The Peacock

I had huge fun translating The Peacock (V&Q Books, 2021), Isabel Bogdan’s wry comedy of errors about an unruly peacock and an ill-fated teambuilding weekend in the Scottish highlands. With mouthwatering meals, toe-curling teambuilding exercises, and a particularly delicious hot tub scene, this is feel-good reading at its best.

“[Bogdan’s] marked style of writing comes across effortlessly in Annie Rutherford’s lively translation: from start to finish the language is sparkling, its dry humour clearly present… Rutherford knows her audience, and has translated with a good deal of cultural sensitivity.” Eleanor Updegraff

“Annie Rutherford’s pitch-perfect English translation of … The Peacock … is an inspiration … It’s a treat to see all of the inventive translation solutions she finds. She has taken the humor of the German, added a Scottish flair, and come up with a captivating voice.” bookseller.dc

“Annie Rutherford’s translation is spot-on: it has meticulous attention to language in context (I was particularly delighted to see the phrase “a lick and a promise”, an expression I remember so vividly from childhood), yet maintains the glorious mayhem that characterises the story.” Helen Vassallo for Translating Women