{"product_id":"four-minutes-9781948830379","title":"Four Minutes","description":"Giving voice to people living on the periphery in post-communist Bulgaria, \u003ci\u003eFour Minutes\u003c\/i\u003e centers around Leah, an orphan who suffered daily horrors growing up, and now struggles to integrate into society as a gay woman. She confronts her trauma by trying to volunteer at the orphanage, and to adopt a young girl--a choice that is frustrated over and over by bureaucracy and the pervasive stigma against gay women. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn addition to Leah's narrative, the novel contains nine other standalone character studies of other frequently ignored voices. These sections are each meant to be read in approximately four minutes, a nod to a social experiment that put forth the hypothesis that it only takes four minutes of looking someone in the eye and listening to them in order to accept and empathize with them. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eA meticulously crafted social novel, \u003ci\u003eFour Minutes\u003c\/i\u003e takes a difficult, uncompromising look at modern life in Eastern Europe.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eDeleva, Nataliya:\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e - \u003cb\u003eNataliya Deleva\u003c\/b\u003e is a Bulgarian-born writer living in London. Her debut novel \u003ci\u003eFour Minutes\u003c\/i\u003e won the Best Debut Novel Award (Peroto Literary Awards 2018), Second Prize for Debut Prose (Southern Spring, 2018) and was shortlisted for Novel of the Year (13 Centuries Bulgaria, 2018). Her short fiction, novel excerpts, essays, book reviews and interviews appeared in literary journals and anthologies, such as \u003ci\u003eWords Without Borders\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eFence\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eAsymptote\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eEmpty Mirror\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eExchanges Literary Journal\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eProject Plume\u003c\/i\u003e, the \u003ci\u003eEuropean First Novelist Festival\u003c\/i\u003e anthology (Hungary, 2019), \u003ci\u003eStories From the 90s\u003c\/i\u003e anthology (ICU Publishing, 2019) and \u003ci\u003eGranta\u003c\/i\u003e Bulgaria. Deleva recently completed her second novel, \u003ci\u003eArrival\u003c\/i\u003e, written simultaneously in English and Bulgarian.\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eAngel, Izidora:\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e - \u003cb\u003eIzidora Angel\u003c\/b\u003e is a Bulgarian-born writer, translator, and creative director living in Chicago. She has published essays, critique, and translations for the \u003ci\u003eChicago Reader\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003ePublishing Perspectives\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eEuropeNow Journal\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eDrunken Boat\u003c\/i\u003e (Anomaly), \u003ci\u003eBanitza\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eEgoist\u003c\/i\u003e, and others. She is a founding member of the Third Coast Translators Collective. Her debut translation of Hristo Karastoyanov's \u003ci\u003eThe Same Night Awaits Us All\u003c\/i\u003e (Open Letter, 2018), received an English PEN grant, an ART OMI fellowship, and was shortlisted for Peroto Literary Awards in 2018.","brand":"Open Letter","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50677307015442,"sku":"9781948830379","price":10.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_13ffd3f8-2565-4123-831d-abaf07466a6d.jpg?v=1733892874","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/four-minutes-9781948830379","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}