WHEN ALL IS SAID, Anne Griffin’s debut available in Hebrew!


Anne Griffin‘s acclaimed, best-selling debut novel, WHEN ALL IS SAID is now available in Hebrew! Published by פן הוצאה לאור (Penn Publishing) as אחרי שהכול נאמר, the novel is translated by Rachel Penn. Here’s the synopsis…

חמש הרמות כוסית. חמישה אנשים. חיים שלמים.

פורטרט אינטימי של אדם שמביט לאחור על חייו וסיפור שהופך את הדפים כמו מעצמו ומעורר את הקוראים למחשבות על חייהם בתורם

 “אני כאן על מנת לזכור – את כל מה שהייתי ואת כל מה שלא אהיה עוד לעולם.”

מוריס האניגן בן השמונים וארבע יושב בבר של מלון גרנד בעיירה קטנה באירלנד. הוא לבדו, כרגיל, אך הערב הזה אינו ערב רגיל. תִפסו כיסא ומַלאו את הכוס, כי מוריס מוכן סוף-סוף לספר את סיפורו.

לאורך הערב הוא ירים חמש כוסות לכבודם של חמשת האנשים שהיו כל עולמו. דרך הסיפורים האלה – סיפורים על שמחה ועל אשמה, על אסון שנשמר בסוד ועל אהבה עזה שמעולם לא מצאה את קולה – ייחשפו חייו של אדם אחד בעוצמה ובחדות.

קולו שובר הלב והכובש של מוריס האניגן יישאר איתכם הרבה אחרי שהכול נאמר.

The novel is published in the UK and Ireland by Sceptre, and in North America by St. Martin’s Press. It has also been published widely in translation. Here’s the English-language synopsis…

Five toasts. Five people. One lifetime.

‘I’m here to remember – all that I have been and all that I will never be again.’

At the bar of a grand hotel in a small Irish town sits 84-year-old Maurice Hannigan. He’s alone, as usual -though tonight is anything but. Pull up a stool and charge your glass, because Maurice is finally ready to tell his story.

Over the course of this evening, he will raise five toasts to the five people who have meant the most to him. Through these stories – of unspoken joy and regret, a secret tragedy kept hidden, a fierce love that never found its voice – the life of one man will be powerfully and poignantly laid bare.

Heart-breaking and heart-warming all at once, the voice of Maurice Hannigan will stay with you long after all is said.

Here’s just a small selection taken of the aforementioned critical acclaim the novel has received so far…

‘Anne Griffin’s debut novel is a must read. Beautifully observed, masterful story telling – stunning!’ — Graham Norton

‘An extraordinary novel, a poetic writer, and a story that moved me to tears… There is something special here.’ — John Boyne

‘Pitch-perfect prose… Moving and beautifully written, this is a wonderfully assured debut.’ — Mail on Sunday

‘It’s all beautifully done; a tale told in the plain but poetic prose of a man who recognises the tragic truths gleaned from a life of love and loss. A gem of a book.’ 5* — Sunday Express

‘Griffin’s portrait of an Irish octogenarian provides a stage for the exploration of guilt, regret, and loss, all in the course of one memorable night.’ — Kirkus

‘Maurice’s humor, his keen observations on class and family, and his colloquial language, as well as Griffin’s strong sense of place, create the feeling of a life connected to many others by strands of affection and hatred.’ — Publishers Weekly

A MAN LIES DREAMING in Hebrew…


A MAN LIES DREAMING, the critically-acclaimed, Jerwood Fiction Uncovered Award-winning novel by Lavie Tidhar is available now in Hebrew! Published by Keter Books as איש שוכב וחולם, here’s the synopsis…

