In the old Saxon town of Hamelin, a stranger appears with a magical fife. He promises to rid the town of its rats for the sum of 100 Rhine Ducats. When its desperate citizens agree to hire his services, he plays his fife and lures the rats to the river. But can Hamelin ever be truly void of all its vermin? Viktor Dyk's rendition of the Pied Piper legend masterfully blends lyrical prose with early twentieth century modernist perspective. For over a century, The Ratcatcher has held its own among the great works of Czech literature, but now this classic is introduced to us in English for the first time.

The Ratcatcher

Literature & Fiction

Dyk, Viktor

Literary

Plamen Press

The Sound of the Sundial is the internationally acclaimed novel by Czech author Hana Andronikova, told over the course of a single day and night, but spanning three continents and much of the twentieth century. In this intimate and affecting love story about a German-Czech builder and his Jewish wife, Andronikova sends her readers on a captivating journey through time and memory, from the Czech town of Zlín in the 1920s to Calcutta in the 1930s, Theresienstadt and Auschwitz during World War II, Toronto in the decades afterward, and finally into modern-day Denver, Colorado. It is at once a deeply personal narrative and an homage to the lost relationship of the Czech, German, and Jewish peoples. In 2002, "The Sound of the Sundial" received the Czech Republic's prestigious Magnesia Litera Award in the category of Best New Discovery, just a few years before its author died of cancer at the age of 44. It is making its world premiere appearance in English here.

The Sound of the Sundial

Andronikova, Hana

British & Irish

Romania’s Floarea Ţuţuianu is a fiercely sensual poet and visual artist, known for her provocative playfulness with words and images. The 2007 recipient of the Lucian Blaga International Poetry Festival Prize, she is the only woman to be included in Bucharest’s definitive anthology of contemporary poets, Manualul de literature. In Romania, she has published six books of poetry, and her words and images have traveled the world. Now, for the first time in the United States, her poems—masterfully translated by Adam L. Sorkin and Irma Giannetti—are gathered in this book, some with their original counterparts, paired with arresting photo plates wrought by the artist herself. Strange, ferocious, and lovely, her images and words leave a lingering echo.

Syllables of Flesh

Țuțuianu, Floarea

Poetry

Farewell and a Handkerchief--Poems from the Road is a collection that reflects on the month-long travels of Czech poet Vít&#283;zslav Nezval through Vienna, Paris, southern France, and Italy. During this journey, on May 9, 1933, Nezval had a chance encounter with two of the surrealist movement's most influential poets--André Breton and Paul Éluard--while sitting at the Cardinal Café on the Grands Boulevards in Paris, a meeting that proved transformative. After returning home, Nezval helped found the Czech Surrealist Group, along with Karel Teige, Jind&#345;ich Stýrský, and Toyen. It became the only official group of its kind outside of France. &nbsp; <div> </div>

Farewell and a Handkerchief: Poems from the Road

Nezval, Vítězslav

This book has its origins in a shoebox full of family names and scribbled notes that George M. Pikler has kept since childhood when he developed a life-long fascination with the history of his family. George belongs to the sixth out of eight known generations of the David branch of the Pikler family; he was born and raised in Quito, Ecuador after his parents and sister emigrated there from Czechoslovakia to escape the Nazis.\nGeorge began working on The Piklers: A Family Odyssey on Three Continents eight years ago, after he inherited an extensive trove of letters, postcards, documents, and photos from his father. Combining these with his many years of research, he has assembled a history of the Pikler family, and an in-depth account of the lives of the fifth generation-George's father and four aunts-including their harrowing experiences in the concentration camps and the stories of ingenuity, courage, and unbreakable family bonds that made their survival possible.\nGeorge is now retired from the oncology/hematology private practice he had in Tulsa, OK for 27 years, and lives in Baltimore, MD with his wife, Elaine. They have a son, a daughter, and three grandsons, adding two more generations to the enduring Pikler family tree.

