The Porcupine - Tapa blanda

Stoyo Petkanov, the deposed Party leader of a former Soviet satellite country, is on trial. His adversary stands for the new ideals, the leader for the old - or so one would think. But Petkanov is different. He has been given his day in court and he takes it with a vengeance, to the increasing discomfort and surprise of those around him.

Julian Barnes has published over a dozen books, amongst them the novels Metroland, Before She Met Me, Flaubert's Parrot, Staring at the Sun, A History of the World in 101/2 Chapters, Talking It Over, The Porcupine, England, England and Love, etc; short stories, including Cross Channel and The Lemon Table; and the collections of essays, Letters from London and Something to Declare. His work has been translated into more than thirty languages. In France he is the only writer to have won both the Prix Medicis (for Flaubert's Parrot) and the Prix Femina (for Talking It Over ). In 1993 he was awarded the Shakespeare Prize by the FVS Foundation of Hamburg. He lives in London.