ווֹלף‭, ‬בלש‭ ‬פרטי‭ ‬כושל‭, ‬פועל‭ ‬בלונדון‭ ‬האפלה‭ ‬והרטובה‭. ‬הוא‭ ‬רדוף‭ ‬זיכרונות‭ ‬של‭ ‬עתיד‭ ‬שאולי‭ ‬התרחש‭ ‬ואולי‭
לא‭ ‬התרחש‭, ‬ונרדף‭ ‬על‭ ‬ידי‭ ‬הווה‭ ‬מסוכן‭, ‬מלא‭ ‬בפשיסטים‭ ‬ובנאצים‭ ‬שנמלטו‭ ‬מגרמניה‭. ‬כשמגיעה‭ ‬אליו‭
איזבלה‭ ‬רובינשטיין‭, ‬יהודייה‭ ‬עשירה‭ ‬שמחפשת‭ ‬את‭ ‬אחותה‭ ‬שהוברחה‭ ‬מגרמניה‭ ‬ונעלמה‭, ‬הוא‭ ‬לא‭ ‬יודע
לאיזו‭ ‬צרה‭ ‬הוא‭ ‬נקלע‭. ‬ באותה‭ ‬העת‭, ‬או‭ ‬שאולי‭ ‬בעת‭ ‬אחרת‭ ‬לגמרי‭, ‬שוֹמֶר‭, ‬כותב‭ ‬שוּנְד‭ – ‬רומנים‭ ‬קטנים‭
וסנסציוניים‭ ‬ביידיש‭ – ‬שוכב‭ ‬על‭ ‬דרגש‭ ‬במחנה‭ ‬ההשמדה‭ ‬אושוויץ‭ ‬וחולם‭ ‬על‭ ‬עולם‭ ‬אחר‭ ‬שבו‭ ‬הוא‭ ‬שוכב‭ ‬על‭
חוף‭ ‬ים‭ ‬טרופי‭, ‬כשבטנו‭ ‬מלאה‭, ‬והוא‭ ‬מחייך‭ ‬וכל‭ ‬שיניו‭ ‬בפיו‭, ‬ומשפחתו‭ ‬מאוחדת‭. ‬דמיונו‭ ‬מאפשר‭ ‬לו‭ ‬לחרוג‭ ‬מן
המקום‭ ‬המצמית‭ ‬ולדמיין‭ ‬עלילות‭ ‬על‭ ‬עיר‭ ‬אפלה‭ ‬ומעשים‭ ‬אפלים‭. ‬באורח‭ ‬פלא‭, ‬העלילות‭ ‬בדמיונו‭ ‬של‭ ‬שוֹמֶר
מסתבכות‭ ‬ונושקות‭ ‬לקורותיו‭ ‬של‭ ‬וולף‭.‬  בקצב‭ ‬מסחרר‭ ‬ומבריק‭ ‬ותוך‭ ‬שהוא‭ ‬משתעשע‭ ‬באלגנטיות‭ ‬בממדים‭
של‭ ‬זמן‭, ‬מקום‭ ‬ומסַפרים‭ ‬שונים‭, ‬לוקח‭ ‬לביא‭ ‬תדהר‭ ‬את‭ ‬הקורא‭ ‬למסע‭ ‬בהיסטוריה‭ ‬חלופית‭, ‬בפילם‭ ‬נואר‭
‬ובמחנה‭ ‬אושוויץ‭ ‬עצמו‭, ‬בלי‭ ‬לאבד‭ ‬אף‭ ‬לא‭ ‬לרגע‭ ‬את‭ ‬השליטה‭ ‬המושלמת‭ ‬בסיפור‭ ‬המבריק‭ ‬שהִנדס‭. ‬ לביא‭
תדהר‭ ‬גר‭ ‬בלונדון‭ ‬וכותב‭ ‬בעברית‭ ‬ובאנגלית‭.‬   “מהמם‭, ‬מצחיק‭ ‬וחריף‭… ‬לביא‭ ‬תדהר‭ ‬מזכיר‭ ‬לנו‭ ‬שבסופו‭ ‬של
דבר‭, ‬גם‭ ‬בנסיבות‭ ‬הקשות‭ ‬ביותר‭, ‬כל‭ ‬מה‭ ‬שיש‭ ‬לנו‭ ‬הוא‭ ‬סיפורים‭, ‬ובידיים‭ ‬הנכונות‭ ‬הם‭ ‬נשק‭ ‬מטיל‭ ‬אימה‭
הוושינגטון‭ ‬פוסט

The novel is published in the UK by Hodder and in the US by Melville House. Here’s the English-language synopsis…

Deep in the heart of history’s most infamous concentration camp, a man lies dreaming. His name is Shomer, and before the war he was a pulp fiction author. Now, to escape the brutal reality of life in Auschwitz, Shomer spends his nights imagining another world — a world where a disgraced former dictator now known only as Wolf ekes out a miserable existence as a low-rent PI in London’s grimiest streets.

Here’s some of the aforementioned critical acclaim…

‘Comes crashing through the door of literature like Sam Spade with a .38 in his hand. This is a shocking book as well as a rather brilliant one, and it treats the topic of genocide with a kind of energetic unseriousness… Tidhar’s novel treats its grim theme not as a comedy, although there is plenty of caustic humour, but instead as a pulp-noir tale of seamy city streets, gumshoes and lowlifes… Tidhar gets the outre tone just right: outrageous sex and violence related in a briskly workmanlike style. And Tidhar’s Hitler is a striking reimagination of that endlessly reimagined individual: twisted with hatred, doing good almost by accident… Tidhar, who cut his teeth in the world of genre SF, understands how eloquent pulp can be… [OSAMA] won the World Fantasy award. I wouldn’t be surprised to see A MAN LIES DREAMING repeat that achievement… Like Tarantino, Tidhar may find that some people don’t take him seriously. But the joke’s on them. Seriousness is the least of it: A MAN LIES DREAMING is a twisted masterpiece.’ Guardian

‘Wild, noir-infused alternative history from genre-bender Tidhar… A wholly original Holocaust story: as outlandish as it is poignant.’ Kirkus (Starred Review)

