Belletrista

This is an archived issue of Belletrista. If you are looking for the current issue, you can find it here


TRIO! Ceri Evans discusses three books by Egyptian author Ahdaf Soueif.	"Seven Little Rooms" - original fiction by notable Hindi author Mridula Garg.	Who Has the Power? Reading Arab Women in English by M. Lynx Qualey

Welcome, readers, to our sixth issue! Besides our regular review section featuring an array of intriguing books, and the tantalizing previews of new books in our New & Notable section, we have provided you with a compelling mix of fascinating articles this issue. There is a thought-provoking piece on reading the work of Arab Women in translation, one of our "Trios" explores three books by Ahdaf Soueif, and we report back from the splashy Book Expo America. In this issue we are honored to introduce to our readers the eminent Indian author Mridula Garg with two pieces: the first is an original short story translated from the Hindi by the author herself, and a second piece by Sunita Jain on Ms. Garg's place in literature.

We hope you enjoy this wonderful issue and with it we complete our first year of celebrating literature written by women all over the world! Thank you for being a part of our reading community.

Reviews
Click on 'Reviews' to see the full list of this issue's reviews...

PALIMPSEST

Catherynne M. Valente

Think of a novel as an amalgam of its story, its ideas, its people, and its language. Does a particular story demand a particular sort of language? Palimpsest is a fantastical city, sprawling over a vast territory, functioning on magic, eclectic in architecture, infested with clockwork insects, populated by …
READ MORE

Reviewed by Michael Matthew

MAP OF HOME

Randa Jarrar

Jarrar's bold debut is seemingly effortless. She is a born storyteller who transports you with ease from Boston to Kuwait, then to Egypt when the Iraq invasion occurs, and then on to Texas, with Nidali, the young, intrepid protagonist, who should have been a boy.
READ MORE

Reviewed by Akeela Gaibie-Dawood

THE EIGHTH DAY

Mitsuyo Kakuta

Translated from the Japanese by Margaret Mitsutani

On February 3, 1985, Kiwako makes her way into the home of her married ex-lover, and leaves with his newborn child tucked underneath her coat. With Kaoru in her arms, she flees Tokyo to start a journey with the child she should have had, had she not been persuaded …
READ MORE

Reviewed by C. Lariviere

ALL THE LIVING

C. E. Morgan

This debut novel introduces a young author with an extraordinary command of the pen. C. E. Morgan's finely crafted prose draws one into present-day Kentucky with its sweltering, breezeless days, where twenty-year-old Aloma has come to live with her lover, Orren.
READ MORE

Reviewed by Akeela Gaibie-Dawood