PRAISE FOR DIEGO MARANI AND THE LAST OF THE VOSTYACHS

‘Diego Marani’s second novel to appear in English, in a dazzling translation from the Italian by Judith Landry, is a riot of comic unpredictability…The Last of the Vostyachs cleverly explores notions of freedom, possession and imprisonment—erudition keeping pace with a rollicking plot. Marani’s sentences are controlled explosions of impressionism, his narrative structure a thematic echo chamber.’ Times Literary Supplement

‘So, we have: 1. An intellectual puzzle. 2. A wild man of nature adrift in a big city. 3. A policier set near the Arctic Circle. (If that alone doesn’t make you put down your copies of Fifty Shades of Whatever then I despair. It has that Killingesque atmosphere.) 4. Magic, and a sense of the immensity of the primeval universe. 5. An unmistakable dash of humour, even when your nerves are being shredded. 6. Wolves, and a Siberian tiger, let loose from a zoo. 7. A happy ending against all odds. And 8. All hanging together. When I reviewed New Finnish Grammar, I edged towards using the word “genius” to describe Marani. I’m doing so again now.’ Guardian

‘For Italian fiction in translation, there is nobody more important being published today. This is a beautiful, intelligently funny novel.’ Italia Magazine

‘Marani’s fascination with languages, and with the silencing of language in particular, permeates this captivating work.’ Sydney Morning Herald

‘A roller-coaster ride whisking the reader alternatively through zones of darkness, hilarity, cruelty, tenderness, the near-lubricious…There’s something for almost everyone.’ PEN