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

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Reviews
Click on 'Reviews' to see the full list of this issue's reviews...
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HOW TO STOP LOVING SOMEONE
Joan Connor

This book of short stories by award-winning author Joan Connor is a bit like an Oreo cookie: there are many parts to enjoy. If the filling is too sweet, chase it with the plainer, more serious biscuit part. If the chocolate biscuit is too dark, then skim the frosting off with your teeth and …
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Reviewed by Kathleen Ambrogi
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THE SCRAPBOOK OF FRANKIE PRATT
Caroline Preston

The Scrapbook of Frankie Pratt reads like a fairy-tale journey of a young woman who wants to be a writer and embark on a life of adventure. Frankie's travels span a dramatic decade of history…
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Reviewed by Leonie Clark
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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.
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Reviewed by Tad Deffler
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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.
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Reviewed by Barbara Steeg


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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
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