Crime Novels 
(1919-2000) – writer, essayist, literary critic, diarist, co-founder and co-editor of “Kultura” magazine based in Paris. Herling-Grudziński debuted in interwar press as a literary…
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Crime Novels
Fiction
Zygmunt Miłoszewski
Samples
The Book Institute offers translations of excerpts from Zygmunt Miłoszewski’s works in the following languages: Bulgarian, Hebrew and Ukrainian. Interested parties are kindly invited to contact us.
(b. 1976) – a prose writer and journalist, one of Poland’s most recognised authors of pop literature.
Miłoszewski made his debut with the novel ‘Domofon’ (The Intercom). This is a horror, a genre seldom found in Polish contemporary literature. The next entry in his oeuvre is a slim children’s novel, ‘Góry Żmijowe’ (Viper Mountains) – interesting from a formal angle, as it draws from both classic fairy-tale and fantasy conventions, and to some degree, it is a pastiche.
The turning point in Zygmunt Miłoszewski’s career was a novel published a year later, ‘Uwikłanie’ (Entanglement), which kicked off his detective series featuring Detective Szacki. The novel was highly acclaimed for its gripping plot. According to the critics, its success came down to Miłoszewski’s attention to subplots. The entanglement of the title takes a variety of forms. Above all, these are political, or in fact political-detective themes, as the action is built around the work of a special section of the communist Secret Police.
The second part of the Szacki series, released in 2011, was ‘Ziarno prawdy’ (A Grain of Truth). Once again, a conventional detective novel was hitched to current affairs. This time the detective is sent to Sandomierz, whose local cathedral has an eighteenth-century wall painting depicting ritual murders Jews allegedly performed on Christian children. Through the example of Sandomierz, Miłoszewski brilliantly reconstructs a small-town mentality, reveals the mechanisms that create biases and shows dangerous stereotypes are alive and well.
In ‘Gniew’ (Rage), the final part of the Szacki series, he moves to Olsztyn to contend with the final, most difficult case of his career, concerning domestic violence. The investigation reveals the helplessness of the law when it comes to crimes behind closed doors, whose main victims are women and children. For the backdrop of this crime story, the writer presents the complex histories of Warmia and Olsztyn, juxtaposed with the city’s bleak present.
Apart from the Szacki series, Miłoszewski has published ‘Bezcenny’ (Priceless), a thriller whose intrigue centres on the search for a Raphael painting lost during World War II, Portrait of a Young Man. Priceless was the bestseller of the summer of 2013. The author repeated this success with volume two, ‘Kwestia ceny’ (A Matter of Price), in which the protagonists span the globe in search of the treasure of the Siberian Ainu.
In 2017, Miłoszewski published an alternative history novel, ‘Jak zawsze’ (As Always). The main protagonists go back in time, to Poland of the 1960s, when power was in the hands of a peasant/social-democratic alliance, and the country was in the French sphere of influence. As Always has fragments that flow with comic ease over philosophical disputes on history and missed opportunities.
Miłoszewski’s most recent books are a fantasy dilogy for children, Hydropolis. Both volumes boast a retrofuturistic imagination and an introduction to learning about environmental protection.
Miłoszewski’s books have often been adapted for radio plays, film and television series.
He has been given the Grand Calibre Award for the best detective novel and thriller (2008, 2012). For A Grain of Truth he was nominated for the Polityka Passport (2011). Rage won the Polityka Passport (2014) and was nominated for the Grand Calibre Award (2014). For the French translation of Entanglement, Miłoszewski was nominated for the literary Prix du Polar Européen, awarded by French weekly Le Point in 2014. The English translation of Grain of Truth was nominated for the Le Prix du Livre européen / European Book Prize (2015).
Bibliography
- Domofon, Warsaw: W.A.B., 2005.
- Góry Żmijowe, Warsaw: W.A.B., 2006.
- Uwikłanie, Warsaw: W.A.B., 2007.
- Ziarno prawdy, Warsaw: W.A.B., 2011.
- Bezcenny, Warsaw: W.A.B., 2013.
- Gniew, Warsaw: GW Foksal, 2014.
- Jak zawsze, Warsaw: GW Foksal, 2017.
- Kwestia ceny, Warsaw: W.A.B., 2020.
- Hydropolis: Uciekaj, Warsaw: W.A.B., 2022.
- Hydropolis: Walcz, Warsaw: W.A.B., 2023.
Translations
Belarussian:
- Доля праўды [Ziarno prawdy], trans. Maryna Kazlojska, Vilnius: Logwinaj, 2015.
Catalan:
- Inestimable [Bezcenny], trans. Jerzy Sławomirski, Anna Rubió Rodón, Barcelona: Símbol Editors, 2020.
Croatian:
- Upleteni [Uwikłanie], trans. Mladen Martić, Zagreb: Edicije Božičević, 2012.
- Zrno istine [Ziarno prawdy], trans. Mladen Martić, Zagreb: Edicije Božičević, 2016.
- Gnjev [Gniew], trans. Mladen Martić, Zagreb: Edicije Božičević, 2019.
- Neprocjenjiv [Bezcenny], trans. Mladen Martić, Zagreb: Edicije Božičević, 2021.
Czech:
- Zapleteni [Uwikłanie], trans. Pavel Peč, Brno: Host, 2011.
- Zrnko prawdy [Ziarno prawdy], trans. Tereza Pogodová, Brno: Host, 2014.
