"Christine Estima's first novel Letters to Kafka tells the story of unhappily married Milena Jesenska, who starts writing letters back and forth to Franz Kafka, evolving into an affair which captures them. After first learning about Jesenska, Estima felt compelled to dig into her story, learning that she was a courageous journalist, translator and resister of the Nazi regime."
""I wanted her to not be known as Kafka's lover," said Estima on Bookends with Mattea Roach. "I wanted him to be known as hers." That desire sparked Letters to Kafka, which shares Jesenska's story and gives voice to a woman often overshadowed in history."
"Endling is Maria Reva's second book. It tells the story of a Ukrainian scientist who lives in her mobile lab, driving through the countryside searching for a place where she can breed the rare snails she studies. All the while, her family pressures her to settle down. At the same time, two other characters, Nastia and Solomiya, disguise themselves to search for their mother, who has gone missing."
Letters to Kafka follows Milena Jesenska, an unhappily married woman who begins exchanging letters with Franz Kafka that evolve into an affair. Jesenska's career as a courageous journalist, translator and resister of the Nazi regime is foregrounded to restore her identity beyond being remembered primarily as Kafka's lover. Christine Estima pursued Jesenska's story to reposition Kafka in relation to Jesenska. Endling follows a Ukrainian scientist living in a mobile lab who searches for sites to breed rare snails while facing pressure to settle. Two characters, Nastia and Solomiya, disguise themselves to search for their missing mother. Maria Reva drew on expatriate experience to inform portrayals of survival behind enemy lines.
Read at www.cbc.ca
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