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

THE LIFEBOAT

Charlotte Rogan

Grace Winter, the narrator of Charlotte Rogan's The Lifeboat, is as unreliable as narrators come. Twenty-two years old, a newlywed and a widow, Grace is standing trial for her life. The Lifeboat is her attempt to recreate …
READ MORE

Reviewed by Caitlin Fehir

STORIES AND ESSAYS OF MINA LOY

Mina Loy

Edited by Sara Crangle

Mina Loy is one of the lost women of English literature. Writing in the first half of the twentieth century, she was part of the Futurist poets community in Florence and a prominent member of the European arts scene, mingling with …
READ MORE

Reviewed by Andy Barnes

THE LÖWENSKÖLD RING

Selma Lagerlöf

Translated from the Swedish by Linda Schenck

Translator Linda Schenck's notes to her 1991 English version of Selma Lagerlöf's The Löwensköld Ring are almost as interesting as the novella itself, and anyone interested in literary criticism might easily get sidetracked musing about theories of translation instead of focusing on the brilliance of this …
READ MORE

Reviewed by Jean Raber

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!