Belletrista - A site promoting translated women authored literature from around the world
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Roma Tearne: Weaving the Political and the Personal. Joyce Nickel gives us an in-depth look at the Sri Lankan author and her work.

Julie Wakeman-Linn: Kathleen Ambrogi reviews her novel Chasing the Leopard Finding the Lion, and talks with the author.

Sefi Atta's bold new novel is about more than African identity. . . Read chapter one of A Bit of Difference.

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Reviews
Click on 'Reviews' to see the full list of this issue's reviews...
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MASTER OF THE GRASS
Nina Gabrielyan
Translated from the Russian by Kathleen Cook et al

Master of the Grass is a well-translated collection of one eponymous novella and six short stories by Nina Gabrielyan, a Russian writer of Armenian descent. Motifs of mirrors and dreams run through these stories, and the narratives themselves are more or less dream-like, the boundary between the sleeping and the waking world kept close and permeable…
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Reviewed by Tim Jones
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FAREWELL: A MANSION IN OCCUPIED ISTANBUL
Ayse Kulin
Translated from the Turkish by Kenneth J. Dakan

Like the story of the blind men and an elephant, the answer to the question, "What type of book is this?" will depend greatly upon your perspective. Some might describe Farewell as an adventure set during the Turkish War of Independence. Kamal is a radical supporter of …
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Reviewed by Tad Deffler
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THE FORRESTS
Emily Perkins

Frank and Lee move their family of four children from New York to Auckland. Frank is an unrecognized artist from a background of wealth and entitlement, but in New Zealand the family is barely surviving.
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Reviewed by Judy Lim
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DAUGHTER OF SILENCE
Manuela Fingueret
Translated from the Spanish by Darrell B. Lockhart

A caste of murderers. The Nazis gassed, starved, humiliated. Here they insult, torture, rape. Caste of murderers….Am I here or there?
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Reviewed by Andy Barnes
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DROWNED
Therese Bohman
Translated from the Swedish by Marlaine Delargy

It's high summer, and student Marina decides to take refuge from her lacklustre university studies and her dead-end relationship at her sister Stella's home in the Swedish countryside.
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Reviewed by Rachel Hayes
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NEW ISLANDS AND OTHER STORIES
María Luisa Bombal
Translated from the Spanish by Richard and Lucia Cunningham

There is consensus that María Luisa Bombal is amongst the Latin American literary stars. Says Jorge Luis Borges in the preface to this slim volume of short stories: "…In Santiago, Chile, Buenos Aires, in Caracas or Lima, when they name the best names, María Luisa Bombal is never missing from the list."
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Reviewed by Akeela Gaibie-Dawood


Angélica Gorodischer Book Cover
The noted and versatile Argentinian author has a newly translated novel forthcoming in February. Read an excerpt of Trafalgar.
Uzma Aslam Khan Book Cover
A tribute to the nomadic peoples in the mountains of Pakistan and its border neighbors, Uzma's new novel Thinner Than Skin is also a love story. Read an excerpt.
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