House of Day, House of Night
Olga Tokarczuk
Translated by Antonia Lloyd-Jones
A woman settles in a remote Polish village. It has few inhabitants, now, but it teems with the stories of its living and its dead. There’s the drunk Marek Marek, who discovers that he shares his body with a bird, and Franz Frost, whose nightmares come to him from a newly discovered planet. There’s the man whose death—with one leg on the Polish side, one on the Czech—was an international incident. And there are the Germans who still haunt a region that not long ago they called their own. From the founding of the town to the lives of its saints, these shards piece together not only a history but a cosmology.
Another brilliant ‘constellation novel’ in the mode of her International Booker Prize–winning Flights, House of Day, House of Night reminds us that the story of any place, no matter how humble, is boundless.
andHouse of Day, House of Night
‘House of Day, House of Night is packed with chewy philosophical ideas and spellbinding images.’
‘Darkly humorous, deadly serious, and with a quirky cast of characters that will stay with you forever, this is definitely not to be missed.’
‘House Of Day, House Of Night is weird, brilliant, and totally unforgettable.’
‘The language in this novel is incredible. I found myself frequently putting the book down for a moment just to think about a particular word or phrase. This is my first Tokarczuk novel and I am thrilled to discover a writing style I love so much. I am going to read all Tokarczuk’s work that I can get my hands on.’
‘This is a very accessible place to start with Olga—the stories are lyrical and flowing while we spend our time learning about the different villagers, their connections to each other, who would we would be if we weren’t people, and the conflicts of existence and inhabiting the world.’
‘It is certainly a treat for the sheer number of flights of imagination and the creation of a small community of fascinating characters’
‘If you’re not familiar with Tokarczuk’s fiction, don’t put off any longer an encounter with the profound mystery at the heart of her work—and at the heart of yourself.’
‘I was utterly enraptured by the mushrooming magic of Tokarczuk’s landscape…’
‘It is a mesmerising showcase of Tokarczuk’s skills… she has brought together her own galaxy of compelling case histories and the result is unfailingly revealing.’
‘Tokarczuk employs a deceptively simple prose that carries the weight of complex ideas… one of the most original and daring voices in contemporary European literature.’
‘Tokarczuk’s witty, accessible prose propels you forward.’
‘All the fragmented and shimmering parts come together as perfectly as the pieces in a kaleidoscope.’
‘It’s a marvel.’
‘A book like no other’ [5 stars]
‘Tokarczuk is an excellent storyteller…. There’s no real plot, of course, and the stories don’t point in any clear direction, yet somehow the novel does achieve a kind of deepening gravity.’
‘An exquisitely constructed, mercurial gem from the Nobel prizewinner.’
‘A rich and pulsating view into life itself…a marvel.’
‘Poetic, rich work of art that ebbs and flows like a stream.’
‘A deft, poetic, moving description of the life of a woman living in the haunted, rural borderlands between Poland and the Czech Republic.’
‘Just one of those books you need to read.’
‘House of Day, House of Night is further proof of Olga Tokarczuk’s genius.’
‘More than a welcome addition to her impressive oeuvre.’
‘Moving and awe-invoking in her command of language.’
