1) Azem Berisha’s One and Only Flight to the Castle, by Veton Surroi
Veton is a friend of mine, the leader of a small but impressive political party in Kosovo, a former journalist and well-known commentator, whose tone is so characteristic that I think if I had been given samples of the text from this book and asked to guess the author it would not have taken me long. He kindly gave me a copy of his new book on Monday night, and I finished it today while sitting in Pristina airport waiting for confirmation that my plane home had got lost in the fog (symbolic, perhaps).
It’s a quick read, only 160 pages, with an introduction by Tim Judah. In a combination of fictionalised commentary and of semi-fantasy which reminded me most (and I’m sure it’s not accidental) of Ismail Kadarë, Veton explores the coming negotiations over the future status of Kosovo through the lens of the experience of ordinary Kosovo Albanians and Roma who were affected by the war, but also exploring the (real but imagined) personalities of Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Koštunica and the UN special envoy Martti Ahtisaari, and their (fictional) advisers.
He’s at his best in describing life in wartime Kosovo and the Kosovo Albanians’ attitude to their neighbours. Time has already overtaken his account of the negotiations, fictional though it is, with the death of President Rugova (though he does hint at this in the text, written mostly last November as far as I can tell) and more importantly with this week’s statement from the Contact Group which clarifies the terms of the talks very helpfully.
I have to say I will come back from this trip a lot more cheerful about the future of Kosovo (and indeed of Macedonia, where I have also spent some time) than I was when I came.
Interesting thought.
My point was to say that the fact that Lightborn is owned by fewer than a third as many LT users as the next book up probably means that it doesn’t have enough of a critical mass of fans to actually win the award.
I was spurred by your comment, however, to try and do some original research on how many LT owners a book published in November might have (slightly hampered by the fact Locus doesn’t actually list Lightborn‘s publication month, so I can’t be sure if November is correct). Of the 42 books I found, only three have fewer than 10 owners (Seed Seeker by Pamela Sargent and Skinners: Vampire Uprising by Marcus Pelegrimas, both on 9, and Sleeping Helena by Erzebet YellowBoy on 6). The median is 27.5 (between Yvonne Navarro’s Highborn, on 29, and Glen Cook’s Surrender to the Will of the Night, on 26) and allowing for the difference in size of the US and UK markets I guess that Lightborn‘s 10 is indeed about respectable.
So in other words, I concede your point that 10 LT owners is not remarkably low for a book published in the UK only in November. But I also don’t think it’s enough to outpoll the likes of The Windup Girl and The Dervish House come April.