Prix Renaudot-winning author Alice Zeniter’s newest book to be translated into English ‘The Art of Losing’ (L’Art de Perdre), translated from the French by Frank Wynne, is a sweeping, intergenerational exploration of the ongoing tensions between Algeria and its former colonizer France. Though the book begins and ends centered on a modern-day woman named NaÏma, large… Continue reading The Art of Losing
Tag: Historical Fiction
A Single Swallow
A Single Swallow is a beautifully interconnected story about a young woman during WWII China told from the perspective of three men whose time together was defined by her presence. The three men agree to meet back in China in the afterlife, and so WWII veteran Ian Ferguson, missionary and village doctor Pastor Billy, and… Continue reading A Single Swallow
Stella
Sometimes historical fiction is faithful to the last details, and other times it relies on a kernel of truth to blossom into an enticing, though largely fabricated, narrative. Stella is solidly in the second camp. Based on the real-life Stella Kübler, a German Jewish woman who famously collaborated with the Gestapo during WWII to expose… Continue reading Stella
The Bridgetower Sonata
Sonata per un mulattico lunatico. This is the dedication that Ludwig van Beethoven affectionately gave to his Violin Sonata No. 9, a piece deemed not only too hard to play, but also “outrageously unintelligible” and an affront to music, by contemporary virtuosic violinists. Due to a falling out, Beethoven ultimately rededicated the piece, leaving its… Continue reading The Bridgetower Sonata