‘…savagely funny… A MAN LIES DREAMING, by the Israeli-born novelist Lavie Tidhar, has not been published with the fanfare bestowed on Martin Amis’s The Zone of Interest or Howard Jacobson’s J, but it is their equal for savage humour… Those who enjoy laughter in the dark will relish Tidhar’s parade of mordant ironies… This novel is weird, upsetting, unmissable.’ 5* — Telegraph

‘No one can accuse Lavie Tidhar of being risk-averse… Tidhar reveals – as he did earlier in OSAMA and to some extent in THE VIOLENT CENTURY – that he’s really less interested in the mechanistic ‘‘what-ifs’’ of conventional alternate history than he is in the interpenetration of real and in­vented histories, or perhaps more grandiosely in the interpenetration of art and life – even the often-demeaned art of sensational fiction or (as in the case of THE VIOLENT CENTURY) comic books. This is what makes him such an interesting writer, and what makes A MAN LIES DREAMING quite a bit more complex than it at first appears… the novel is not without a fair amount of humor, and that might well be the boldest risk Tidhar is taking here…’ Locus

‘Everything in this genre-bender works; intriguing historical characters are worked into expertly managed plots, and the visceral noir atmosphere is juxtaposed nicely against the drawing-room world of London’s political scene.’ Booklist(Starred Review)

‘A Chandler-esque mystery… a jarring tale of a grim, gray alternative world… Seldom will readers come across fantasy as well conceived and well written as this exceptional novel.’ Library Journal (Starred Review)

Hebrew edition of CENTRAL STATION out now!


This week, Yaniv Publishing has published a Hebrew edition of Lavie Tidhar‘s award-winning, critically-acclaimed novel CENTRAL STATION! Published as תחנה מרכזית, here’s the English-language synopsis…

A worldwide diaspora has left a quarter of a million people at the foot of a space station. Cultures collide in real life and virtual reality. Life is cheap, and data is cheaper.

When Boris Chong returns to Tel Aviv from Mars, much has changed. Boris’s ex-lover is raising a strangely familiar child who can tap into the datastream of a mind with the touch of a finger. His cousin is infatuated with a robotnik — a damaged cyborg soldier who might as well be begging for parts. His father is terminally-ill with a multigenerational mind-plague. And a hunted data-vampire has followed Boris to where she is forbidden to return.

Rising above them is Central Station, the interplanetary hub between all things: the constantly shifting Tel Aviv; a powerful virtual arena, and the space colonies where humanity has gone to escape the ravages of poverty and war. Everything is connected by the Others, powerful alien entities who, through the Conversation — a shifting, flowing stream of consciousness — are just the beginning of irrevocable change.

At Central Station, humans and machines continue to adapt, thrive… and even evolve.

CENTRAL STATION is published in English by Tachyon Publications. Here are just a few of the great reviews the novel has received so far…

‘Tidhar’s prose draws the reader in, bringing this world to life with ease… Tidhar is reminiscent of an early William Gibson, not just in sharing that short and punchy style, but in his ability to create a world where the speculation is believable enough to fit seamlessly into the narrative; somehow, despite being set centuries into the future, it feels just around the corner… cement[s] Lavie Tidhar as one of science fiction’s great voices, an author who creates scenarios and characters that feel destined to become classics, ones that readers will be happy to revisit time and time again. It’s a compelling collection that mixes the epic and the intimate, one that succeeds at being profound, incredibly moving and, quite simply, stunning.’ (10/10) Starburst 

CENTRAL STATION is without question the best assemblage of short stories I’ve read in recent memory. Sublimely sensual, emotionally moreish, and composed with crystalline clarity irrespective of its incredible complexity.’ Tor.com

‘[Tidhar] has created a textured and original future that echoes real historical and economic tensions while satisfying veteran readers with deliberate echoes of classic science fiction… Deeply humane.’ Chicago Tribune

‘Magnificently blends literary and speculative elements in this streetwise mosaic novel set under the towering titular spaceport… Tidhar gleefully mixes classic SF concepts with prose styles and concepts that recall the best of world literature. The byways of Central Station ring with dusty life, like the bruising, bustling Cairo streets depicted by Naguib Mahfouz. Characters wrestle with problems of identity forged under systems of oppression, much as displaced Easterners and Westerners do in the novels of Orhan Pamuk. And yet this is unmistakably SF. Readers of all persuasions will be entranced.’ Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)

‘It is just this side of a masterpiece — short, restrained, lush — and the truest joy of it is in the way Tidhar scatters brilliant ideas like pennies on the sidewalk.’ NPR

‘The stories include some of Tidhar’s most beautiful prose, and his future Tel Aviv is among the most evocative settings in recent SF… Somehow, CENTRAL STATION combines a cultural sensibility too long invisible in SF with a sensibility which is nothing but classic SF, and the result is a rather elegant suite of tales.’ Locus