Queer Voices Reading Group

The Queer Voices Reading Group will reconvene in March with a Bulgarian fiction debut!

High in the Accursed Mountains, in a village ruled by the ancient laws of the Kanun, Bekija escapes an arranged marriage by becoming a sworn virgin, renouncing her womanhood to live as a man. Her decision sets off a brutal chain of events, destroying her family and separating her from the one she loves the most. Years later, as Bekija - now Matija - tells their story to a visiting journalist, long-buried truths come to light, along with the realization of all that might have been.

A gripping story of queer love and Balkan history, this novel is not to be missed.

"The nonlinear storytelling allows for a slow unfurling of ramifications and the concealment of surprises... there is much to admire here in terms of the originality of the subject matter and setting, and the way the novel sustains a simmering tension."
-Rónán Hession, The Irish Times

"The prose gallops, a muscled thundering horse underneath you, as Karabash writes of womanhood and queer love... Fairy tale, Bible story, keen, dirge and exultation, it is a strange and joyful noise, a full-bodied book."
-New England Literary News