Crossing
ABOUT
THE BOOK
Bujar’s world is collapsing. His father is dying and his homeland, Albania, bristles with hunger and unrest. When his fearless friend Agim is discovered wearing his mother’s red dress and beaten with his father’s belt, he persuades Bujar that there is no place for them in their country. Desperate for a chance to shape their own lives, they flee. This is the beginning of a journey across cities, borders and identities, from the bazaars of Tirana to the monuments of Rome and the drag bars of New York. It is also a search through shifting gender and social personae, for acceptance and love. But faced with marginalization at home and only precarious means of escape and survival, what chance do the young pair have of forging a new life? Pursued by memories of home and echoes of folk tales, they risk losing themselves in the struggle to leave their pasts behind.
Original title in Finnish, Tiranan sydän, published by Otava (2016)
ABOUT
THE TRANSLATOR David
Hackston
David Hackston is a British translator of Finnish and Swedish literature and drama. Notable publications include Laura Lindstedt’s My Friend Natalia, Petra Rautiainen’s WWII thriller Land of Snow and Ashes, and Kari Hukkila’s One Thousand and One. In 2020 he was awarded the Oxford-Weidenfeld Prize for his translation of Pajtim Statovci’s Crossing.
David Hackston is a British translator of Finnish and Swedish literature and drama. Notable publications include Laura Lindstedt’s My Friend Natalia, Petra Rautiainen’s WWII thriller Land of Snow and Ashes, and Kari Hukkila’s One Thousand and One. In 2020 he was awarded the Oxford-Weidenfeld Prize for his translation of Pajtim Statovci’s Crossing.
NOMINATING LIBRARY COMMENTS
This second novel by the award-winning Finnish-Kosovan writer Pajtim Statovci is a masterfully written, emotionally forceful and gripping story about identities, a journey through cities and genders in search of love and belonging. It is a story that will stay with you long after you close the last page of the book.