What Now, Mr Wolf?

Eva Vezhnavets author Jim Dingley translator Ella Dingley translator

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Bullaun Press

Publishing:1st Jun '26

£12.99

This title is due to be published on 1st June, and will be despatched as soon as possible.

What Now, Mr Wolf? cover


Ryna comes home from abroad to the wake of her granny Darafeya in Nauhalnaye, a village in the drained marshlands near Lipen, in a remote corner of Belarus. That night as Ryna sits alone with the coffin, Darafeya, who lived to be a hundred, tells one last story. She and her grandmother, one-eyed Maryanka, known as the ‘whisperers’, managed to survive several brutal regimes, feared and respected by their neighbours for their powers of healing and witchcraft. 
Caustic; harrowing, yet leavened with black humour, What Now, Mr Wolf? offers an unforgettable oral testimony of the dark days of recent European history. Ryna, prisoner of her grandmother Darafeya’s memories of relentless violence, tries to make her peace with them and remake a life for herself in this troubled place.

'I read Eva Viežnaviec’s novel and recognised the village where I grew up. She brought it back to life in my soul.' – Svetlana Alexievich

'Strong and clear like vodka.' Judith Leister, Neue Zürcher Zeitung

 'Eva Viežnaviec has created a literary masterpiece in just under 150 pages about the largely unnoticed, unknown history of her country in the twentieth century ... The story is told with poetic force and subtle irony, in the sensual and direct language of the two protagonists.' Sabine Berking , Frankfurter Allgemeine

 
'In language both visually rich and haunting, Eva Viežnaviec tells of her beloved grandmother and illuminates at the same time a piece of every-day history from Eastern Europe in the 20th century ... A novel that acts as a conversation between the living and the dead, a book full of hope …. highly recommended.' -  Terry Albrecht, WDR5 Bücher

'A literary thunderbolt ... An overwhelming novel, a challenge, a study of man, a history lesson, a psychogram of power and powerlessness – grand, important literature!' - Bernd Melichar, Kleine Zeitung

'In clear, almost harsh sentences, Viežnaviec’s  densely-woven family story spanning five generations tells of people instead of politics. ... This book is a tribute to the women of Belarus, who are an example of how to survive on scorched earth.' Cornelius Wüllenkemper, Deutschlandfunk Büchermarkt

'It hits with the force of a sledgehammer... Powerful and, despite all the brutality, highly poetic. In a concise language, fed with historical details, Viežnaviec succeeds in bringing the monstrous upheavals and darkness in short episodes to life so vividly that the reader becomes dizzy over the course of such a condensed journey through time. ... A powerful homage to Belarusian women, their strength and liberated savoir-vivre.'  Ingo Petz, Standard Album

'The reading develops a force that resonates for a long time.' - Roberta de Righi, Münchner Abendzeitung,

  • Winner of Jerzy Giedroyc Prize 2021

ISBN: 9781917653022

Dimensions: unknown

Weight: unknown

172 pages