Maybe This Time

by Alois Hotschnig

£8.99

A spellbinding short story collection by one of Austria’s most critically acclaimed authors. Guardian Paperback of the Year 2011.

A man becomes obsessed with observing his neighbours. A large family gathers for Christmas only to wait for the one member who never turns up. An old woman lures a man into her house, where he finds dolls resembling himself as a boy. Mesmerizing and haunting stories about loss of identity in the modern world.

Translated from the Austrian German by Tess Lewis.

110pp, Paperback with Flaps, £8.99
ISBN 978-0-9562840-5-1
Publication date: 17 August 2011

Press & Reviews

‘Not since Julio Cortázar's game of Hopscotch ... has an author so daringly undertaken to challenge the reader.’ - Amanda Hopkinson, The Independent

'Hotschnig's stories have the weird, creepy and ambiguous quality of disturbing dreams. .. It is, though, very refreshing to be confronted by stories which so firmly refuse to yield to conventional interpretation.' - Nicholas Lezard, The Guardian

'This award-winning collection by the Austrian writer Alois Hotschnig drew comparisons with Kafka. But Hotschnig’s quietly terrifying voice is all his own.' - Daily Mail

'What one takes away from these delicately written, almost dreamlike snapshots, lucidly translated from Austrian German by Tess Lewis, is a vivid sense of life’s fragility.' - Lucy Popescu, Tribune Magazine

'This little book is a triumph.' - New Books Magazine

About The Book

Author

Alois Hotschnig, born in 1959, is one of Austria’s most critically acclaimed authors, eliciting comparison with Franz Kafka and Thomas Bernhard. He has written novels, short stories and plays. His books have won major Austrian and International honours, such as the Italo-Svevo award and the Erich-Fried nomination. Die Kinder beruhigte das nicht was first published in German in 2006.

Translator

Tess Lewis has been translating from German and French for two decades. For her translations of Peter Handke, Alois Hotschnig, Pascale Bruckner and Philippe Sollers she has been awarded PEN Translation Fund grants and an NEA Translation Fellowship.