Four Minutes

Deleva’s heartrending debut tells the story of a woman scarred by her childhood as an orphan growing up in a group home in post-communist Bulgaria. Narrator Leah recalls suffering in the orphanage, where she was irreparably lonely, physically and sexually abused by other children, and neglected by the adult staff. . Deleva circles around the trauma and approaches Leah’s abandonment from various angles as Leah, now in her 30s, dreams up scenarios about why her mother left, and volunteers at an orphanage. While volunteering, she bonds with nine-year-old Dara, a girl who has not spoken since her father was murdered five years earlier. Leah attempts to adopt the child, but as a gay woman she is disqualified. In addition to Leah’s arc, the book features nine short standalone stories about other marginalized people: Roma children and women, Syrian refugees, and a victim of family sexual abuse, among others. While they broaden the novel’s scope, they feel like appendages to an otherwise strong central narrative. Still, this offers many insights on childhood trauma. (Aug.)