantasy / her pajamas and slippers, in a small,
sunny room. Or rather,
it was a damp and dark room with
Adventure / Coming of Age • Ages that let in the light. The room looked
a small high window
just like what Fred
10+ “Full of intelligence, warmth, and wit. A page-turner in its own imagined a dungeon looked like, in
people keep finding themselves in dungeon
those stories where
s, often with a
Rights Held: North America
right!” —Gary Shteyngart, author of Super Sad True Love Story
pile of hay in the corner. Why hay?
As if dungeons were
places for badly behaved horses. Anyhow,
eBook ISBN: 9781632061003 that window were those rays of sunshine
coming through
that can make a
window seem like a portal to another
world. If you’re in
• A memorable mother- Fred and her mom are always on the move, and Fred is getting sick of it. that kind of mood.
“Well, this is surprising,” Fred said aloud
to herself.
daughter relationship: At its She’s about to have yet another birthday in a new place without friends. “Nice slippers,” said another voice.
“Thanks, I don’t usually—” Then she
was confused and
heart, this is a story of intense On the eve of turning thirteen, Fred sees something strange in the living embarrassed and looking around for
the source of the voice.
love between a preteen girl and room: her mother, dressed for a party, standing in front of an enormous 15
her hardworking single mom. paper lantern—which she steps into and disappears. Page 14 - Downer.indd 1
2019/6/17 下午12:09
• Beloved by booksellers: Fred follows her and finds herself in the Land of Impossibility—a
Rat Rule 79 PB_replacement pages.indd
2
5/11/21 12:33
The hardcover was a Fall 2019 loopily illogical place where time has been outlawed by a mad
Kids’ Indie Next list pick and Rat Queen, along with birthday parties and, most cruelly, peanut
garnered glowing reviews from
butter. Fred meets Downer, a downcast white elephant, and Gogo, a
booksellers.
pugnacious mongoose mother of seventeen, who help her in her quest
• Timed for the release of to find her mom.
Galchen’s second novel:
Rat Rule 79 is an instant classic for curious readers of all ages.
Galchen’s fans waited thirteen
years for Everyone Knows Your
Mother is a Witch (FSG, Jun 8, RIVKA GALCHEN is an award-winning fiction
2021). Her many adult readers writer and journalist. She is the author of three
will be happy to discover her books: Atmospheric Disturbances, American
only book for young readers. Innovations, and Little Labors. She has received
numerous prizes and fellowships, including a
Guggenheim Fellowship, a Rona Jaffe Fellowship,
and The Berlin Prize. In 2010, she was named to
The New Yorker’s list of 20 Writers Under 40.
14 restless books | fall 2021 winter 2022
31:21午下 71/6/9102 1 ddni.ogoG - 93 egaP
SEPTEMBER
In the forest,
leaves,
where sunlight falls gently through the
live busy Little Bird,
mighty Elephant,
speedy Rabbit,
funny Monkey—
and me, Slow Lizard.
It’s OK, Slow Lizard
Yeorim Yoon
Illustrated by Jian Kim
Translated by Chi-Young Kim
Hardcover List Price: US $18.95 In a lush, sun-dappled forest, animal friends
ISBN: 9781632062772
discover the advantages of living slowly, in this
4/23/21 20:10
7
It's OK, Slow Lizard_interior.indd
Publication: Sep 28, 2021
4/23/21 20:10
6
It's OK, Slow Lizard_interior.indd
9.45" × 8.67" • 42 pages soothing picture book from beloved South Korean
4-color illustrations author and illustrator Yeorim Yoon and Jian Kim. I sit quietly next to
Rabbit.
Children’s Fiction: Picture Book / With a friend nearby
Rabbit slowly feels
,
better.
Korea / Animals / Emotions •
Little Bird is all aflutter—too many things to do. Elephant cries with
Ages 3–6
Rights Held: World English frustration when a shoelace breaks. Rabbit tries so hard and loses the
eBook ISBN: 9781632062789 race anyway. But what about Slow Lizard? “It’s OK to make
mistake
s.
win.
