Zoli: A NovelA unique love story, a tale of loss, a parable of Europe, this haunting novel is an examination of intimacy and betrayal in a community rarely captured so vibrantly in contemporary literature. Zoli Novotna, a young woman raised in the traveling Gypsy tradition, is a poet by accident as much as desire. As 1930s fascism spreads over Czechoslovakia, Zoli and her grandfather flee to join a clan of fellow Romani harpists. Sharpened by the world of books, which is often frowned upon in the Romani tradition, Zoli becomes the poster girl for a brave new world. As she shapes the ancient songs to her times, she finds her gift embraced by the Gypsy people and savored by a young English expatriate, Stephen Swann. But Zoli soon finds that when she falls she cannot fall halfwayneither in love nor in politics. While Zoli's fame and poetic skills deepen, the ruling Communists begin to use her for their own favor. Cast out from her family, Zoli abandons her past to journey to the West, in a novel that spans the 20th century and travels the breadth of Europe. Colum McCann, acclaimed author ofDancerandThis Side of Brightness, has created a sensuous novel about exile, belonging and survival, based loosely on the true story of the Romani poet Papsuza. It spans the twentieth century and travels the breadth of Europe. In the tradition of Steinbeck, Coetzee, and Ondaatje, McCann finds the art inherent in social and political history, while vividly depicting how far one gifted woman must journey to find where she belongs. From the Hardcover edition. |
Contents
Section 1 | 3 |
Section 2 | 10 |
Section 3 | 11 |
Section 4 | 15 |
Section 5 | 19 |
Section 6 | 20 |
Section 7 | 22 |
Section 8 | 29 |
Section 21 | 170 |
Section 22 | 176 |
Section 23 | 181 |
Section 24 | 184 |
Section 25 | 187 |
Section 26 | 199 |
Section 27 | 205 |
Section 28 | 219 |
Section 9 | 44 |
Section 10 | 65 |
Section 11 | 92 |
Section 12 | 100 |
Section 13 | 102 |
Section 14 | 107 |
Section 15 | 118 |
Section 16 | 135 |
Section 17 | 137 |
Section 18 | 142 |
Section 19 | 151 |
Section 20 | 157 |
Section 29 | 220 |
Section 30 | 230 |
Section 31 | 235 |
Section 32 | 249 |
Section 33 | 262 |
Section 34 | 273 |
Section 35 | 277 |
Section 36 | 279 |
Section 37 | 287 |
Section 38 | 331 |
Section 39 | 333 |
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Common terms and phrases
asked blood laws boots Boshor Bratislava breath Brno camp caravan chest čhonorroeja cigarette COLUM MCCANN Conka corner Czechoslovakia Danube dark daughter Doctor Marcus door dress edge Enrico eyes face father feels feet fingers floor Francesca front glass Grandfather grass gray Gypsy hair haluški hand head hear Hlinka Hlinka guards horse kerchief knew kumpanija Kysely laughed leans lifted light looked Mamma morning mouth neck never night once pocket poems Poprad pulled pushed radio road rolled Romani Rudé právo says Zoli seemed shadow shirt shoulder shouted silence sits slapped slivovitz Slovak Slovakia smile song sound stared steps stood strange Stránský Swann talk tattooed tell things thinks thought told took touch towerblocks trees Trnava troopers turned Vashengo voice waiting walked wall wanted watched wheel whispered window woman wooden word young Zoli's