Belletrista

This is an archived issue of Belletrista. If you are looking for the current issue, you can find it here


The absurdity of war and the mysteries of childhood merge in Icelandic author Kristín Ómarsdóttir's Children in Reindeer Woods. Read an excerpt here.	Turkish author Ayșe Kulin's Farwell: An Occupied Mansion in Istanbul tells the story of one particular family living in one particular house during the end of the Ottoman Empire. Read the story's beginning here.	Canadian Barbara Howard brings taxidermy and a baby celebration together with hilarious results in "Western Taxidermy" the title story in her new collection.

NEWS (October 2012): Dear Readers, this issue (17) is still the current issue of Belletrista. Due to a family crisis and ongoing situation, Belletrista has been offline for several months. The good news is that circumstances are beginning to lighten and we hope to have another fabulous issue online sometime this month. Thank you for bearing with us during this time.

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

CHILDREN IN REINDEER WOODS

Kristín Ómarsdóttir

Translated from the Icelandic by Lytton Smith

The opening scene of this novel left me reeling, and I remained rather stunned throughout the book. In a few short, staccato pages, Kristín Ómarsdóttir creates a world where the absurdity and casual brutality of war is played out …
READ MORE

Reviewed by Lisa Sanders

LYRIC NOVELLA

Annemarie Schwarzenbach

Translated from the German by Lucy Renner Jones

Lyric Novella is brief and delicate; it takes place in Weimar Berlin, and relates the story of a developing obsessive love by a young diplomat-to-be for Sibylle, a night club singer.
READ MORE

Reviewed by Ceri Evans

HOMESICK

Roshi Fernando

In Homesick, author Roshi Fernando interweaves seventeen short stories to form what the publisher calls "a composite novel." In these stories, Fernando introduces us to an extended cast of characters living in the Sri Lankan immigrant community of South London.
READ MORE

Reviewed by Joyce Nickel

THE FLIGHT OF GEMMA HARDY

Margot Livesey

A good story never dies—instead, it can always either be resurrected or re-interpreted by an insightful author who knows the value of an intriguing narrative and thoughtful characterisation. This is certainly the case with this new novel …
READ MORE

Reviewed by Dorothy Dudek Vinicombe

Amalia Gladhart reviews Argentine author Liliana Heker's The End of the Story

Links We Like

Belletrista - Issue 17
May/June 2012

Our Belle bag is traveling! Can you tell where our bag is?
(click on the photo to find out!)

Archived Issues
Missed an issue? No problem!