#BlogTour-‘Nowhere Girls’ by Teuta Metra

About The Book…

Friends Alba and Sara could not be more different. While Alba is forcing her way into the upper echelons of Albanian’s richest and most powerful, Sara is working more than one job as a struggling journalist. Both desperate to escape their corrupt country, they’re quickly dragged into a sordid world of politics and lies.

When tragedy strikes their friend Ina, the two women must come together to save her little boy. Can they put away their troubles and secure a better future for the child? Or will their past catch up with them?

‘Nowhere Girls’ is a thrilling tale of love, lies and the lengths a woman will go to for freedom.

My thanks to Anne Cater of Random Things for having me on this blog tour-this is the second Albanian based book that I have read this month so far and I really enjoyed it.

The story and perspective of 3 very different women was very powerful and moving as it asks a very fundamental questions-how far would you go for someone you love? What would you do in the name of friendship? And how far can you bend the rules to create a fairer system for you and other women before you become corrupted?

It is a striking insight into a very different culture and political system which throughs into stark highlights just how women are treated-they seen as adjuncts to men and need to play the political or social systerms in order to gain better social footing for Alba or better assignments,for Sara, or for poor Ina, just to be treated as a fellow human being rather than object of her boyfriend’s disdain and violence.

The casual acceptance of women as things not people is really brought home from the very beginning-the descriptions of Sara and the way the men in the newspaper office treat her as the lowest of the low, making even going to the bathroom an occasion of mockery, Alba and the way she schemes to use men before they use her, and Ina who just wants a happy relationship with the father of her child.

These are all very different women, they are beautifully rendered and given some awful situations to deal with and they are all struggling to escape to a better life. The title of the book says it all, they feel they belong to no country because they are not recognised as they  are  women, but if they don’t belong in Albania, where do they call home?

This reminds me of the famous quote by Millicent Fawcett,

Courage calls to courage everywhere

and I would have to say that bravery in the face of over whelming odds is the central motif of ‘Nowhere Girls.’

I remain grateful to the author, Anne Cater and the publishers for my gifted copy of this highly recommended read.

About the Author…

Now a fiction writer, Teuta Metra’s experience as an Albanian journalist has made her an expert on the struggles of women from her country. Author, journalist and teacher, Teuta now lives in The Netherlands with her husband and two sons.

Twitter @Teuta_Metra

@annecater

Website : http://www.teutametra.com/

Link To Buy-https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07NCY2Q26/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_tkin_p1_i0