”
o not
It’s OK t
• Reclaiming “slow” as a Just like my name, I live a slow, slow life.
positive quality: For readers And because I live a slow life,
used to hearing “slow” used
I see many things,
negatively in our ultrafast
world, this is a much-needed I hear many things,
celebration. and I have lots of time to help my friends.
• Beautiful, meaningful
illustrations: Readers are Meandering through a sunny forest, Slow Lizard’s friends learn how It's OK, Slow Lizard_inte
rior.indd 20
invited to take their time to wonderful it is to slow down together. Filled with blooming trees and 4/23/21 20:10
It's OK, Slow Lizard_inte
rior.indd 21
spot little details hidden on fluffy flower beds, It’s OK, Slow Lizard glows with the beauty of a hidden 4/23/21 20:10
the pages, creating a mindful magical world, where we take the time to help each other enjoy life—
reading experience. even when the rain comes.
• Opening new worlds through
international picture books:
Award-winning translator YEORIM YOON is from Ulsan, South Korea.
Chi-Young Kim gives English- She is a former editor of children’s books at Do you think my friends
are glad that I’m around?
language readers the chance to various publishers as well as at the Samsung I’m glad I have my friends
too.
encounter the work of Yeorim Children’s Museum in Seoul. She currently
Yoon and Jian Kim, beloved lives in San Diego, where she leads a life that is
children’s book creators from
both busy and slow as a mother and author of
South Korea.
children’s books.
4/23/21 20:10
indd 27
4/23/21 20:10 It's OK, Slow Lizard_interior.
indd 26
It's OK, Slow Lizard_interior.
16 restless books | fall 2021 winter 2022
R E C E N T LY P U B L I S H E D R E C E N T LY P U B L I S H E D
Winner of the 2020
European Union
Prize for Literature
Antiman Catch the Rabbit The Wild Book Good Night, Earth
Rajiv Mohabir Lana Bastašić Juan Villoro Linda Bondestam
“Antiman lives, breathes, and dances in unbridled “This unforgettable tour de force surprises at “Deserving a place beside classics like The Phantom “A droll and imaginative addition to the crepuscular
joy.” —Thomas Glave, author of The Torturer’s Wife every turn.”—Publishers Weekly, Starred Review Tollbooth and Half-Magic.” —Foreword Reviews corpus.” —Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review
Hardcover List Price: US $27 Paperback List Price: US $18 Paperback List Price: US $17 Hardcover List Price: US $20
ISBN: 9781632062802 • 5.5˝ x 8.25˝ • 352 pages ISBN: 9781632062895 • 5" x 7.125" • 256 pages ISBN: 9781632061461 • 5.5˝ x 8.25˝ • 240 pages ISBN: 9781632062864 • 8.25˝ x 5.85˝ • 48 pages • 4-color illustrations
Nonfiction: Memoir—Guyana / Immigration / Sexuality / Fiction: Bosnia / Friendship / Feminism / Language / War B&W illustrations Children’s Fiction: Picture Book / Swedish / Bedtime / Humor • Ages 3–6
Borders / Identity / Language Rights Held: North America, Audio Middle Grade Fiction: Books & Libraries • Ages: 10–14 Rights Held: World English, Audio • eBook ISBN: 9781632062871
Rights Held: World, Audio, Film / TV eBook ISBN: 9781632062901 Rights Held: World • eBook ISBN: 9781632061485
eBook ISBN: 9781632062819
FO RT H CO M I N G
Kirkus Reviews
A Junior
Best Nonfiction
Library Guild
of 2020
Gold Standard
Selection
A Kids’ Indie
Next Pick
Nine Moons Machiavelli: On Politics and Power
Gabriela Wiener Niccolò Machiavelli Temple Alley Summer Middlemarch
Paperback List Price: US $20 Sachiko Kashiwaba George Eliot
“It’s the sort of book you will read and pass on
ISBN: 9781632062567 Paperback List Price: US $24 • ISBN: 9781632063069
