The latest addition to my website is César Aira‘s Princesa primavera [Princess Springtime]. This is something of a subversion of the traditional fairy tale. The eponymous princess lives in a palace on a small island off the coast of Panama. Apart from servants, she is alone. Most of the locals survive from fishing. She, however, is a professional translator of popular novels, not well paid but happy enough. One day, however, the island is threatened with an attack from General Winter, a legendary enemy of her family. All the princess has to help her is the corpse of the famous pianist Vladimir Horowitz, his widow, a decrepit French botanist, a castaway called Picnic and talking ice creams. Don’t look for logic in an Aira novel but you will find philosophical discussions, subversion of traditional forms and the entirely unexpected. The book has not been translated not English.