Critics' Opinion:
Readers' rating:
Published Sep 2017
146 pages
Genre: Literary Fiction
Publication Information
Longlisted for the 2017 Man Booker International Prize.
While political change hums in the background, Wiola looks back on her youth in a close-knit agricultural community in 1980s Poland: the superstitions of the village women, rumored visits from the Pope, and the locked room in the dressmaker's house. In prose that sparkles with a poet's touch, Wioletta Greg's debut animates the strange wonders of growing up.
"Starred Review. Greg's masterful first novel is charming, seductive, and sinister by turns." - Kirkus
"Starred Review. Greg's fictional debut combines the opposing literary styles of socialist realism and magic realism in intoxicating sentences that convey sensuous detail so delightfully that one feels as though one is eating watermelon outdoors in summer." - Booklist
"The concise sentences and stark language mirror the scarcity of daily life during the collapse of the Soviet Bloc. The protagonist's recollections also delve into collisions between religious and political ideology, exemplifying the conflict between self and society. Marciniak's deft translation amplifies the engrossing sensory details of Greg's heartbreaking and enlivening novel." - Publishers Weekly
"Enchantingly elliptical fiction debut that sparkles with a gem-like quality." - The Guardian (UK)
"Shines with a surreal and unsettling vigour. As an award-winning poet, Greg writes with a lyricism that brings alive the charms and dangers of Wiola's life." - The Financial Times (UK)
"Both magical and sinister, a memoir and a fairy tale and, like Wiola, completely captivating." - The Irish News
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Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Wioletta Greg is a Polish writer; she was born in a small village in 1974 in the Jurassic Highland of Poland. In 2006, she left Poland and moved to the UK. Between 1998 and 2012, she published six volumes of poetry. Her works have been translated into five languages.
Eliza Marciniak is an editor and translator. She lives in London, England.
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