to your friends with a note that says TRUST 5.5˝ x 8.25˝ • 320 pages • B&W illustrations
“An instant classic filled with supernatural intrigue and
Publication: Sep 14, 2021 • 6˝ x 9˝ • 784 pages
ME taped to the cover.” —New York Magazine Political Science: Government / Italy / Philosophy real-world friendship.” —Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review B&W illustrations
Rights Held: World Classics: British Fiction / Victorian / Women / Class
Paperback List Price: US $18 Hardcover List Price: US $18 • ISBN: 9781632063038
eBook ISBN: 9781632062574 Rights Held: World
ISBN: 9781632060730 • 5.5˝ x 8.25˝ • 208 pages Publication: Jul 6, 2021 • 5.5˝ x 8.25˝ • 240 pages • B&W illustrations
Memoir: Motherhood / Childbirth / Women / Feminism Middle Grade Fiction: Japan / Mystery / Fantasy / Legend eBook ISBN: 9781632063076
Rights Held: World English • eBook ISBN: 9781632062246 Rights Held: World English, Audio • eBook ISBN: 9781632063045
18 restless books | fall 2021 winter 2022 fall 2021 winter 2022 | restless books 19YO N D E R H I G H L I G H T S RESTLESS CLASSICS HIGHLIGHTS
USBBY 2021 World Literature
Outstanding Today’s 75 Notable
International Translations of 2020
Book
Robinson Crusoe Night and Day Passing
Daniel Defoe Virginia Woolf Nella Larsen
1,001 Creatures Ellie’s Voice, or Trööömmmpffff Introduction by Jamaica Kincaid Introduction by Lauren Groff Introduction by Darryl Pinckney
Laura Merz and Aino Järvinen Piret Raud
Paperback List Price: US $19.99 Paperback List Price: US $22.99 Paperback List Price: US $19.99
Hardcover List Price: US $20 Hardcover List Price: US $18 ISBN: 9781632061195 ISBN: 9781632060327 ISBN: 9781632062024
ISBN: 9781632062680 • 9.65˝ x 11.73˝ • 64 pages ISBN: 9781632061911 • 6.75˝ x 9˝ • 40 pages 5.5˝ x 8.25˝ • 384 pages • B&W illustrations 6˝ x 9˝ • 480 pages • B&W illustrations 5.5˝ x 8.25˝ • 192 pages
4-color illustrations 2-color illustrations Fiction: Classics / World Literature / Caribbean Fiction: Classics / Victorian / English B&W illustrations
Children’s Nonfiction Picture Book: Animals • Ages 6–9 Children’s Picture Book: Estonian / Friendship / / Adventure / Postcolonial Studies Literature Fiction: Classics / African American /
Rights Held: World English Difference / Animals / Music • Ages 3–6 Rights Held: World Rights Held: World Harlem Renaissance / Race Relations
eBook ISBN: 9781632062697 Rights Held: World English • eBook ISBN: eBook ISBN: 9781632061201 eBook ISBN: 9781632060334 Rights Held: World
9781632061430 eBook ISBN: 9781632062031
A 2019
Batchelder
Honor
Book
The Casket of Time Run For Your Life Ramayana The Souls of Black Folk Chekhov: Stories for Our Time Don Quixote
Andri Snær Magnason Silvana Gandolfi Arshia Sattar W. E. B. Du Bois Anton Chekhov Cervantes
Introduction by Vann R. Newkirk II Introduction by Boris Fishman Introduction by Ilan Stavans
Hardcover List Price: US $17.99 Paperback List Price: US $15.99 Hardcover List Price: US $22.99
ISBN: 9781632062055 ISBN: 9781632061652 ISBN: 9781632061775 Paperback List Price: US $19.99 Paperback List Price: US $22.99 Paperback List Price: US $22.99
5.5˝ x 8.25˝ • 240 pages 5.5˝ x 8.25˝ • 288 pages 7.125˝ x 7.125˝ • 192 pages • 4-color ISBN: 9781632060976 ISBN: 9781632061805 ISBN: 9781632060754
Middle Grade Fiction: Adventure / Fairy Young Adult Fiction: Thriller / Mafia illustrations 5.5˝ x 8.25˝ • 272 pages • B&W illustrations 5.5˝ x 8.25˝ • 384 pages • B&W illustrations 6˝ x 9˝ • 960 pages • B&W illustrations
