Four books that put you in Georgia. Three are by writers from Georgia and set there, starting with The Eighth Life (for Brilka) and A Man Was Going Down the Road. The other is a wider pick, by someone who knows the place well.
The Knight in the Panther's Skin, a twelfth-century epic poem by Shota Rustaveli, stands at the root of Georgian literature. Georgians write in their own alphabet, and oral storytelling in villages and mountains lies behind Marjory Wardrop's Georgian Folk Tales, a nineteenth-century collection of tales from Georgian regions. Through the Soviet decades, writers worked under state control, and the upheavals of empire, Stalinism and the 1990s still shape Georgian fiction.
Otar Chiladze's A Man Was Going Down the Road draws on Georgian legend and Colchian heritage to probe the nation's history and identity. Dato Turashvili's Flight from the USSR fictionalises the 1983 plane hijacking by young Georgians, set against late Soviet Tbilisi. Nino Haratischwili, who writes in German, traces a Georgian family across the twentieth century in The Eighth Life (for Brilka), from Tsarist collapse to the 1990s.
“Find a copy” goes to Bookshop.org. If you buy, we earn a small commission and independent bookshops get a share too.
A Georgian family saga across the twentieth century, from Tsarist collapse through Stalinism and Soviet decline to the turbulent 1990s in Tbilisi.
A mythic, richly layered novel drawing on Georgian legend and Colchian heritage to explore the nation's history and identity.
Fictionalised account of the 1983 plane hijacking by young Georgians, capturing late Soviet Tbilisi and its restless youth.
By long-time residents and outsiders who know the place well, or folk tales, poetry and history with a strong feel for Georgia.
Nineteenth-century collection of tales from Georgian regions, showing rural storytelling, folk belief and mountain and village life.
Afghanistan Armenia Azerbaijan Bahrain Bangladesh Bhutan Brunei Cambodia China India Indonesia Iran Iraq Israel Japan Jordan Kazakhstan Kuwait Kyrgyzstan Laos Lebanon Malaysia Maldives Mongolia Myanmar Nepal North Korea Oman Pakistan Palestine Philippines Qatar Saudi Arabia Singapore South Korea Sri Lanka Syria Taiwan Tajikistan Thailand Timor-Leste Turkey Turkmenistan United Arab Emirates Uzbekistan Vietnam Yemen