-
Mar 7, 2024 | 
ft.com | Leo Vardiashvili
Flying to Georgia from Europe, you might catch a glimpse of the imposing Caucasus Mountains, snow-capped all year round.
-
Mar 1, 2024 | 
literaryreview.co.uk | Leo Vardiashvili
The ancient city of Tbilisi – squeezed between cliffs and mountains into a winding valley along the banks of the Mtkvari River – has witnessed trade, conversion and invasion from every direction of the compass for the better part of two millennia. Strolling through the Old Town, one sees a cross-section of Georgia’s history, from a Zoroastrian fire temple and ancient Christian churches to examples of Soviet brutalism and garish modern casinos.
-
Feb 21, 2024 | 
bookbrowse.com | Leo Vardiashvili |Elisabeth Herschbach
BookBrowse:
Part suspenseful thriller, part haunting family drama, Leo Vardiashvili's debut novel is a multilayered portrait of a country and family torn apart by war.
-
Feb 10, 2024 | 
bookreporter.com | Leo Vardiashvili
When Saba was still a child, civil war broke out in Georgia, just months after his home country achieved independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. Saba; his older brother, Sandro; and their father, Irakli, escaped to London, leaving behind the boys' mother, Eka (who had divorced Irakli years earlier), as she did not have a passport.
-
Feb 5, 2024 | 
bbc.co.uk | Leo Vardiashvili
Nicola Meighan hears from the winner of the BBCRS Young Trad Musician Award 2024, Calum McIlroy. Debut author Leo Vardiashvili discusses his novel Hard by a Great Forest. Glaswegian singer-songwriter Dylan John Thomas performs live in session. Comedian, actor, writer and podcast host Jess Fostekew speaks to Nicola about her latest show, Mettle, which she brings to Scotland next month. Plus Nicola meets the band behind our brand new Single of the Week.
-
Feb 2, 2024 | 
sheerluxe.com | Heather Steele |Leo Vardiashvili
Ray Trapani always wanted to be a criminal, even as a young boy. In 2017, amid the economic frenzy of the Bitcoin boom, there was no better place for scammers than cryptocurrency. So, when Ray's friend approached him with the idea of creating a debit card for crypto, he jumped at the chance. There was only one problem: he had no idea how to do that.
-
Jan 31, 2024 | 
sacbee.com | Leo Vardiashvili
"Hard by a great forest dwelt a poor woodcutter with his wife and two children. The boy was called Hansel and the girl Gretel..."In the Republic of Georgia, on the eve of the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Irakli also lives by a great forest, with wife Eka and two sons, the younger of whom, called Saba, narrates this debut novel by Leo Vardiashvili. Irakli's lot is certainly hard, and in the midst of the post-Soviet civil war he flees to England with his children, leaving Eka behind.
-
Jan 31, 2024 | 
entertainment-mag.com | Leo Vardiashvili
Vardiashvili, who also left Tbilisi for London as a child, is understandably attempting a complicated reclamation of his birthplace, but this reclamation skews romantic through the overuse of aphorism. “Funny how the thing you once loved so much can become what you fear the most,” he writes. There is also an uneasy balance between poetry and prose, which shades the sentences purple.
-
Jan 30, 2024 | 
smh.com.au | Leo Vardiashvili |Jason Steger
Right. That's the holidays done and dusted. You've dealt with your beach reads and the books you got for Christmas, and now you're ready to tackle new books in 2024. Here are 10 books that might help to ease you back into the new reading year.
-
Jan 25, 2024 | 
startribune.com | Leo Vardiashvili
By Ellen Akins , Special to the Star Tribune January 25, 2024 - 7:30 AM See more of the story "Hard by a great forest dwelt a poor woodcutter with his wife and two children. The boy was called Hansel and the girl Gretel..." In the Republic of Georgia, on the eve of the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Irakli also lives by a great forest, with wife Eka and two sons, the younger of whom, called Saba, narrates this debut novel by Leo Vardiashvili.
