In a seamless mosaic of dreams and games, a young boy reflects on events as his hometown in Albania falls to a series of invaders. Amid floods and bombings, his own innocence and wonder are lost forever in the madness and brutality of the Second World War.

A disturbing mix of tragedy and comedy, politics and sexuality, Chronicle in Stone is a fascinating masterpiece about what it means to grow up in a turbulent world.

"A great novel . . . A joyful, often comic piece of work" - * New Yorker *

"Sophisticated and accomplished in its poetic prose and narrative deftness" - * New Yorker *

"Ismail Kadare has sometimes been compared with Kafka, and you can see why" - * Mail on Sunday *

"There are very few writers alive today with the depth, power and resonance of this remarkable novelist" - * Herald *

"Chronicle in Stone is stunning, the quintessential tale of war seen through a child's eyes" - * Los Angeles Times *

"Writing like this is hard to stop quoting . . . It is musical not only in rhythms that survive in this deft . . . translation but in its most elemental perceptions" - * The Nation *

"[Albania's] most remarkable export: the novels of Ismail Kadare" - * The Village Voice Literary Supplement *

"Chronicle in Stone is epic in its simplicity; the history of a young Albanian and a primitive Albania awakening into the modern world" - * Minneapolis Star Tribune *