Soluble Fish (1924) by André Breton is a sophisticated poetic novel which is one of the first works of Surrealism, and with the Manifesto of Surrealism (1924), began the new literary movement which followed Paris Dada in the decade of the 1920s. This is the first translation of this important surrealist work since 1969. R J Dent has finally done the almost impossible and rendered Breton’s elusive and complex prose into a fluid English that is actually a pleasure to read. Here we see a Breton very different from the dour caricature usually presented to English speaking readers. The text here is playful, warm and engaging.