”Mark-Alem pressed on, his mouth dry despite his attempts to reassure himself. After all, what did it really matter if he did get lost? He wasn’t on some vast plain or in a forest. He was merely inside the Palace. But still the thought of getting lost terrified him. How would he get through the n...
الجسر كاداريه من جديد، اقترب متهيباً، فالذروة التي وصلتها مع (الحصار)، أعقبها هبوط مع (قصة مدينة الحجر)، فما الذي يخبئه لي كاداريه في جسره؟ صفحتين فقط، كل ما كان كاداريه يحتاجه ليشد أذني قبل انتباهي، وكأن الألباني العجوز الذي أمتعني في (الحصار) و(دورنتين) و(الوحش) غاضب من تشكيكي بقدراته، في ه...
GJORGThis was the fateful day in his lifeIt was the second time in his life that he had lain in wait to take revengeBut the man he must kill was the same oneHis family had had great trouble paying the fine for the first wound, and a second fine would ruin themBut there was no penalty for deathHe ...
REVISED REVIEW! I was tired last night......I loved this book. Why? Well, what I loved most was the writing style. I scarcely realized I was learning about the events occurring in Albania 1941-43! The book description here at GR is practically nonexistent so I will explain a bit. Although ficti...
From the report of Controller-General Isesi. ONE HUNDRED and ninety-seventh stone, from the Aswan quarry. Nothing particular to report. Time taken to hoist to head of ramp: normal. Soldiers’ graffiti: no political significance, (Two vulgar words referring to female genital...
Wet snow slithered intermittently over Tverskoy Boulevard, settling on the trees and empty benches. The letters that Nutfulla Shakenov was writing in his notebook were widely spaced, as if he were bewildered. The professor of aesthetics was lecturing on the eternal unity of life and art. Sometime...
Snowstorm.The snow battered the train window with redoubled fury. The thought of that other train, on which Rovena was travelling, not only failed to snap Besfort Y. out of his inertia but also plunged him deeper into his stupor, as if he were dulled by some sedative.He had done what was necessar...
This variation was of course related to the nature of the announcement and whether its audience was to be found primarily among the illiterate masses or among the elite. Whether spread by ear or by eye, however, the qorrfirman aroused instant horror. But it could only be grasped fully if ear and ...
Friday, when the Central Committee’s plenum would meet, was still far off. He spent the whole of Tuesday morning listening to ambassadors’ reports and to a summary of the underground news from Tirana. A seventeen-year-old girl in the adjacent quarter had taken her own life. Rumors about Hasobeu’s...
Stres, dressed and dozing in an armchair (what else could he do on such a day), felt his wife’s hand touch his shoulder gently. “Stres, there are people here to see you.” He woke with a start. “What is it? Was I sleeping?” “They’re asking for you,” his wife said. “It’s your deputy, and another ma...
Despite the late hour he did not feel sleepy. His briefcase lay on the table, and he stretched out a mechanical hand to pick it up. He pulled out the lists of dead soldiers and began leafing through them. They made a big bundle, stapled together in batches of four, five - up to ten sheets. He gla...
They had pressured us in every way to accept being vassals of the Sultan. First they used flattery, promising us a part in governing their vast empire. Then they accused us of being renegades in the pay of the Frankish knights, that is to say, slaves of Europe. Finally, as was to be expected, the...
The ferryman poled them across the river, cursing the wagoners, the pitch, and the entire world. They said that the pitch was urgently needed at the Vloré base. That is how it has always happened. As soon as tar begins to move fast along the highways,, you know that blood ...
1 THE DIPLOMATIC BAG from the Royal Albanian Legation in Washington, D.C., arrived on a gloomy winter’s day, of the kind that nature bestows with particular prodigality on the capital cities of small and backward states. It contained visa applications from two Irishmen settled in New York, togeth...
It was void and desolate. No doubt if ail the birds had been rolled into one they’d have weighed more than the planes and taken up more room, but even if every plane, meteorite and satellite were added to those birds, the result still wouldn’t have filled even a tiny corner of the firmament. It w...
“Are you out of your minds?” the people said. “We barely got out alive, and you are trying to return? Down there death is everywhere!” The fleeing people were covered with so much dust that their faces looked more anguished and lifeless than the faces of the saints on the icons they were carrying...