This book was translated at The Banff Centre in June 2015, under the auspices of BILTC, the Banff International Literary Translation Centre. The translator is enormously grateful to all the programme’s staff for the warm welcome, the hospitality, the food and the views; and to director Katie Silver and his fellow participants for three unimprovable weeks packed with all the myriad delights of their company. Translators don’t typically get to dedicate their books, but if we did, this one would be for them.