This is an archived issue of Belletrista. If you are looking for the current issue, you can find it here
Belletrista - A site promoting translated women authored literature from around the world
photo book cover book cover

Finnish author Riikka Pulkkinen makes her English debut with her second novel, True. Read the first chapter here!

...A "subtly sophisticated gem of a novel" is how Joyce Nickel describes Mary Horlock's The Book of Lies. Read more...

The recent Bellweather Prize winning novel, Running the Rift by Naomi Benaron, is reviewed by Judy Lim

`
Reviews
Click on 'Reviews' to see the full list of this issue's reviews...
Book cover
STONE IN A LANDSLIDE
Maria Barbal
Translated from the Catalan by Laura McGloughlin and Paul Mitchell

Stone in a Landslide is a modern Catalan classic. It was first published in 1985, but is only now available in English translation. Discovering a great novella about how the Spanish Civil War tore apart the Catalan nation is an opportunity that shouldn't be ignored.
READ MORE

Reviewed by Andy Barnes
Book cover
THE BOOK OF CHANGE
Eileen Chang

Eileen Chang's reputation as an author has come full circle. Her writings were beloved in occupied Shanghai during World War II, but she lost her popularity as the Cultural Revolution marginalized writers, like Chang, who created stories without a political subtext. Today she is generally considered to be one of the great Chinese writers of the twentieth century.
READ MORE

Reviewed by Barbara Steeg
Book cover
THREE WEEKS IN DECEMBER
Audrey Schulman

Advocacy fiction can be a tricky business: it's easy for passion to slip into sermon or harangue, obscuring the identity of the work as a story. When that happens, I would argue that it might as well be an essay rather than fiction. Audrey Schulman's latest novel, Three Weeks in December, tackles the genre of advocacy fiction twice, alternating chapters of two stories on the theme of Euro-American involvement with Africa. Happily for the reader, she stays on the safe side of the line between fiction and essay.
READ MORE

Reviewed by Tad Deffler
Book cover
THE WORLD WE FOUND
Thrity Umrigar

In her fifth novel Thrity Umrigar explores the haunting themes of love and loss, idealism and disappointment, commitment and betrayal. The World We Found belongs alongside…
READ MORE

Reviewed by Dorothy Dudek Vinicombe


Book Cover
Sudha Balagopal invites readers into the world of South Indian Carnatic music in the seven short stories of her debut collection. Amanda Meale reviews it for us. image Included with this review is a performance by veena virtuoso Nirmala Rajasekar
Links We Like
Bookmark and Share