The Brothers Read online

  PEIRENE’S SERIES OF THE FEMALE VOICE

  Female protagonists and strong female narratives written by men and women. The books tell the stories of a French mother who struggles to protect her two sons from the world, of a Catalonian woman’s life and loves during the Spanish Civil War, and of an hour-long walk with a pregnant young German wife in 1943 Rome.

  Beside the Sea by Véronique Olmi

  Translated from the French by Adriana Hunter

  ‘A mesmerising portrait … it should be read.’ GUARDIAN

  Stone in a Landslide by Maria Barbal

  Translated from the Catalan by Laura McGlaughlin and Paul Mitchell

  ‘So vibrant that it makes me want to take scissors to everything else I read.’ GUARDIAN

  Portrait of the Mother as a Young Woman

  by Friedrich Christian Delius

  Translated from the German by Jamie Bulloch

  ‘This is a small masterpiece.’ TLS

  ........

  PEIRENE’S SERIES OF THE MAN

  Male authors, male protagonists and male struggles with reality, from Germany, Holland and Austria. The books tell the stories of a man faced with the next world and the shifting sands of the world he is in, and of a road trip with a boxer and a family man, together with a collection of Kafka-esque short stories about loss of identity in the modern world.

  Next World Novella by Matthias Politycki

  Translated from the German by Anthea Bell

  ‘Inventive and deeply effecting.’ INDEPENDENT

  Tomorrow Pamplona by Jan van Mersbergen

  Translated from the Dutch by Laura Watkinson

  ‘An impressive work from a leading Dutch writer.’ DAILY MAIL

  Maybe This Time by Alois Hotschnig

  Translated from the Austrian German by Tess Lewis

  ‘It is very refreshing to be confronted by stories which so firmly refuse to yield to conventional interpretation.’ GUARDIAN

  ........

  PEIRENE’S SERIES OF THE SMALL EPIC

  The novella-length books in this series present truly big stories in small packages. They include a Finnish Shakespearean drama, a Danish literary crime novel and a Swiss novel about the most influential Chinese painter of all time, Bada Shanren.

  The Brothers by Asko Sahlberg

  Translated from the Finnish by Emily Jeremiah and Fleur Jeremiah

  ‘Asko Sahlberg brings regal drama to a farmhouse … The comparison with Shakespeare might seem grandiose, but it’s justified.’ HELSINGIN SANOMAT

  The Murder of Halland by Pia Juul

  Translated from the Danish by Martin Aitken

  ‘Just as Umberto Eco’s The Name of the Rose made crime fiction appear intellectual, so Pia Juul’s The Murder of Halland dismantles the rules of an entire genre.’ DAGENS NYHETER

  Sea of Ink by Richard Weihe

  Translated from the Swiss German by Jamie Bulloch

  ‘A powerful, poetic book. A twohour enchantment.’ KULTURSPIEGEL

  About the Author and Translator

  AUTHOR

  Asko Sahlberg, born in 1964, has acquired a fame in Finland that has yet to be replicated in the English-speaking world. He published his first novel in 2000 and has written steadily since then, completing his ninth work, The Brothers, in 2010.

  TRANSLATORS

  Emily Jeremiah and Fleur Jeremiah unite as a multilingual mother-and-daughter translation team. Emily has an MA in Creative Writing and a PhD in German Studies. Fleur, her mother, is Finnish and has translated both fiction and non-fiction for many years.

  EDITOR

  Meike Ziervogel is the publisher of Peirene Press. She is also the editor of its books.

  PROOFREADER

  Lesley Levene is a writer and editor who has worked in publishing for thirty years.

  Copyright

  First published in English in 2011

  by Peirene Press, 17 Cheverton Road, London, N19 3BB

  www.peirenepress.com

  This ebook edition first published in 2012.

  First published under the original Finnish title He

  By Werner Söderström Ltd (WSOY)

  Copyright © Asko Sahlberg and Werner Söderström Ltd, 2010, Helsinki, Finland

  This translation © Emily Jeremiah and Fleur Jeremiah, 2011

  This work has been translated with the financial assistance of FILI – Finnish Literature Exchange.

  The right of Asko Sahlberg to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with Section 77 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

  All rights reserved. This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights, and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly

  ISBN 978–1–9086700–4–5

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places and events are either the product of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Designed by Sacha Davison-Lunt.

  Table of Contents

  Publisher’s Introduction

  Title Page

  The Brothers

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  Other titles from Peirene Press

  About the Author and Translator

  Copyright