• The favorite readings, it is shared.

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  • Today, "Sworn Virgin" by René Karabash, published on April 8, 2022 by Éditions Belleville.

Christian Dorsan, novelist, blogger and contributor to the 20 Minutes

Books reading group

, recommends

Vierge Jurée

by René Karabash, published on April 8, 2022 by Éditions Belleville.


His favorite quote:

The Kanun is does not know the laws of time, my daughter, I do not want to hear you, marriage is a bargain, love is a weakness, marriage cannot be undone once it has been concluded, so be smart.

Why this book?

  • Because this book is

    both narratively and poetically powerful: Bekia/Matia is first of all a son that the father would have wanted and the drama of the family since of the twins of the pregnancy, only the daughter will be born.

    It's a fight for her as a woman to be able to exist.

    She does everything to have her father's admiration.

  • Because beautifully written, we think of Gesuino Nemus

    and his

    Theology of the Boar

    which constantly returns to a particular day in a Sardinian village.

    René Karabash's narration also returns to the decision to become Ostaïntsa and its tragic consequences.

    There is also Anne Kawala with this contemporary poetic way of living the moments and handling punctuation.

    The real character is not human, it is the Kanun, this oral tradition which acts as secular law, everything is codified, especially the right to revenge.

  • Because the heroine is not a fictional figure.

    The Sworn Virgins have really existed in the Balkans since the 15th century: women who renounce the feminine gender and sexuality, often to replace the men who are victims of numerous family revenges, sometimes to avoid an arranged marriage, sometimes to be able to live their homosexuality.

    It's all the harsh history and subject to the laws of the Balkans that takes the reader to lands as fascinating as they are austere.

  • Because this book is also a true love song,

    a moving declaration written by a beautiful pen.


The essentials in 2 minutes

The plot.

To escape an arranged marriage, Bekia wants to become an Ostaïntsa, Sworn Virgin, Mourash the father knows that there will be revenge from the family of the fiancé with whom he is engaged, Bekia designates her brother Salé as the sacrificed victim of the vendetta, however, he disappears leaving his father facing death.

Characters.

Bekia/Matia, the Sworn Virgin, Mourash the father, Salé the brother, Nemania the dishonored fiancé, Dana the loving cousin and the Kanun, the ancestral code that governs the lives of Balkan men and women.

Places.

A village in Albania and Sofia in Bulgaria

The time.

Current.

The author.

René Karabash is a novelist, poet, actress, she is the founder of a renowned academy in Bulgaria and her novel received the Elias Canetti Prize.

This book was read

as one reads a poem or a tragic play, this book is a hymn to women who decide to free themselves but also a dive into the codes of honor of the Balkans where men rarely die of old age.

This book is already a staple of Albanian literature.

A song of love!

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