Invisible Lines: Boundaries and Belts That Define the World
Maxim Samson
Profile Books, £22, pp416
In his debut book, geographer Maxim Samson explores 30 unseen boundaries, from the international date line to the Sargasso Sea – all key to understanding political, social, economic and natural orders. Samson, a professor at DePaul University in Chicago, has an entertaining approach and this is a chance to see the world anew through the eyes of a wonderfully curious new writer.
The Owl and the Nightingale
Simon Armitage
Faber, £10.99, pp100 (paperback)
Continuing his series of translations of Middle English verse, the poet laureate once again brings the wisdom, wit and vulgarity of medieval poetry to 21st-century audiences. While remaining largely faithful to the original’s setting and ideas – the eponymous warring birds spitting 900 rhyming couplets at one another – Armitage’s update of the language brilliantly underlines humanity’s enduring capability for vitriolic disagreement. The fact that these two rivals simply will not understand each other’s point of view is telling, too, and the illustrations from Clive Hicks-Jenkins complete a dramatic package.
They Fell Like Stars from the Sky and Other Stories
Sheikha Helawy (translated by Nancy Roberts)
Neem Tree, £9.99, pp128
Sheikha Helawy grew up as a Bedouin in a Palestinian village, since demolished for an Israeli railway. You might expect, then, her first short story collection to be translated into English to be strident, autobiographical and political. It is, but not obviously so – these tales are remarkable for the details left out: a home, a football pitch, basic services. They’re notable, too, for the passionate and rebellious women at the centre of every yarn.
To order Invisible Lines: Boundaries and Belts That Define the World, The Owl and the Nightingale or They Fell Like Stars from the Sky & Other Stories go to guardianbookshop.com. Delivery charges may apply
