Happy Publication Day, BECHI!

A groundbreaking debut novel from one of the most interesting authors of the generation. This is the story of a simultaneously close and destructive relationship between a mother and a daughter, and of a desire to belong somewhere while also wanting to break free.

Praise:

“Beneath the beautifully rolling prose and sensual metaphors there are angry, cleansing currents.—Bechi is a work that rejects sentimentality in describing the relationship between a mother and a daughter in this world. — Despite its big themes, Bechi is very polished and dense.… As a whole, Bechi is a strong debut and Koko Hubara a welcome addition into the field of Finnish fiction.” – Helsingin Sanomat Newspaper, 18.4.2021

”The storytelling is vivid and keeps you in its grip…” – Suomen Kuvalehti Magazine, 17.4.2021

Download English sample and synopsis

Bechi is in her thirties, and lives in Helsinki, where she is trying to finish her master’s thesis. Her mother Shoshana is a writer of Yemeni Jewish heritage. Her autobiographical novel shocked readers in Finland, but she has also burned all the bridges between her family in Israel.

When Bechi tells her mother about her pregnancy, many years of tension come to a head. How can two people remember everything so differently? More importantly, what are the things that they would rather forget?

About the Author

Koko Hubara (MSSc., 1984) is the founder of Brown Girls Media (Ruskeat Tytöt Media), the first media for people of colour in Finland. She is the first editor-in-chief of colour in the history of Finland. She is also a freelance journalist, essayist, translator and creative writing teacher. Hubara is a native of Vantaa, with origins in Vyborg in Carelia, Kemijärvi in Lapland, Israel and Yemen. Her debut work, the essay collection Brown Girls (Ruskeat Tytöt – Tunne-esseitä) was released in 2017, and has been translated into Swedish. Hubara has won many awards for her antiracist work in the Finnish context. Bechi is Hubara’s first novel.