Vendor
	Mohrbooks Literary Agency Sebastian Ritscher
Original language
English
Categories
Fiction & Related items
Weblink
https://sophievanllewyn.com/

BOTTLED GOODS

Sophie van Llewyn

Set in 1970s communist Romania, this debut novella-in- ash draws upon magic realism to weave a tale of everyday troubles that can't be put down.

When Alina's brother-in-law defects to the West, she and her husband become persons of interest to the secret services. As the strain takes its toll on their marriage, Alina turns to her aunt for help, the wife of a communist leader and a secret practitioner of the old folk ways.

Sophie van Llewyn was born in Romania. Her prose was published in The Guardian, Ambit, Litro and many other publications. She was nominated for the Pushcart Prize and won awards for her flash fiction and short stories across Europe and the States. She worked as an editor in a literary magazine and is currently the resident flash fiction writer with TSS Publishing. Now living in Germany, Sophie writes while on maternity leave from her day job as a doctor.

Available products
Book Published 2018-07-01 by Fairlight Books
Book Published 2018-07-01 by Fairlight Books

Comments

'A story to savour, to smile at, to rage against and to weep over.'

Bottled Goods is a masterful blend of the political and the personal, the magical and the mundane, the historical and the hyperbolic. From the very first page, Sophie van Llewyn casts her readers into the shoes of her protagonist, presenting Alina's communist Romania of the 1970s through an exquisitely unsettling tapestry of shifting voices, fragmentary perspectives, and interleaving narratives. Each chapter stands alone as a mini masterclass in flash fiction, yet as the novella spirals towards its gripping conclusion, these individual pieces build and layer and twist into something so much more than the sum of its parts. I started reading Bottled Goods on the bus and was so engrossed, I didn't realise I'd missed my stop until nearly the end of the line. When I finally looked up, I found myself miles from where I began, both literally and figuratively. I can't recommend it highly enough.

'A lucid and powerfully affecting story.'

Longlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction 2019

Nominated for the Not the Booker Prize

'This is an impressive debut in the tradition of Eastern European Absurdist fiction.'

Bottled Goods is a hypnotising read because of the supreme quality of the writing, the vivid characterisation and a meticulous attention to detail. The structure suits it perfectly because while each piece is crafted to carry its own weight, the narrative flows with ease throughout the entire novella.

'Sophie van Llewyn's stunning debut novella shows us there is no dystopian fiction as frightening as that which draws on history.'

Bottled Goods, Sophie van Llewyn deftly recreates the anxious mood of Communist Romania in a series of 51 brief narratives. A tour de force, a harrowing and ultimately triumphant story, a must-read by a masterful writer.