Reading Europe

Elif Shafak's tale of two families bound by the same horrific past.

Geert Mak's travels through Europe at the close of the 20th century.

Mariella Frostrup talks to French-Moroccan novelist Leila Slimani.

Geert Mak retraces Lenin's historic journey from Zurich to Petrograd in 1917.

It's 1999 and Geert Mak is in St Petersburg reflecting on Lenin's 1917 arrival in the city

It is 1999, and Geert reflects on the haunting histories of Kiev, Odessa and Istanbul.

It is 1999, and Geert Mak meets a cosmonaut in Moscow and reflects on Yeltsin's legacy.

Elif Shafak's tale of two Istanbulite families bound by the same horrific past.

A comfort stop in the Spanish interior is profoundly unsettling for one sightseer.

A tale of cleaning and clothes in a stylish Copenhagen apartment.

Elif Shafak visits an Istanbul bookshop to see if modern Turkey is present on its shelves.

The Franco-American writer on immigration and an identity crisis in French fiction.

David Wagner asks whether German literature still shows any signs of an east-west divide.

The Moroccan-Dutch writer Abdelkader Benali on bookshops as a source of refuge.

Dorthe Nors asks if Danish fiction reflects the lives of those living outside Copenhagen.