Belletrista - A site promoting translated women authored literature from around the world
photo book cover book cover

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.

`
Reviews
Click on 'Reviews' to see the full list of this issue's reviews...
Book cover
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."
READ MORE

Reviewed by Akeela Gaibie-Dawood
Book cover
PEDRA CANGA
Tereza Albues
Translated from the Portuguese by Clifford E. Landers

Pedra Canga, the eponymous fictional village, lies in a remote part of Brazil. It is dominated by the Mangueiral, a stone estate separated from the village by walls topped with barbed wire and broken glass on three sides, and the Saranzal River full of snakes and alligators on the fourth.
READ MORE

Reviewed by Jean Hughes Raber
Book cover
THREE STRONG WOMEN
Marie NDiaye
Translated from the French by John Fletcher

Three Strong Women concerns the lives of three women of Senegalese descent, each of whom faces a personal crisis. The stories are set in modern day Senegal or in France, the former colonizer of that West African country…
READ MORE

Reviewed by Darryl Morris
Book cover
THE SOMETIMES LAKE
Sandy Bonny

The stories in The Sometimes Lake reflect Sandy Bonny's passion for science. Whether the character is a teacher working with disadvantaged indigenous children in Canada's far north…
READ MORE

Reviewed by Joyce Nickel
Book cover
THE MURDER OF HALLAND
Pia Juul
Translated from the Danish by Martin Aitken

With a glut of Scandinavian crime fiction entering English translation it would be easy to overlook Pia Juul's The Murder of Halland. However, Juul is one of Denmark's most celebrated literary writers, and her foray into 'Scandi Crime' is a surprising subversion of the genre, rather than an attempt to jump on a bandwagon.
READ MORE

Reviewed by Andy Barnes
Book cover
MATESHIP WITH BIRDS
Carrie Tiffany

Harry is a dairy farmer who has lost his wife to the charms of a local bird watcher. He has no children and lives alone, with a pile of women's journals, his routines and his thoughts, which often turn to the young family living next door.
READ MORE

Reviewed by Judy Lim


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.
Links We Like
Bookmark and Share