RAFFLESIA
On 13 November 2015, Paris was struck by the deadliest series of terror attacks that killed 130 people and wounded 230.
Rafflesia by Alice Dodgson grabbed my attention from the very beginning. I guess that happened because I subconsciously caught some remote likeness between this text and the plot of 'Sunlight on cold water' by Francoise Sagan. I have never been inclined to divide literary texts into ones written by a woman or a man but here I can see a symbolic coincidence. This is a story about the so-called middle-age crisis. Depicting different situations, the author manages to make us read the book till the end without losing interest to it. It is also valuable that the narrative goes beyond the local native frames and will surely thrill foreign readers.
Ramaz Tchilaia, poet, Litterateur, member of the jury of BE BEST SELLER contest
This is a very interesting book about the most relevant global issues. Because of the problems considered in it, foreign readers will easily understand the text and find it interesting. As for the author, she is a true Alice from Wonderland. I’m absolutely sure that she will become generally recognized. I’m happy to have the opportunity to make a contribution in publishing the first book of this very talented author.
Rusudan Petviashvili, Artist, cover designer of Rafflesia
In the beginning, the only thing I knew about the author of this book was that she was a young woman who wrote under a pen name. Well, to be more precise, I realized that the author was a woman in the process of reading and it intrigued me even more. Truth to tell, I’ve been interested in female authors for a long time: How do they describe the world that we all live in? How do they take the problems that we often try to avoid or just hide from? And all of a sudden, in this book I come across the candor that I’ve always been looking for in literature. The fairy tale elements took me back into my childhood. It’s was thrilling. I’m often invited to read a new book and I’m always so happy to discover good Georgian authors, but simultaneously, I often experience a fear not to be bored by a new text. It’s really boring when a book is heavy-going. I read Rafflesia in one sitting. In the end I kept silent, sat with a gloomy face, and then I smiled: I knew I could never accept the proposal of Palitra L Publishing to be Alice’s mentor. I believe no author will ever be able to advise another author, especially the one who has already written an amazing book like Rafflesia. Then we got acquainted and I got added evidence that my intuition wasn’t wrong: Alice Dodgson is a character of a kind-hearted fairy-tale.
Dato Turashvili, Author, mentor of Alice Dodgson
Translated into English by Eka Machitidze
Rafflesia, the largest achlorophyllous parasitizing flowering plant in the world, grows on the roots and stems of tropical plants. The vegetative organs are so reduced that the body of the plant exists only as threadlike strands living within the tissues of the host plant. On extremely short stems vestiges of leaves exist in the form of scales. Rafflesia is native mostly to the tropics. The genus includes the giant Raflesia arnoldi which often parasitizes the plants of Cissus genus. It is found on Sumatra. The diameter of the flower is about 1 m and it weighs up to 8-9 kg. It emits fetid odor and is pollinated by insects.
That business trip was a true salvation. I took in the reconditioned air of the plane and leaned against the back of the chair, resting my hands on the side supports and closing my eyes. The plane built up speed. I wondered: “Am I going to feel when it hovers in the sky?” The moment much alike orgasm: a second, a millisecond and you’re somewhere far away, at a different altitude. Finally, I decided to look triumphantly through the window over the land below. Then I breathed out and waited to the stewardess to order some whiskey. (See PDF)
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