It is 1984, and twelve-year-old twins Zlata and Srebra live in communist Yugoslavia. In many ways their lives are like that of young girls anywhere, despite one immense difference: Zlata's and Srebra's bodies are conjoined at their heads.
A Spare Life follows their growth from girls to young adults – their tenacious resolve carrying them from a desperately poor, provincial childhood to success and independence. Then their lives are thrown into crisis when an incident threatens to destroy their sisterly bond. They fly to London, determined to be surgically separated – but will this dangerous procedure free them, or only more tightly ensnare them?
In A Spare Life, master poet and award-winning novelist Lidija Dimkovska lovingly tells the lives of two astonishing girls caught up in Eastern Europe's transition from communism to democracy. A saga about families, sisterhood, and being outcasts. A Spare Life reveals an existence where even the simplest actions are unlike any we've ever experienced.
Über die Autorin / über den Autor:Lidija Dimkovska is the recipient of numerous awards, including the 2013 European Union Prize for Literature for A Spare Life. She is also the author of the poetry collection pH Neutral History (Copper Canyon Press, 2012), which was a finalist for the 2013 Best Translated Book Award, and Do Not Awaken Them with Hammers (Ugly Duckling Presse, 2006).
Christina E. Kramer is a professor of Slavic and Balkan languages and linguistics at the University of Toronto. She is the author of numerous books on the Macedonian language and the Balkans and is the translator of Freud's Sister, The Time of the Goats, and My Father's Books.
Preis: CHF 26.20
