It’s all got a bit much, what with the constant and alarming global news, the new Ipcress File adaptation on TV, and me diving into Michael Frayn’s 1966 Cold War novel The Russian Interpreter (Faber). The author has a good eye for Soviet era Moscow, having visited several times in the 50s and 60s and his depiction is confident and convincing. The interpreter in the title is a British PhD student at Moscow University who is ‘commandeered’ to act as a translator for his brand new, oldest best friend and an attractive Russian blonde lady. The book is mysterious in places, funny in others, occasionally confusing and probably representative of what it was like to be in situ at the time, particularly when slightly naïve of what really is going on. I need a sorbet course book next. ( )

A breath of fresh air. Not a new author - just newly discovered by me. Lovely writing. A slight resemblance to Andrei Makine, only less lyrical and more matter-of-fact. A British man with some knowledge of Russian becomes an "interpreter" to his compatriot British businessman in the Soviet Union in 1960s. A very unusual course of events ensues. Couldn't put it down. ( )