Perhaps our family’s endings are always bad. Perhaps that’s why we liked watching the Belgian detective at work. He would have been sure to complete the renovations, finish all the bedtime stories, visit Auntie Marshmallow and explain each death properly. His plots had nothing superfluous about them, and his clothes fitted perfectly – no room to grow there. He would have written a letter and left it in a suitably obvious place.

He was always elegant and tip-top. He had one question and one answer. His shoulders stayed in their sockets and his toes didn’t go missing.

But we just stand here. We watch and we wait. Krista leaks seawater; Dad claws at the rotten wall; the coffee machine hums. Will someone call us into the library? Will someone put all this into a gold frame? Or is it enough that the doctor gives a yank and fingers move again?

The world goes on. Nothing becomes clear, but time heals and people forget. The ghost’s batteries run out. Things happen. Overlapping, at the wrong time, at different times, in the wrong places. The angels aren’t in control. Because there’s always bound to be someone who forgets to listen to the news, looks even though they shouldn’t, or stands in the wrong place.

And that’s the end of that.

Oneworld, Many Voices

Bringing you exceptional writing
from around the world

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The Unit by Ninni Holmqvist (Swedish)

Translated by Marlaine Delargy

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Twice Born by Margaret Mazzantini (Italian)

Translated by Ann Gagliardi

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Things We Left Unsaid by Zoya Pirzad (Persian)

Translated by Franklin Lewis

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The Space Between Us by Zoya Pirzad (Persian)

Translated by Amy Motlagh

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The Hen Who Dreamed She Could Fly by Sun-mi Hwang (Korean)

Translated by Chi-Young Kim

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The Hilltop by Assaf Gavron (Hebrew)

Translated by Steven Cohen

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Morning Sea by Margaret Mazzantini (Italian)

Translated by Ann Gagliardi

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A Perfect Crime by A Yi (Chinese)

Translated by Anna Holmwood

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The Meursault Investigation by Kamel Daoud (French)

Translated by John Cullen

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Minus Me by Ingelin Røssland (YA) (Norwegian)

Translated by Deborah Dawkin

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Laurus by Eugene Vodolazkin (Russian)

Translated by Lisa C. Hayden

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Masha Regina by Vadim Levental (Russian)

Translated by Lisa C. Hayden

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French Concession by Xiao Bai (Chinese)

Translated by Chenxin Jiang

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The Sky Over Lima by Juan Gómez Bárcena (Spanish)

Translated by Andrea Rosenberg

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A Very Special Year by Thomas Montasser (German)

Translated by Jamie Bulloch

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Umami by Laia Jufresa (Spanish)

Translated by Sophie Hughes

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The Hermit by Thomas Rydahl (Danish)

Translated by K.E. Semmel

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The Peculiar Life of a Lonely Postman by Denis Thériault

(French) Translated by Liedewy Hawke

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Three Envelopes by Nir Hezroni (Hebrew)

Translated by Steven Cohen

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Fever Dream by Samanta Schweblin (Spanish)

Translated by Megan McDowell

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The Postman’s Fiancée by Denis Thériault (French)

Translated by John Cullen

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The Invisible Life of Euridice Gusmao by Martha Batalha

(Brazilian Portuguese) Translated by Eric M. B. Becker

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