Literary Translation

We Had to Remove This Post

Hanna Bervoets

Mariner Books/Picador, May 2022

For readers of Leila Slimani’s The Perfect Nanny or Ling Ma’s Severance: a tight, propulsive, chilling novel by a rising international star about a group of young colleagues working as social media content monitors—reviewers of violent or illegal videos for an unnamed megacorporation—who convince themselves they’re in control . . . until the violence strikes closer to home.

“Translated into English with appropriate jitteriness and jarriness by Emma Rault. A brave enterprise for both writer and translator…taut as a thriller, sharp as a slug of ice-cold vodka.” — The Irish Times

“A discomfiting mystery about the disturbing parts of social media that most people never see…surprising and enigmatic…intriguing and frustrating.” — The New York Times

“This is, unironically, a novel for our time.” — starred review, Kirkus Reviews 

“Bervoets’ writing is vivid, eerie, and beguilingly conversational…Powerful, discussable, and a harbinger of a voice-in-translation to watch.” — starred review, Booklist

“Hanna Bervoets’s acid-dipped novella is a glimpse of the foetid underbelly of the internet and a sobering consideration of who is deciding what we see, and at what cost.” — The Times

“I sat down to read Hanna’s novel—brilliantly translated from the Dutch by Emma Rault—and was so gripped, I couldn’t put it down.” — Ansa Khan Khattak, commissioning editor at Picador UK

“An acid glimpse into a new form of labor existing today…Fascinating and disturbing.” — Ling Ma, author of Severance

“We Had to Remove This Post is one of the most fascinating books I’ve read in years…Fast-paced and thrilling, violent and nightmarish and grief-stricken, but also tender and wildly moving. A brilliant peek behind the curtains at what happens when we put our trust in social media.”  — Kristen Arnett, author of Mostly Dead Things and With Teeth   

The Days of Bluegrass Love

Edward van de Vendel

Levine Querido, May 2022

Tycho Zeling is drifting through his life. Everything in it—school, friends, girls, plans for the future—just kind of happens. Like a movie he presses play on, but doesn’t direct. So Tycho decides to break away from everything. He flies to America to spend his summer as a counselor at a summer camp, for international kids. It is there that Oliver walks in, another counselor, from Norway. And it is there that Tycho feels his life stop, and begin again, finally, as his.

“Dutch author van de Vendel’s writing is poetic, intensely emotional, and sensitively philosophical in this beautiful translation by Rault…An enduring story populated with endearing characters.” — starred review, Kirkus Reviews

“This superb novel is beautifully written, with apposite mood and tone as well as unforgettable characters that make the story a richly realized exercise in empathy. First published in the Netherlands, this book has become a classic in Europe. It should absolutely become the same here.” — starred review, Booklist

“A sensitive portrayal of sexual awakening and queer first love” — Publishers Weekly

The Dandy

Nina Polak

Strangers Press, 2020

Ghosts of Berlin

Rudolph Herzog

Melville House, 2019

★ Voted one of the best books of 2019 by Lit Hub

Berlin’s hip present comes up against the city’s dark past in these seven supernatural tales by the son of the great filmmaker who “shares his father’s curious and mordant wit” (The Financial Times).

“Celebrated filmmaker and author, Rudolph Herzog—yes, the son of Werner Herzog—has written a collection of ghost stories set in Berlin, as told by the Millennials who now live there. Linking all the stories is the globalized character of Berlin and the lingering effects of the war on both the city and its people (…) Herzog’s stories are utterly atmospheric, engrossing, refreshing, and devoid of pretense.” — Literary Hub

“A shrewd and provocative collection of fiction, Ghosts of Berlin is translated into English by the equally sharp Emma Rault.” — Shelf Awareness

“Sharp satire, and a worthy addition to the growing canon of Berlin ghost-lit.” — Booklist