Tale / Science Fiction / Mythology / Ages 12–18 Young Adult Fiction: Classics / Hindu Epics Sociology: African-American Studies / Classics: Russian Literature / Short Stories Fiction: Classics / Spanish Literature /
Environmentalism • Ages 10+ Rights Held: World English • Ages 10+ Discrimination and Race Relations Rights Held: World Picaresque
Rights Held: World English eBook ISBN: 9781632061669 Rights Held: World English excl. India Rights Held: World • Nonmerch eBook ISBN: 9781632061812 Rights Held: World
eBook ISBN: 9781632062062 eBook ISBN: 9781632061782 eBook ISBN: 9781632060983 eBook ISBN: 9781632060808
20 restless books | fall 2021 winter 2022 fall 2021 winter 2022 | restless books 21RIGHTS HIGHLIGHTS RIGHTS HIGHLIGHTS
Foreword Indie Foreword Indie
Choice Award Choice Award
2020 Gold Winner 2020 Silver
for Multicultural Winner for
Anthologies
2020 Mass Book
Awards Must Read
Fiction
Popol Vuh How Yiddish Changed America and How Temporary People The Boy Glory and Its Litany of Horrors
Ilan Stavans America Changed Yiddish Deepak Unnikrishnan Marcus Malte Fernanda Torres
Hardcover List Price: US $22 Edited by Ilan Stavans and Josh Lambert Paperback List Price: US $17.99 Paperback List Price: US $22.99 Paperback List Price: US $17.99
ISBN: 9781632062406 • 6˝ x 6˝ • 224 pages Hardcover List Price: US $29.99 ISBN: 9781632061423 ISBN: 9781632061713 ISBN: 9781632061126
4-color illustrations ISBN: 9781632062628 5.5˝ x 8.25˝ • 256 pages 6˝ x 9˝ • 480 pages 5˝ x 7.125˝ • 240 pages
Fiction: Myth / Classics / Latin American / Retelling 6˝ x 9˝ • 512 pages Fiction: Middle East—United Arab Fiction: Historical—early 20th Century Fiction: Brazilian / Humorous / Literary
Rights Held: World Cultural History: Jewish / Yiddish / Anthology Emirates / Immigration / Globalism / / Coming of Age / War Novel / Love Rights Held: World English
eBook ISBN: 9781632062413 Rights Held: World Literary Story / France eBook ISBN: 9781632061133
eBook ISBN: 9781632062635 Rights Held: World Rights Held: World English
eBook ISBN: 9781632061447 eBook ISBN: 9781632061720
2019 Winner
of the
Mass Book
Award for
Nonfiction
The City of Good Death Bug The Body Papers My Part of Her Silence of the Chagos
Priyanka Champaneri Giacomo Sartori Grace Talusan Javad Djavahery Shenaz Patel Beyond the Rice Fields
Naivo
Hardcover List Price: US $28.00 Paperback List Price: US $18.00 Paperback List Price: US $17.99 Paperback List Price: US $17.99 Paperback List Price: US $17.99
ISBN: 9781632062529 ISBN: 9781632062741 ISBN: 9781632060242 ISBN: 9781632062437 ISBN: 9781632062345 Paperback List Price: US $19.99
6˝ x 9˝ • 448 pages 5˝ x 7.125˝ • 320 pages 5˝ x 7.125˝ • 272 pages 5˝ x 7.125˝ • 256 pages 5˝ x 7.125˝ • 178 pages ISBN: 9781632061317
Fiction: India / Family Saga Fiction: Italian / Family Saga / Nonfiction: Memoir—Family / Trauma / Fiction: Iran / France / Revolution Fiction: Mauritian / Geopolitics / Indigenous 5.5˝ x 8.25˝ • 368 pages
Rights Held: World English Humorous / Technology Immigration / Filipino Culture / Rights Held: World English Peoples / Family / Immigration / Activist Fiction: Historical / Africa / 19th Century
eBook ISBN: 9781632062543 Rights Held: World English, Audio Rights Held: World eBook ISBN: 9781632062444 Rights Held: World English Rights Held: World English
eBook ISBN: 9781632062758 eBook ISBN: 9781632061843 eBook ISBN: 9781632062352 eBook ISBN: 9781632061324
22 restless books | fall 2021 winter 2022 fall 2021 winter 2022 | restless books 23PROGRAMS
Ordering Information
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24 restless books | fall 2021 winter 2022Restless Books
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