Šeptuchy / The Whisperers

Dorota, daughter of the local gravedigger, is taking in the world around her – with all its complex interpersonal relations, neglect and beauty, supernature and harsh reality, with whisperers who know how to treat sick people (or perhaps don’t, but are believed to). This tale of Dorota growing up in a magical region where the borders of Poland, Belarus and Lithuania meet is told by her best friend. The theme of borders and whether or not we can cross them is as recurrent as the refrain of a 1990s hit on MTV. And here the world of the living merges with that of the dead, Christian piety with the pagan tradition of healing whispers, modern Western culture with local folklore. The novel’s female characters are driven by an incessant desire to leave, to cross the border, to free themselves. But wherever they go, they take their experience of life on the periphery with them.

Excerpt from book

Publisher

Number of pages

192

Year

2019

Book category

General Fiction

Issue

1.

Published in

Bratislava

ISBN

978-80-8150-278-1

Book cover

Hardcover