Ismail Kadare, Albania's most famous writer whose barbed fables criticised Hoxha's regime – obituary

Ismail Kadare, who has died aged 88, was Albania’s most successful writer, both at home and abroad. In Albania, over a million of his books have been sold, one for every three Albanians. Abroad he was best known in France, where his work was first appeared in translation, and to where he defected in 1990; but he also gained an appreciative readership in Britain, particularly after winning the Man Booker International Prize in 2005. His novels range from allegorical denunciations …