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...

ANITYA: HALFWAY TO NOWHERE

Mridula Garg

Translated from the Hindi by Seema Segal

If you have ever had the the niggling feeling that there is something swimming under your feet in a lake, only to look underwater to see an enormous fish keeping its eye on you, you'll understand the feeling I kept having while reading Anitya, Halfway to Nowhere. I couldn't shake the sense that. . .
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Reviewed by Tui Menzies

THAT MAD ACHE

Françoise Sagan

Translated from the French by Douglas Hofstadter

That Mad Ache takes us to glamorous 1960s Paris, a world of money, parties and passions. Lucile, a restless young woman, lives with her older, rich lover Charles. They enjoy a tranquil relationship, he responding to her frequent whims as one might indulge a child. . .
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Reviewed by Charlotte Simpson

THE BORDER OF TRUTH

Victoria Redel

Sara Leader is a lonely, middle aged professor whose knowledge of her father's past is very limited. Between working on a hefty translation of German thinker Walter Benjamin's papers, undergoing a rigorous adoption process, and keeping an eye on her aging father, delving into family history does not seem …
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Reviewed by Julia Mignone

THE HEART SPECIALIST

Claire Holden Rothman

I raced through this novel at one sitting (it's a missing-your-bus-stop kind of a read) and then went back to re-read more slowly. Claire Holden Rothman, inspired by the life of Dr Maud Abbott (1869-1940), one of Montreal's first female doctors, loosely based this engrossing story on Abbott's experiences.
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Reviewed by Chris Mills