Betimes Books

30/03/2026

It has been a little bit of time since closing the last page of Svetlana Pironko's debut book in English, The Safest Place, a collection of stories published by Betimes Books.
Still, little parts come back now and then, and now and then another read.

"She's rocking slightly on the swing and watching the swallows, that fly high, which means-no rain. She doesn't want rain. She had enough of it. But she must remember to water the garden tonight, for the fireflies. Fireflies like humidity, and she likes watching those tiny green lights in the grass when darkness falls. Tiny green lights of hope...Hope for what? She doesn't really want or need anything, and she only hopes for another hot summer day, and then another one, and another one." - from the story, The Safest Place.

22/03/2026

Our author on writing in different languages:

"I'm often asked why I write in a "foreign" language, French or English, while my mother tongue is Russian. In fact, it makes me question the very notion of a "foreign language".

Neither the French, nor the English feel "foreign" to me.
Nor does the Russian, of course. I left the country nearly 40 years ago, but it's still my mother tongue, literally - I use it daily to talk to my mother. However, from every other point of view it is a language of the past.

I think that a language stops being and feeling foreign when, beyond mastering the grammar and having an extended vocabulary, we reach an emotional and psychological understanding of it.

It isn't even a matter of our linguistic environment.

As a child, I grew up speaking Russian, with the exception of my paternal grandparents, who were ethnic Bulgarian and sometimes spoke Bulgarian to me. A language that I subsequently forgot and that is now sort of vaguely familiar, not quite foreign.

The 2nd official language of the country where I grew up was the Kazakh. I was learning it at school, without much enthusiasm, but I didn't see it as a foreign language:
"foreign" means "something from the outside; located outside a country or place, especially one's own; alien; strange; uncharacteristic."
It wasn't the case.

When I fell in love with France and started learning French, I wasn't treating it as a foreign language either - I wanted to master it as perfectly as possible, even before moving to France.

As to English, it stopped being foreign after many years of using it in work, as a translator and as an editor, and particularly after 16 years in Ireland.

Why I choose to write in one language or another is more difficult to explain: the idea and the words just come in French or in English, and it's a bit mysterious, but the writing process is the same.

THE SAFEST PLACE is my first book written in English. My novels are written in French. I have no immediate writing project in English, but it might just happen, like some books do... I certainly hope so!

15/03/2026

Thank you, Marvin Minkler Modern First Editions , for this beautiful review!

The Safest Place
Stories.
Svetlana Pironko
Betimes Books. 2026

Like the detailed work in a masterpiece by El Greco, Svetlana Pironko’s The Safest Place, is a distinct portrait, capturing different aspects of sorrow, and contemplation. The ability of the artist to transfer emotions from paintings, and for the writer to transfer emotions from the page to the reader. Svetlana Pironko succeeds convincingly.

With twenty-one stories and poems in all, the author weaves winding strands of them together, each one touching on passion, loss, memory, regret, acceptance, and the courage to accept both the past and the present. Marvelous shades to the stories from sketches from Enrique Sabariego compliment the pages throughout.

To be like the woman in Sunblock. A velcro kind of woman. Easily attached, easily detached. That’s how it is now. Too late to be weak. Too late to be loved.

The poignant, special moments in Freshly Ground Coffee between daughter, mother and a coffee machine that refuses to grind. How a great-grandmothers old brass cylinder grinder comes to the rescue. The resulting coffee is great, tasting as sweet as it smells. From across the table the touch of her mother’s hand on hers brings love, solace and comfort.

In The Watcher, a stay in a Paris apartment that overlooks a “tall, dark and handsome” streetlamp, soon illuminates a woman’s nights, while she listens to Bach, and watches the swans on the river. Enjoying the comings and goings outside the window. day after day. Overhearing the name of the dog that shows up each day with his dapper owner.
A couple kissing in a light summer rain under an orange umbrella in Paris, under the elegant “tall, dark and handsome” streetlamp. The woman finding solitude a refuge at this time in her life. Ataraxia. Peace of mind. Freedom from disturbance.

Every perfect word giving each sentence feeling, and emotional impact. Svetlana Pironko has created a collection of small stories, with engaging characters, that pull from the reader, real emotion and feelings on every page.

The Safest Place will long be remembered.

05/03/2026

Svetlana Pironko on writer - artist collaboration:

"The idea of getting my collection illustrated came when I was writing the story called The Absent One, a story inspired by a monumental painting by El Greco, called The Burial of the Count of Orgaz, in the Santo Tomé church in Toledo.

I've been fascinated by this masterpiece for a long time, but it's when I discovered another El Greco's painting, a rare woman's portrait (presumably of his partner and the mother of his only son) that the story shaped itself in my mind. And then the choice of the illustrator became obvious: Enrique Sabariego, a young Spanish artist, who shares my love of El Greco.

As it happens, he had painted for me a detail of The Burial, a man's portrait that is one of its most striking and mysterious characters.
And then other ideas came, some mine, some Enrique's.

It was an easy and harmonious collaboration and an enjoyable experience for both of us. I suppose we're both nostalgic of the times when such collaborations were frequent, particularly in France in mid 20th century. Why not reviving it? I hope the readers will appreciate!"

The Safest Place by is now available. Link in the bio.

04/03/2026

04/03/2026

28/02/2026

A short excerpt from The Safest Place by - the first story wonderfully read by John Shiel at the book launch.

The Safest Place is now available for purchase online. Link in the bio.

23/02/2026

A big thank you for joining us at the book launch of a wonderful collection of short stories by one and only 😊

Thank you .enrica for a lovely introduction and a thoughtful discussion.

The Safest Place is now available for purchase online

23/12/2025

As Christmas prepares to arrive, time to open Colin O'Sullivan's 5th novel, Marshmallows, and settle in for another holiday read.
The 2020 novel, published by Betimes Books is rich in character, masterfully plotted, and constantly surprising. Like the sudden Christmas cracker snaps at a Christmas Eve dinner table.
No one will remain unscathed on Christmas Day. But, will revenge be sweet as it was long dreamed of being?
Is it a crime novel, for a few crimes do take place? A Christmas tale of revenge, as events happen on Christmas Eve? A tale of the theatre, for major scenes do take place there?
The award-winning author's brilliantly realized and totally absorbing novel, Marshmallows is all of these things and more.