Libri di Vesna Goldsworthy migliori da leggere e consigliati

‘A book so full of steel and compassion that it stands glitteringly apart’ Rachel Cusk ‘A piercingly evocative East-West love story’ The Times ‘Atmospheric and gloriously vivid’ Guardian ____________________ Two worlds on the brink of change in a love story doomed to disaster Milena is a Red Princess living in a Soviet Satellite state in the 1980s. She enjoys limitless luxury and limited freedom; the end of the Cold War seems unimaginable. When she meets Jason, a confident British poet, Milena is appalled by his political naivety and his poor choice of footwear. Still, they fall into bed together, and before long Milena is secretly planning to escape to Britain. 1980s London defies her privileged expectations. The rented flat is grim and the food is disgusting but she is with the man she loves and there are no hidden cameras to record her every move. But then Milena discovers that Jason’s idea of freedom hurts even more… With sharp wit and tender precision, Vesna Goldsworthy unpicks the failures of family and state. Iron Curtain is a sly, elegant human drama that challenges the myths we tell ourselves. ‘A pacy page-turner… Full of humour, pathos and poignancy’ Irish Independent ‘Vesna Goldsworthy’s finely wrought third novel explodes into life… Potent’ Spectator ‘A wonderful, perfectly-pitched novel: full of delightful intrigue and wry insight about the human predicament and its unique tensions’ William Boyd

Longlisted for the Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction ‘Captivating’ Sunday Times ‘Glittering’ Sunday Express London dances to the tune of Gorsky’s billions.The most enigmatic of oligarchs, Gorsky desires and gets the best of everything and now he has his sights set on Natalia. That she is already married is an inconvenient detail. Nick works in a shabby-chic bookshop. When Gorsky approaches him with the commission of a lifetime, Nick suddenly gains access to the world of the wealthy and the beautiful. But this privilege comes at a price and Nick finds his new life suddenly fraught with danger…

First published in 1998, ‘Inventing Ruritania’ achieved a rare combination of critical success, broad readership and enduring academic influence. It is now recognised as a key contribution to the study of Balkan and European identity. Offered by Hurst in a long-awaited and updated paperback edition, ‘Inventing Ruritania’ is just as topical in the context of Europe’s current turmoil as it was when it first appeared. Vesna Goldsworthy explores the origins of the ideas that underpin Western perceptions of the Balkans, the ‘Wild East’ of Europe. European and Oriental at the same time, the Balkans are tantalisingly ambiguous: simultaneously attracting and repelling outsiders, an exciting alternative to the familiar ennui of the West, both completely different from ‘us’ and exactly as ‘we’ used to be. Writers and filmmakers in Western Europe and America have found in the peninsula a rich mine of images for literature and the movies. In her prodigiously researched but very readable volume, Goldsworthy shows how this lucrative exploitation of Balkan history and geography by the entertainment industry has affected attitudes toward the region. She considers the religious, national, and sexual taboos and fears projected onto Balkan lands, and discusses the political exploitation and media uses of the Balkan archetypes.