In a Nutshell: I found this wonderful read thanks to a recommendation from my friend, Anja. I read this on my kindle. This multigenerational novel tells the story of five female generations, within the same family, told from the perspective of Iva, who’s the youngest of the five generations. The feminine genealogy goes from Krstinja, … Continue reading Serbia 🇷🇸: Feminine Genealogy by Ljiljana Habjanović Djurović
In a Nutshell: Arno, a high-ranking Dutch civil servant meets Myrna, a Caribbean envvironmentalist. Arno suffers from insomnia and Myra can potentially help him to recover from his insomnia through a unique way of storytelling, that she has inherited. Themes: Love, power, colonialism and culture clash. A Quote: “We, the non-Westerners, non-white, non-Eurochristians have a … Continue reading Suriname 🇸🇷 : Love’s Perfumes by Rita Rahman, tr. Paul Vincent
In a Nutshell: This book is a bilingual selection of fairy tales in Russian and English. Themes: Love, family, identity and traditions. A Quote: “There is a voice they call bel canto, but you are ‘bel catto’.” An Observation: I loved the children reviews at the end of the English version, these were left on the … Continue reading Tajikistan 🇹🇯: Tales of Grandma Gulsifat by Gulsifat Shakhidi, tr. Tatyana Kinzhalova
I finished this book whilst spending Christmas last year on Koh Rong Island, Cambodia. In a Nutshell: This memoir recounts Bibish’s childhood in Uzbekistan, getting married and time spent living in Russia with her husband and children. Themes: Love, loss, family, identity and the many hardships women worldwide have to endure. Warning: there is mention … Continue reading Uzbekistan 🇺🇿: The Dancer from Khiva by Bibish, tr. Andrew Bromfield
My copy was a Christmas present from my dad and step-mum, staunch supporters of this project! I remember reading this when my now toddler was 7-8 moths old, I used to take him to the rooftop, whilst he napped, I read this book, with a nice breeze and a sip of my coffee. What a … Continue reading Poland 🇵🇱: Ellis Island: a people’s history by Malgorzata Szejnert, tr. Sean Gasper Bye
In a Nutshell: This book was published in 1986 and it was translated into English and published a couple of years ago. It tells the story of the children, now adults, who survived the Nazi invasion on the eastern front of WW2. This book documents the memories of children who survived. Over 100 testimonies, which … Continue reading Belarus 🇧🇾: Last Witnesses: Unchildlike Stories by Svetlana Alexievich, tr. Richard Pevear & Larissa Volokhonsky
In a Nutshell: Zlata’s Diary is the diary of Zlata Filipović, with entries from September 1991-December 1993, it starts just before her 10th birthday. It is a moving, sometimes funny and very sad account of her experience of the Bosnian war as it hit her home city of Sarajevo. Themes: War, friendship, politics, love, childhood and … Continue reading Bosnia and Herzegovina 🇧🇦 : Zlata’s Diary by Zlata Filipović, tr. Christina Pribichevich-Zorić
In a Nutshell: This book is Belli’s account of the Nicaraguan revolution, of meetings with Fidel Castro and Gabriel García Marquez and exile in Costa Rica and of her own political and romantic awakenings. A brilliant book, I was gripped from the very first page. I have now thought to myself of all the people … Continue reading Nicaragua 🇳🇮: The Country Under My Skin: a memoir of love and war by Gioconda Belli, tr. by Kristina Cordero
My dad and step-mum are champions of this project and for my birthday this year, they gave me two books, one representing Namibia and this one. In a Nutshell: This 130 page novella is part of the AWS (African Writers Series). It is a sort of whodunnit, it takes place on the eve of Eid, starting at … Continue reading Mozambique 🇲🇿: Neighbours: The Story of a Murder by Lília Momplé, tr. Richard Bartlett and Isaura de Oliveira
Some time last year, I tweeted that I was looking for books by women from certain African countries, someone recommended this book, and it doesn’t disappoint. In a Nutshell: Awu’s Story is a story of Awu and her marriage to Obame, and of old traditions in Northern Gabon grappling with the change of modern customs in … Continue reading Gabon 🇬🇦: Awu’s Story by Justine Mintsa, tr. Cheryl Toman
Global Literature in Libraries Initiative 