Europe Books

Publisher Foundry Editions was set up in 2023 to showcase beautiful writing, unusual storytelling, unforgettable characters and intelligent entertainment from across the Mediterranean region. Here are five of their most recent books, now available in English for the first time, from Spanish noir to historical fiction from Cyprus, an Italian bestseller and a family saga and gothic ghost story set in Palestine.

The tumultuous history of Ukraine and its continuing upheavals are not well understood beyond its borders. Yale historian Marci Shore recommends the best books on the land of many identities and languages that is modern Ukraine.

Eastern European food is utterly under-appreciated, argues Caroline Eden—whose acclaimed, genre-bending books combine intrepid travel-writing with reportage and recipes. Here, she selects five of the best cookbooks showcasing Eastern European cuisine: from the perfect pierogi to beetroot borsch.

As a teenager, Velma Šarić's hometown of Kladanj welcomed refugees from eastern Bosnia as it was bombed and shelled, her primary school eventually becoming a shelter for people fleeing the massacre at Srebenica. Now she runs Sarajevo's Post-Conflict Research Centre, trying to prevent anything like it from ever happening again. She recommends books to read on the Bosnian War and explains that it was not a war between different communities, but rather an assault on the country's multiethnic, multicultural identity.

We call him Charlemagne, but it was not a name that was used in his own lifetime. His conquests stretched across vast swathes of Europe, but he probably didn't set out to become an emperor. Much has been written about him, but very little is known. Dutch historian Carine van Rhijn, a lecturer at the University of Utrecht, recommends the best books on Charles, King of the Franks.

Slovenia has the organised, modern infrastructure of Western Europe, the laid-back lifestyle of Southern Europe, and a generous seasoning of Balkan spice—as well as a Mediterranean coastline with hot summers, Alpine mountains with snowy winters, Tuscany-like terraced vineyards, and caves like Lord of the Rings, says British writer Sam Baldwin. He recommends books to get to know the country he fell in love with and now lives in.

The popular military historian Antony Beevor recommends some of his own favourite books about the Second World War.

Which are the best books on the Enlightenment? Jonathan Israel, one of the leading historians of early modern Europe, recommends his top five.

In the years immediately after World War II, the Holocaust was little studied. That all changed with the publication of Raul Hilberg's book, The Destruction of the European Jews. Steven Katz, professor of Jewish Holocaust Studies at Boston University and former Director of the Elie Wiesel Center for Jewish Studies, introduces the best Holocaust books.    

In the 20th century, Germany suffered defeat in two world wars and withstood two kinds of dictatorship. Yet today it is Europe's strongest economy. Hester Vaizey, fellow of Clare College, Cambridge, and author of Born in the GDR, selects five brilliant books on a tumultuous century.