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 of Sigrid Nunez Photo of Kamila Shamsie Photo of cupcake with one candle

US author Sigrid Nunez discusses her new novel with Joyce Nickel

TRIO: Three remarkable works by Kamila Shamsie by
Caitlin Fehir

Belletrista turns one! A brief retrospective and a look ahead

With this issue, Belletrista completes its first year. We at Belletrista would like to thank those of you spread across this great blue planet who read our little 'zine and also use it as a resource for your personal reading, your bookclubs, or your classes. May we continue to endeavor to deserve your attention in the coming year! With this issue, we debut a new feature we are calling "Conversations" and also our Belletrista blog, "If Written by a Woman," an exciting venture we hope you will all be part of. There are more exciting things ahead!

Reviews
Click on 'Reviews' to see the full list of this issue's reviews...
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LITTLE PEUL
Mariama Barry
Translated from the French by Carrol F. Coates

The story begins in Senegal, as the young narrator is decorated with jewelry and fitted with a new dress by her mother, and then given a ritual bath. The girl has a premonition that …
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Reviewed by Darryl Morris
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BAD PENNY BLUES
Cathi Unsworth

Unsworth builds her story around the Jack the Stripper murders of the mid-1960s. These crimes remain unsolved and occasioned the biggest manhunt ever done by the Greater London Metropolitan Police.
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Reviewed by Tad Deffler
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THE WIVES OF HENRY OADES
Johanna Moran

I am sure that for most of us, one beloved husband or wife is more than sufficient! In Part One of this novel, as Henry Oades sets sail halfway across the world to New Zealand in the 1890s with his young wife Margaret and their two children, one beloved wife is all he has ever wanted.
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Reviewed by Ceri Evans
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A NOVEL BOOKSTORE
Laurence Cossé
Translated from the French by Alison Anderson

Imagine a bookstore that only sold good novels—not commercial drivel or fluffy installments of the latest teen series, but interesting fiction gathered together by book-loving people who refuse to pander to bestseller lists. Essentially, a reader's version of heaven.
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Reviewed by Caitlin Fehir
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SONG OVER QUIET LAKE
Sarah Felix Burns

Sylvia is a troubled twenty-something student, and Lydie is an eighty-two year old Tlingit woman from the Yukon who knows exactly where she stands in her life. When the two women meet …
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Reviewed by Joyce Nickel


CONVERSATIONS:
Book Cover: Sky Burial
A discussion of Xinran's Sky Burial between three Belletrista readers.
AWARDS AND NOMINATIONS
Three floral square image
Looking for a great book? Check out these recent award-winners!
If Written By a Woman
Visit our new Belletrista blog!
The Caine Prize for African Writing 2011 – shortlist announced

The shortlist for this year’s Caine Prize has just been announced and three women are in the running for the prestigious award. This is always an exciting time of year – the Prize is a great way to discover short stories by excellent writers. Lucky for us, the Prize’s website links to a copy of …Read the Rest