The Piklers: A Family Odyssey on Three Continents

History

Pikler, George M

Europe

<div> <div> Martin Vop&#283;nka's novel, The Back of Beyond--Travels with Benjamin, is the story of a middle-aged man, who--despite his professional success and affluence--lacks fulfillment. After the tragic death of his wife, he is left alone with his eight-year-old son and quickly realizes that if he wants to succeed in the role of single parent that has suddenly been thrust upon him, he has to change fundamentally. So, he takes his son and sets out on a journey to what he dubs the Back of Beyond. Without telling anyone of their plans--in fact, without any plans to speak of--father and son travel from city to city, from country to country, assembling a travelogue that includes not only depictions of exotic places and colorful encounters, but also an inner journey, deep into the human experience and the complexities of living in a post-communist world. With its unique blend of sensitive and suggestive language, The Back of Beyond - Travels with Benjamin is a stylistic gem, rendered in seamless translation and appearing here for the first time in English. </div> </div>

The Back of Beyond: Travels with Benjamin

Vopěnka, Martin

Heaven Has No Ground

<div> <div> Paper Bridge is the first bilingual collection by Ukrainian poet Vasyl Makhno, a "master of the contemporary Ukrainian Ballad, who builds a lifeline for the broken-hearted wanderers, homeless heartbreakers, hopeless romantics, and helpful ironists," in the words of Valzhyna Mort, winner of the Griffin Poetry prize. Makhno's bridge extends to us all, serving whatever purpose we need it to, as Lidijia Dimkovska, author of A Spare Life, writes, "it is a bridge that can burn or resist... but it is a witness to the existence of a traveler through souls, bodies, and spirits, through our own subconsciousness." With this outstanding collection of poems, Makhno is able to preserve an "enviable spiritual equilibrium...one that grinds out the music even in the toughest of days, a music that survived the twentieth century and keeps alive in the new horrors of the twenty-first," in the words of Los Angeles Book Prize winner Ilya Kaminsky, &nbsp;"and now despite it all, even in his room in New York City away from Ukraine, [Makhno] can still hear how 'old age sings' how it 'nervously forces the music into a rhythm," and how 'it might falter, but it plays again.'" &nbsp; </div> </div>

Paper Bridge

Makhno, Vasyl

History & Criticism

When We Were Twins: A Novel

Hinc, Danuta

From their privileged childhood in Egypt, the paths of once-inseparable twins Taher and Aisha diverge early: When the USSR invades Afghanistan, Taher abandons their shared plans to study medicine in Europe, instead joining their cousin, Ahmed, as a medic for the mujahideen fighting the Soviets. As Aisha's Western perspective grows, so does her fear for her brother, who is becoming increasingly radicalized during the civil war between the Taliban and the Northern Alliance. With powerful imagery, Danuta Hinc's&nbsp;When&nbsp;We Were Twins&nbsp;shows how innocence and loyalty to those we love can be twisted by political forces, leading a young man to choose a fateful path that changes the course of history. "The questions Hinc's novel explores--about love and war, about family, peace, and the price of freedom--couldn't be more urgent. Her imagination revs at full throttle, and we would be wise to go along for the ride." -- ASKOLD MELNYCZUK, author of&nbsp;The Man Who Would Not Bow "Infused with urgency and propelled by a sense of the world in catastrophe mode..." -- SVEN BIRKERTS, author of&nbsp;Changing the Subject: Art and Attention in the Internet Age "A deceptively simple novel brimming with visions and allegories...Hinc has created a work of historical imagination." -- MARIA BUSTILLOS "Taher is a memorable protagonist...A psychological snapshot of radicalization, intelligently charted by the author..." --&nbsp;KIRKUS REVIEWS

See the best price to sell, buy or rent books by the Plamen Press publisher. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Plamen Press

See the best price to sell, buy or rent books by the Plamen Press publisher. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

The Ratcatcher

The Sound of the Sundial

Syllables of Flesh

Farewell and a Handkerchief: Poems from the Road

The Piklers: A Family Odyssey on Three Continents

The Back of Beyond: Travels with Benjamin

Heaven Has No Ground

Paper Bridge

When We Were Twins: A Novel

When We Were Twins: A Novel