Belletrista

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Carol Emshwiller's witty, endearing, and delightfully odd story, "Grandma"	"Red Blood on White Snow" an excerpt from Albanian author Ornela Vorpsi's The Country Where No One Ever Dies	Awards and Nominations: Great books for your "to be read" piles

Welcome to a new year of Belletrista! We have exciting plans for 2011, including two themed issues. In this issue we present all the things you've come to expect in an issue of Belletrista, but we are always trying to improve, and are consistently on the look-out for new ideas. In this issue we offer our readers two excerpts from new or forthcoming books as not only a way to sample what these books have to offer, but also as a means of introducing talented writers. In our New & Notable section, we have given Canadian books its own section, bringing it out from underneath the shadow of its literarily larger neighbor, the United States, to make it easier for you, our readers, to explore this country's literature. If you have something to say about any of the books or authors we feature, we invite you to visit our blog, "If Written by a Woman", and share them. Happy Reading!

Reviews
Click on 'Reviews' to see the full list of this issue's reviews...

THE SECRET LIVES OF BABA SEGI'S WIVES

Lola Shoneyin

Baba Segi is a very lucky man. He has three wives and seven children. His family validate his need to show off his prosperity, his success and his virility. He is middle aged, plump and prosperous, with quite a high opinion of himself and his success as the family patriarch. But when he brings home a fourth wife, it seems his luck might not hold out.
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Reviewed by Judy Lim

AMANDINE

Marlena de Blasi

Set in Poland and France between the two world wars, this debut novel by acclaimed travel writer Marlena de Blasi has an intriguing premise but promises more than it delivers. Amandine is the illegitimate granddaughter of a beautiful Polish aristocrat. Countess Valeska Czartoryska lost her husband to a shameless and tragic love affair …
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Reviewed by Dorothy Dudek Vinicombe

THE ARRIVAL OF THE SNAKE WOMAN

Olive Senior

Duality lies at the heart of the short stories contained in this recently republished collection by Canadian-Jamaican author, Olive Senior. Old ways are pitted against the new; traditional religion against the white people's God; the merits of pale complexions over black skin; the backwardness of a rural island versus a prosperous middle-class life.
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Reviewed by Charlotte Simpson

13, RUE THÉRÈSE

Elena Mauli Shapiro

It is not often, when I am reading, that I am so overcome by emotion that I must put the book down until later, when I am quite myself again. I was not expecting that to happen when I began to read 13, rue Thérèse; after all, I've read many love stories and many war stories.
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Reviewed by Maggie Oldendorf

PICTURES OF YOU

Caroline Leavitt

Two unconnected women, April and Isabelle, pack up and leave their husbands one misty day, but tragedy strikes. Isabelle does not see April's car in the deep fog until it is too late. Their cars collide and …
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Reviewed by Akeela Gaibie-Dawood

CONVERSATIONS:

Book Cover: Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits

Three readers discuss Laila Lalami's novella, Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits

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

Belletrista - Issue 9
Jan/Feb 2011

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