Bibish

Tantsovshchitsa iz Khivy ili istoriya prostodushnoi. The Dancer from Khiva or the Story of the Ingenuous.
Azbooka. St. Petersburg 2004. 256 pages.
Foreign rights: Bulgaria, Italy, Japan, Poland, Thailand, UK, US

In it's first incarnation the book was a copy-book of A4 format, carefully written in school handwriting. But the story was striking for ist optimism and sincere good nature. The path taken by Bibish, a woman who could rely only on her own strength and wits, and also on human kindness, is in a way an alternative to the path of the suicide-bomber, when a person is prepared to take vengeance for the difficulty and horror of their own existence. Bibish never blames anyone. She displays a meek humility, both frightening and touching. Yet that is precisely what forces the world around her to change, and the people in it.

When it was published in St. Petersburg, The Dancer from Khiva was hailed by Russia’s Weekly Journal as “not only a literary text, but a document of human life, one with a rare power to move.” An unflinchingly honest memoir, this true story offers remarkable insights into Central Asian culture through the harrowing experiences of a young girl.

In a narrative that flows like a late-night confession, Bibish recounts her story. The product of incredible resilience and spirit, The Dancer from Khiva is a harrowing, clear-eyed dispatch from a land where thousands of such stories have been silenced. It is a testament to Bibish’s fierce will and courage: the searing, fast-paced tale of a woman who risked everything.

"A powerful testament to life inside a shielded and secretive culture, where a woman is defenseless against the vagaries of male rule and punitive tradition. Bibish's story feels so authentic and natural, like a talk at a kitchen table, that it is difficult to not lose yourself and be utterly absorbed by it, saddened by her setbacks which she recounts unflinchingly and without sentiment, and buoyed by the small pleasures, her courage, and the power of the human will. In its small way, in the way she lifts the veil off a hitherto unglimpsed existence--it is one of those rare books one can call revolutionary."
UK EDITOR OF BIBISH

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