The Albanian Affairs - Hardcover

Susana Fortes

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0929701798 ISBN 13: 9780929701790

Publisher: McPherson, 2006

Synopsis

Under Enver Hoxha's dictatorship Albania was the most isolated and paranoid European state, where life could only be lived in complicity with its tyranny, or in clandestine resistance. The villa of state hero Zanum Radjik on Tirana's Elbesan road is a house of many secrets. On one wall hangs the portrait of Zanum's absent wife, whose name was never heard within the house. She was the mother of his two very different sons, and the image of her gaze bears silent witness to her mysterious death of many years before, when Ismail, the youngest was only five. Into this house without women Viktor -- the elder son, his father's favorite -- has brought as his bride a beautiful young peasant girl, Helena. But the Radjik brothers have chosen opposing paths of honor, painfully measuring the growing distance between them. And when an irresistible passion for Helena overwhelms Ismail, his is compelled to exhume at last the long-hidden truths and duplicitous crimes that poison all of their lives. The Albanian Affairs is a gripping exposé of psychological oppression, a sensuous yet wrenching story of forbidden love, and an archetypal tragedy that echoes inexorably as if from the hand of the Greek playwright Aeschylus.

About this title

About the Author:

Susana Fortes was born in 1959 in Pontevedra, in the Galician region of Spain. She received degrees in history from the Universidad de Santiago de Compostela and the Universidad de Barcelona. Her first novel won the 1994 Premio Nuevos Narradores, while her fourth novel was the runner-up for the Primavera Novela in 2001. Her fifth novel, El Amante Albanés, was the runner-up for the 2003 Planeta Prize, ahead of 510 other contendors seeking Spain's most presigious award, and in consequence the author received a prize worth $172,000. El Amante Albanés, translated as The Albanian Affairs, is now the first of Susana Fortes's novels to be published in English. The book was a bestseller in Spain, and has been issued in Italy, Norway and France. Susana Fortes is a regular contributor to the newspapers La Voz de Galicia and El Pa­s, as well as to various cinema and literary magazines.

Review:

[The Albanian Affairs is a] powerful meditation on the destinies of love's outlaws. (Starred Review) --Kirkus Reviews

Skillfully translated from the original Spanish by Leland H. Chambers, The Albanian Affairs is a heartrending novel by author Susana Fortes. Runner-up for the Planeta Prize for fiction, one of Spain's most renowned literary competitions, The Albanian Affairs is set in the nation of Albania during Enver Hoxha's tyrannical dictatorship. Within the villa of state hero Zanum Radjik on Tirana's Elbesan road, there squats a house filled with menacing secrets. Zanum's wife is deceased these many years, and his two very different sons, who embark upon vastly different paths of honor. When the elder son, Viktor, brings home a beautiful peasant bride, passion for her threatens to overwhelm the younger sibling Ismail. The Albanian Affairs is at once a steamy tale of forbidden love, a harrowing novel of mental and emotional oppression, and a tragedy in the vein of ancient Greek classics. Highly recommended for modern literature shelves. --Midwest Book Review

The novel is surrounded by mystery and a sense of tragic life, which undoubtedly binds this ensemble of characters that are doomed to failure from the start. It also parallels the fear and secrecy felt by many Albanians who were in opposition with communism and its doctrine. Susana Fortes deftly blends elements of realism, mystery, suspense, revenge and eroticism... --Illyria, the Albanian-American Newspaper

About this edition

• Publisher: McPherson
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 0929701798
• ISBN 13: 9780929701790
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 180