| This is an archived issue of Belletrista. If you are looking for the current issue, you can find it here |
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SO GOOD IN BLACK
Sunetra Gupta
So Good in Black is one of those rare books that sends you scrabbling for the author's backlist. Beautifully written, wonderfully observed and deftly executed, it is a moving examination of ageing friendships and haunted lives …
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Reviewed by Andy Barnes
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THE BUDDHA IN THE ATTIC
Julie Otsuka
Julie Otsuka, author of the wonderful When the Emperor was Divine, has produced an exceptional novel in The Buddha in the Attic. It is a novel seemingly without plot and seemingly without characters. Yet the characters exist.
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Reviewed by Judy Lim
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THE BOY IN THE SUITCASE
Lene Kaaberbøl and Agnete Friis
Translated from the Danish by Lene Kaaberbøl
I'm always willing to give a book a try, even in a genre that I never read. So when The Boy in the Suitcase, a thriller by Danish authors Lene Kaaberbøl and Agnete Friis, landed in my mailbox, I thought, why not? A few hours later, after swiftly consuming this rollercoaster of a story …
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Reviewed by Caitlin Fehir
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RED WINE
Amina Zaydan
Translated from the Arabic by Sally Gomaa
Filled with Egyptian history and vivid wartime descriptions, Red Wine, the winner of the 2007 Naguib Mahfouz Medal for Literature, is a beautifully written novel by an obviously gifted author.
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Reviewed by Amanda Meale
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1222
Anne Holt
Translated from the Norwegian by Marlaine Delargy
On a frigid night, with a snowstorm raging, a train derails in the Norwegian mountains. The driver is dead, but 269 passengers are rescued, transported by snowmobile to a nearby isolated hotel at the station—1222 meters above sea level—to wait out the storm until help can reach them.
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Reviewed by Kate Morgan
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THE SHADOW-BOXING WOMAN
Inka Parei
Translated from the German by Katy Derbyshire
It's taken twelve years for Inka Parei's first novel to be translated into English, but there's nothing about this book that feels dated. The protagonist, a young woman called Hell (light), lives in a dilapidated apartment block …
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Reviewed by Charlotte Simpson
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PAST THE SHALLOWS
Favel Parrett
Favel Parrett has written an unequivocally strong debut novel in Past the Shallows. From the opening paragraph she sets the mood for this breathtaking story brilliantly.
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Reviewed by Judy Lim
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ON THE OUTSIDE LOOKING INDIAN
Rupinder Gill
Sometimes you just need to read something fun. After many years immersed in the non-fiction world of career, home renovation and childcare books, I've been trying to …
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Reviewed by Joyce Nickel
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THE FASTER I WALK, THE SMALLER I AM
Kjersti Skomsvold
Translated from the Norwegian by Kerri A. Pierce
In 2009 Kjersti Skomsvold's slim debut novel won the Tarjei Vesaas prize, Norway's highest honour for a first book. Thankfully we have only had to wait two years for an English translation.
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Reviewed by Andy Barnes
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ALICE
Judith Hermann
Translated from the German by Margot Bettauer Dembo
The five short stories in this slim volume have two things in common: an introspective protagonist, and death. We meet Alice as she quietly ruminates …
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Reviewed by Akeela Gaibie Dawood
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THE TESTAMENT OF JESSIE LAMB
Jane Rogers
In this near future novel, the world is suffering from the sins of its previous generations. The survival of the human race is threatened by a new disease, Maternal Death Syndrome. MDS affects the brain, and it has infected everyone, although it is only activated in women…
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Reviewed by Jana Herlander
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SUMMER RESORT
Esther Kinsky
Translated from the German by Martin Chalmers
Oppressive would certainly be the best word to describe Esther Kinsky's world. Oppressive, hot, sticky, dusty, and incapable of getting itself out of the mud. Any attempt at beauty …
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Reviewed by C. Lariviere
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AN ACCIDENT IN AUGUST
Laurence Cossé
Translated from the French by Alison Anderson
I am sure that most people, certainly in the United Kingdom, can remember where they were when the death of Diana, Princess of Wales was announced. It was an event of such magnitude in the consciousness of the British public, or at least …
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Reviewed by Ceri Evans
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THE GOLDSMITH'S SECRET
Elia Barceló
Translated from the Spanish by David Frye
Imagine that you are a successful but lonely middle aged man, whose heart was broken years ago by the only woman you've ever loved. You are provided one opportunity to meet her again, without knowing …
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Reviewed by Darryl Morris
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DOGS AT THE PERIMETER
Madeleine Thien
Over this past summer, Case 002 was getting underway in the Cambodian legal system. This is the trial of several of the top Khmer Rouge leaders on charges of genocide …
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Reviewed by Tad Deffler
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