- Nezaplatitelny [Bezcenny], trans. Tereza Pogodová, Brno: Host, 2015.
- Hněv [Gniew], trans. Tereza Pogodová, Brno: Host, 2015.
English:
- Entanglement [Uwikłanie], trans. Antonia Lloyd-Jones, London: Bitter Lemon Press, 2010.
- A grain of truth [Ziarno prawdy], trans. Antonia Lloyd-Jones, Londyn: Bitter Lemon Press, 2012.
- Rage [Gniew], trans. Antonia Lloyd-Jones, Seattle: Amazon Crossing, 2016.
- Priceless [Bezcenny], trans. Antonia Lloyd-Jones, Seattle: Amazon Crossing, 2018.
French:
- Les impliqués [Uwikłanie], trans. Kamil Barbarski, Bordeaux: Mirobole Éditions, 2013.
- Un fond de vérité [Ziarno prawdy], trans. Kamil Barbarski, Bordeaux: Mirobole Éditions, 2015.
- La rage [Gniew], trans. Kamil Barbarski, Paris: Fleuve noir, 2016.
- Inavouable [Bezcenny], trans. Kamil Barbarski, Paris: Fleuve noir, 2017.
- Te souviendras-tu de demain? [Jak zawsze], trans. Kamil Barbarski, Paris: Fleuve noir, 2019.
- Inestimable [Kwestia ceny], trans. Kamil Barbarski, Paris: Fleuve éditions, 2021.
German:
- Domofon, trans. Jan Opielka, Katarzyna Opielka, München: DTV, 2008.
- Die Verstrickung [Uwikłanie], trans. Friedrich Griese, München: DTV, 2010.
- Warschauer Verstrickungen [Uwikłanie], trans. Friedrich Griese, Berlin: Berlin Verlag Taschenbuch, 2015.
- Ein Körnchen Wahrheit [Ziarno prawdy], trans. Barbara Samborska, Berlin: Berlin Verlag Taschenbuch, 2016.
- Der Zorn der Vergessenen [Gniew], trans. Barbara Samborska, München: Piper Verlag, 2018.
Greek:
- Ένας κόκκος αλήθειας [Ziarno prawdy], trans. Anastazja Chatzigiannidis, Athīna: Steréōma, 2019.
Hebrew:
- גרעין של אמת [Ziarno prawdy], trans. Anat Zajdman, Tel Aviv: Penn Publishing House, 2014.
Italian:
- Il caso costellazione [Uwikłanie], trans. Beatrice Masini, Milano: Rizzoli, 2017.
- Il citofono [Domofon], trans. Raffaella Belletti, Roma: Voland, 2022.
Japanese:
- 怒り, vol. 1–2 [Gniew], trans. Toshiki Taguchi, Tokyo: Shōgakukan, 2017.
- もつれ [Uwikłanie], trans. Toshiki Taguchi, Tokyo: Shōgakukan, 2018.
- 一抹の真実 [Ziarno prawdy], trans. Toshiki Taguchi, Tokyo: Shogakukan, 2019.
Macedonian:
- Трошка вистина [Ziarno prawdy], trans. Lidija Tanuszewska, Skopje: Begemot, 2015.
- Смртоносна терапија [Uwikłanie], trans. Filip Dymewski, Skopje: Antolog, 2018.
Russian:
- Доля правды [Ziarno prawdy], trans. Olga Łobodzińska, Moskwa: Tekst, 2014.
- Переплетения [Uwikłanie], trans. Anatol Niechaj, Moskwa: Izdatielstwo AST, 2020.
Serbian:
- Zmijeve planine [Żmijowe Góry], trans. Milan Duškov, Beograd: Jovan, 2009.
Slovak:
- Zapletení [Uwikłanie], trans. Alexander Horák, Bratislava: Premedia, 2014.
- Zrnko pravdy [Ziarno prawdy], trans. Alexander Horák, Bratislava: Premedia, 2014.
- Hnev [Gniew], trans. Alexander Horák, Bratislava: Premedia, 2015.
- Domofón, trans. Alexander Horák, Bratislava: Premedia, 2016.
Spanish:
- El caso Telak [Uwikłanie], trans. Javier Villaverde González, Madrid: Alfaguara, 2015.
- La mitad de la verdad [Ziarno prawdy], trans. Francisco Javier Villaverde González, Madrid: Alfaguara, 2016.
- La ira [Gniew], trans. Francisco Javier Villaverde González, Madrid: Alfaguara, 2016.
Turkish:
- Cinayet Terapisi [Uwikłanie], trans. Seda Köycü, İstanbul: Koridor Yayıncılık, 2015.
Ukrainian:
- Зміїні гори [Żmijowe Góry], trans. Bożena Antoniak, Lwiw: Starowo Liewa, 2010.
- Терапія злочину [Uwikłanie], trans. Bożena Antoniak, Lwiw: Urbino, 2012.
- Зерно правди [Ziarno prawdy], trans. Bożena Antoniak, Lwiw: Urbino, 2013.
- Гнів [Gniew], trans. Bożena Antoniak, Lwiw: Urbino, 2015.
- Безцінний [Bezcenny], trans. Maria Szahuri, Jurij Popsujenko, Kyjiw: Ridna mowa, 2017.
- Вторгнення [Jak zawsze], trans. Maria Szahuri, Kyjiw: Ridna mowa, 2018.
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