Yewande Omotoso’s second novel The Woman Next Door is now available in Catalan as La Veina De Costat.
Yewande Omotoso is the writer of two novels in Bom Boy (2011) and The Woman Next Door (2016). The South Africa-based writer has been nominated and won several awards in the last few years of her career as a novelist. The Woman Next Door came with the following blurb;
Hortensia James and Marion Agostino are neighbours. One is black, the other white. Both are successful women with impressive careers. Both have recently been widowed, and are living with questions, disappointments, and secrets that have brought them shame. And each has something that the woman next door deeply desires.
Sworn enemies, the two share a hedge and a deliberate hostility, which they maintain with a zeal that belies their age. But, one day, an unexpected event forces Hortensia and Marion together. As the physical barriers between them collapse, their bickering gradually softens into conversation and, gradually, the two discover common ground. But are these sparks of connection enough to ignite a friendship, or is it too late to expect these women to change?
This novel has been all the rage since it has been out. It has been a finalist for the Barry Ronge Fiction Prize, Dublin International Literary Award and the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award for Fiction as well as been longlisted for the Bailey’s Women’s Prize for Fiction. Earlier in the year, an Italian language translation of the novel was announced and it quickly found itself as a finalist for the Bottari Lattes Grinzane Award 2019.
The beloved novel is now available to readers in Catalan. It is published by Editorial Les Hores with translation by Africa Rubies Mirabet. The announcement was made on Twitter by the novelist’s agent Elise Dillsworth on October 10, 2019.
The Woman Next Door by @yomotoso out now in Catalan, translated by Africa Rubies Mirabet. https://t.co/Lgx20OhxSK
— Elise Dillsworth (@EliseDillsworth) October 10, 2019
Those who read their fiction in Catalan now have a chance to experience some of the best writing coming out of the continent and hopefully will want more of the same.
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