{"product_id":"belladonna-maclehose-press-editions-9780857054302","title":"Belladonna MacLehose Press Editions","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eBelladonna\u003c\/i\u003e is brutal, beautiful, and unforgettable . . .  One of the truly outstanding novels of recent years EILEEN BATTERSBY, \u003ci\u003eLos Angeles Review of Books\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e** Winner of the Warwick Prize for Women in Translation 2018**\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e** Shortlisted for the inaugural E.B.R.D. Prize for Literature **\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e** Shortlisted for the Oxford-Weidenfeld Translation Prize **\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAn\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e excoriating work of fiction that references the twentieth century''s darkest hours\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAndreas Ban is a writer and a psychologist, an intellectual proper, but his world has been falling apart for years. When he retires with a miserable pension and finds out that he is ill, he gains a new perspective on the debris of his life and the lives of his friends. In defying illness and old age, Andreas Ban is cynical and powerful, and in his unravelling of his own past and the lives of others, he uncompromisingly lays bare a gamut of taboos.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Andreas Ban stands fo\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eYou read this \u003cb\u003egenerous\u003c\/b\u003e, \u003cb\u003eangry\u003c\/b\u003e, and \u003cb\u003ecandid\u003c\/b\u003e novel of ideas in a continuing state of wondrous disquiet . . . \u003ci\u003eBelladonna\u003c\/i\u003e is \u003cb\u003ebrutal\u003c\/b\u003e, \u003cb\u003ebeautiful\u003c\/b\u003e, and \u003cb\u003eunforgettable\u003c\/b\u003e. Daša Drndic achieves her mission, proving that silence cannot erase the past. Memory stalks us, and always triumphs -- Eileen Battersby * Los Angeles Review of Books *\u003cbr\u003eDaša Drndic, whose\u003cb\u003e razor-edged wit and outspoken courage\u003c\/b\u003e glints and slices across every page . . . \u003cb\u003ecultivates a visionary art of memory\u003c\/b\u003e . . . In \u003ci\u003eBelladonn\u003c\/i\u003ea, her writing glows with \u003cb\u003ean incendiary bleakness worthy of Beckett\u003c\/b\u003e . . . But along with that asperity and melancholy comes a gallows humour that often swings into \u003cb\u003ean uproarious mood of mischief and absurdity\u003c\/b\u003e. -- Boyd Tonkin * Arts Newspaper *\u003cbr\u003eThis book is \u003cb\u003eliterature with a capital L\u003c\/b\u003e and \u003cb\u003eDrndic is a miracle maker\u003c\/b\u003e conjuring some optimism from despair and charm amid the grisly -- M. Bartley Seigal * Words Without Borders *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eDrndic stares directly into the inky sins of us all and doesn't blink\u003c\/b\u003e. \u003ci\u003eBelladonna\u003c\/i\u003e is \u003cb\u003ea thrilling book\u003c\/b\u003e. \u003cb\u003eUnforgettable\u003c\/b\u003e in the seamless way the author combines the real world and the fictional until it no longer matters because, in the end, all of it is the truth. -- Mark Haber * Quarterly Conversation *\u003cbr\u003eThis \u003cb\u003epanoramic \u003c\/b\u003ework by Drndic is less a novel than a life's worth of reminiscences annotated with photographs and copious footnotes, reminiscent of the works of Aleksandar Hemon and W.G. Sebald . . . \u003cb\u003eThis work may well be the national novel of Croatia\u003c\/b\u003e. * Publishers Weekly. *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eA very fine novel, wise and brave\u003c\/b\u003e. Her fiction is \u003cb\u003every powerful statement fiction\u003c\/b\u003e, and yet somehow the quality, the humanity, the playfulness actually counters the polemical intent. This is \u003cb\u003ean extraordinary book\u003c\/b\u003e. -- Eileen Battersby * Irish Times *\u003cbr\u003eThe novel is \u003cb\u003emulti-faceted, sharp, surprising, darkly and grimly hilarious\u003c\/b\u003e, relevant to our times, and \u003cb\u003epossesses limitless depth\u003c\/b\u003e. It also \u003cb\u003ebristles with intelligence and defiance \u003c\/b\u003ein every paragraph, like an exceptionally erudite and alert porcupine. \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eBelladonna\u003c\/i\u003e deserves \u003ci\u003emajor\u003c\/i\u003e awards consideration\u003c\/b\u003e -- Jeff Vandermeer * The Millions *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eA pensive, provocative novel\u003c\/b\u003e of history, memory, and our endlessly blood-soaked times by one of the foremost writers to have emerged from the former Yugoslavia . . . \u003cb\u003eAn elegant novel of ideas\u003c\/b\u003e concerning decidedly inelegant topics, \u003cb\u003eempathetic but unforgiving\u003c\/b\u003e. * Kirkus Reviews *\u003cbr\u003eIts own language compelling, open-ended notwithstanding its apocalyptic images, \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eBelladonna\u003c\/i\u003e resembles a prose \u003ci\u003eWaste Land\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e, an X-ray of our culture, \u003cb\u003eBan's fragments\u003c\/b\u003e, like Eliot's, \u003cb\u003eshored against the ruins of our age\u003c\/b\u003e. -- Michele Levy * World Literature Today *\u003cbr\u003eDaša Drndic \u003cb\u003einterweaves fiction, reality, history, and memory to terrific effect\u003c\/b\u003e . . . Drndic attacks history with a novelist's sensibility and has produced \u003cb\u003ea poignant meditation on love and loss, the insanity of war and the legacy of human cruelty.\u003c\/b\u003e -- Lucy Popescu * Europe Now *\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Quercus Publishing","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48737635565911,"sku":"9780857054302","price":10.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9780857054302.jpg?v=1723811328","url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/belladonna-maclehose-press-editions-9780857054302","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}