The Doll, by Baleslaw Prus (CUP, £9.99 in UK)

Pros apparently ranks in Poland as his country's greatest 19th century novelist, though even his name is, strange to most Western European readers. Like most 19th century novels, it is long - well over 600 pages - and it is densely populated and many of the characters are hard to remember, particularly by their outlandish names. The narrative interest is relatively slight; it concerns the obsession of a quite wealthy young merchant with the "doll" of the title, a limp, remote beauty whom he wants to marry. The real ichor of the book is its humour, at once gentle and anarchic. Prus is often compared with Chekhov, but it strikes me that a better parallel would be with the great Spaniard, Galdos.