What Now, Mr Wolf? / Eva Vezhnavets

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Па-беларуску

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.

“Granny could remember who was killed or simply died and where, in what part of the forest and how they were found … The old girl had lived through two wars and nine different powers-that-be, and she didn’t spare her granddaughter any of her stories.”

Winner of Jerzy Giedroyc Prize 2021

Bullaum Press, 2026. Pb., 200 pp.

‘I read Eva Vezhnavets’ novel and recognised the village where I grew up. She brought it back to life in my soul.’ Svetlana Alexievich, 2015 winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature

‘Strong and clear like vodka’ Judith Leister, Neue Zürcher Zeitung

‘Eva Vezhnavets has created a literary masterpiece … 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 Vezhnavets 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 Albrech, 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, Vezhnavets’ 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 concise language, fed with historical details, Vezhnavets 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, Der Standard

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