Albanian Affairs, The

A novel about Albania under dictatorship, when it was the most isolated and paranoid European state, and where life could only be lived in complicity with its tyranny, or in clandestine resistance. The villa of state hero Zanum Radjik on Tirana's Elbesan road is a house of secrets. On one wall hangs the portrait of Zanum's absent wife, whose name is never heard within the house. She was the mother of his two very different sons, and the image of her gaze bears silent witness to her mysterious death of many years before, when Ismaíl, the youngest, was only five. Viktor—the elder son, his father's favorite—brings into this house without women a beautiful young peasant girl, Helena, as his bride. But the Radjik brothers have chosen opposing paths of honor, and painfully measure the distances growing between them. During one of Victor's frequent calls to military duty, an irresistible passion for Helena overwhelms Ismaíl, and he finds himself compelled to exhume at last the long-hidden truths and duplicitous crimes that poison all of their lives. The Albanian Affairs is a gripping exposé of psychological oppression. It is also a sensuous yet wrenching story of forbidden love, and an archetypal tragedy that echoes inexorably as if from the hand of Aeschylus.

"Originally published in Spanish as El amante albanes, and now translated by Leland H. Chambers by McPherson & Company (an indie press with a fantastic catalog), The Albanian Affairs manages to offer lust, love, political history, and family intrigue all in a mere 180 pages. The story takes place in an Albanian villa full of family secrets. Ismail, the youngest son, is growing more and more curious over the death of his Spanish mother when he was only a boy. He also finds himself tormented by the presence of his older brother’s new wife, the first woman to reside in their family in many years. He and Helena find themselves drawn to each other — too much. At the same time he struggles against his growing feelings for his brother’s wife, he begins to unravel his mother’s story. The Albanian Affairs is a passionate work that is painted rather than written. The language is stunning leaving me to marvel at the translation, and the backdrop of an Albania under the dictatorship of Enver Hoxha makes for a dark and moving novel."— Carp(e) Libris [