what will it take for me to leave

Shortlisted for the Society of Authors TA First Translation Prize 2022.

In Loranne Vella’s what will it take for me to leave, shortlisted for the 2021 National Book Prize of Malta, everyone is a player in a game. A multitude of figures and disembodied voices barter the terms of relationships, solve puzzles, set riddles, play hide-and-seek – they will do anything to come out on top, even cheat themselves of the truth . . .

An enigmatic, dark, and at times humorous collection of short stories that makes us question our terms of engagement with the past, the present and the future, in a deft translation by Kat Storace. With photographs by Zvezdan Reljić.

‘what will it take for me to leave has a surface of the quotidian and routine but, oh my, what rich worlds are conjured in these stories and fragments! Tensions, desires, regrets and complexities are conveyed with such nuance and freshness. I loved it.’
— Wendy Erskine, author of The Benefactors

Published 6 November 2021
Author: Loranne Vella
Translated by Kat Storace
Paperback, 112 pages
ISBN: 9781739994815