Intimate relationships and a search for identity form the core of this contemplative and captivating story. But who is the central character? She is nameless yet so present - observing life in a city and country she does not know and drawn into the simmering personal dramas of the people she meets - both privately and in her job as an interpreter at the International Criminal Court. A intriguing story which delivers a deep and affecting read.
He shook his head and sighed. Of course, I don't need to tell you this, he continued. This is your stock in trade, you deal with words. The others in the room were talking quietly or looking through their papers. He was waiting for them to respond. I hesitated and then said, My job is to make the space between languages as small as possible. This was not the rebuke I wished to make, as a statement it was abstract to the point of saying almost nothing at all. And yet it was true. I would not obfuscate the meaning of what he had done, of these words that he deemed so insufficient, my job was to ensure that there would be no escape route between languages.
