Crack in the Curtain

by Selatin Softa

It’s 1984 and life is quiet for 17-year-old Osman; the summer is winding down and he is preparing for school to start up. But then, at a traditional wedding celebration, Osman meets Leyla, the girl who steals his heart. Theirs is no ordinary relationship, as their lives are soon turned upside down by the Communist regime ruling Bulgaria. As an ethnic group, Turks are about to be erased, their names and cultural identities stripped from them at gunpoint with the swipe of a Communist pen. Osman needs to flee for his life; he needs to search for a crack in the curtain

240 pages, Paperback

First published September 2, 2014

About the author

Selatin Softa, a Turk, was born and grew up in the small town of Kru- movgrad, Bulgaria, during the 1960s and 1970s. In his early teen years, he started the daunting task of learning English through listening to the Voice of America radio broadcasts and correspondence courses out of So- fia, the capital of Bulgaria. He spent a year in Sweden as a refugee near the end of Bulgaria’s despicable name change campaign before receiving a grant for Bulgarian Turks to come study in America. He graduated from Graceland College in Lamoni, Iowa, where he met his wife of 19 years, and settled in Eastern Iowa. They now live on a small farm and Selatin spends his free time gardening, reading, writing and keeping up to date on current events in the world he left behind. This is his first novel. To stay informed on his latest project, visit his website: www.selatinsofta.com.

Reviews

[Jacqueline Rhoades · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Wonderful and Enlightening Tale


It's 2:00 in the morning and I've just finished Selatin Softa's Crack in the Curtain. I was both moved and fascinated by this compelling fictional account of a young Turk in the Bulgaria of the 1980s - so different from my own life here in the States. You can hear Mr. Softa's native tongue in the telling of this tale and while some of the grammar may seem odd to our English speaking ears, I honestly felt that his descriptions, and the cadence of his voice, helped me immerse myself in this very different tale of fear and love and hope under a communist regime. Told through the eyes of Osman as he grows from teenager to manhood, the story not only gave me a clear picture of life in Bulgaria, but made me look at my own life with appreciative eyes. While some might have written this tale with more high drama and exciting action, Softa's quiet understatement of events lends a reality and credence to this story of hope.

I thoroughly enjoyed it and urge others to to give this unique and moving tale a try.

[Colleen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a fictional account of what a young man goes through during the forced Name Change in Bulgaria in 1984 and what life is like for him.

Normally I would not pick up this type of book to read, but since it was written by the husband of a friend and someone that I have met, I wanted to read it.

I will start by saying as an English/Language Arts teacher I had a hard time reading the book at times. There were many grammatical errors through out the book, but I kept reminding myself that it was written by someone whose first language is not English. There are also several errors as far as plot structure and character development.

Even with the grammatical and literary element problems, I did enjoy reading the book. I found myself wishing that Osman and his girl friend would be able to get together, I was there with Osman as he tried to escape Bulgaria. I was cheering him on and wishing that he would make it to America.

I believe that this book did accomplish the author's goal of letting those of us in America know what life was like for the many Turks that resided in Bulgaria instead of Turkey during the communist rule.

To Selatin Softa, for your first book and written in a language other than your native language, I believe that you did a good job of getting your message across and I look forward to more books written by you.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I admit I did not know a lot about Bulgaria and what was going on during the 1980's. Mr. Softa does a great job of setting the scene and describing the events of this time. I thought it was well done for a first time author.

[Amy Softa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an abbreviated version of a much longer review that will be posted on my blog, www.readwhatilike.com, on 9/8/14. Full disclosure, I am the wife of the author, but my review is an honest opinion of the book, Crack in the Curtain. Overall this is a good story, one that needed to be told to honor the memory and events that took place in Bulgaria during the Name Change Campaign, the forced assimilation of the ethnic Turks of the country. The Story centers around a young man named Osman, who is a Bulgarian Turk, as he falls in love with Leyla. Events unfold surrounding the assimilation and Osman finds himself needing to flee the country to save his life. The story reads like a memoir, told from Osman’s point of view as he remembers his life in Bulgaria.

Being Selatin’s first book and the fact that it is self published the story is a little rough around the edges. Picky readers need to take into account of that and realize that the story may not be perfectly polished and is written by someone whose first language is not English. The story is charming though, moves at a good pace and has some good action. A couple of the characters feel a little flat to me, but it doesn’t hurt the overall message of the story. The author does an excellent job of portraying the culture he grew up in and entertains us with clever antidotes, many of them drawn from his own life. Some of the dialog needs a little work, but it isn't the worst I've read by a new author. Turks love melodrama, and there were a couple of parts that made my eyes roll, but that just added to the simple charm of the story and characters.

I hope you give Crack in the Curtain a try, and not just because I want to see my husband’s project be successful. It is a good story, an entertaining story and with the 30 year anniversary of the events portrayed in its pages an important story. I would recommend this to lovers of historical fiction, those that enjoy novels about the cold war era, the Iron Curtain and the fall of communism. Also I would recommend this to lovers of Dystopian novels. The events in this book really happen, the author grew up in an actual dystopian society where the government attempted to dictate every aspect of its people’s lives even down to what name you could have.