Hatchards are thrilled to welcome editor, writer and founder of BookBlast Ltd, Georgia de Chamberet, as host of The Translation Book Club here at Hatchards.

Meeting on the second Monday of each month, we will be discussing works of fiction in translation from around the world published in the last ten years. With the promise that the titles chosen by Georgia and Hatchards booksellers will be well-written, engaging storytelling, the book club aims to inspire reading for pleasure as well as illuminating cultures beyond our shores.

This evening's discussion focuses: The Palace on the Higher Hill by Karim Kattan, translated by Jeffrey Zuckerman.

Faysal receives a mysterious letter about the death of aunt he can't remember. Leaving his lover and his life in Europe behind, he returns to the village of his birth in Palestine and to his family's extraordinary, deserted house, the palace on the higher hill. With a backdrop of violence and the permanent threat from settlers, Faysal wanders the once-lavish rooms as characters from the past return to shed light on his family story and on the story of his people.

In beautiful, angry prose, Karim Kattan introduces us to an intimate Palestine of the imagination where dreams and nightmares are in constant conflict. With hints of One Hundred Years of Solitude and Brideshead Revisited, he gives a nuanced deeply moving vision of the tragedy of war and a picture of his homeland that feels entirely new to English-speaking readers.

The book won the 2021 Prix des Cinq Continents de la Francophonie.

It's going to be an evening of brilliant discussion - we hope you can join us!