The Concert

<b>A chilling portrait of life under Communist rule by Albania's most important writer</b><br> <br> It's the 1970s and cracks are starting to appear in the alliance between China and its Communist cohort Albania. When an Albanian steps on the foot of a Chinese diplomat the tension cranks up - couriers between Tirana and Beijing carry annotated x-rays of the foot back and forth. The Chinese intend to punish their interfering little ally discreetly. But is the Sino-Albanian axis about to come adrift? This is Kadare's surreal black comedy about the inner sanctums of political power and the mysterious causal chains that transform ordinary lives.<br> <br> <b><i>'The Concert</i></b> <b>is a splendidly deep and serious novel that entirely transcends, as it were, its unremarkable outer garment... Kadare's achievement is to dramatise truthfully throughout. This is a book to read and re-read' <i>Guardian</i></b>