Blood Book

WINNER OF THE GERMAN BOOK PRIZE, THE SWISS BOOK PRIZE AND THE JURGEN PONTO LITERATURE PRIZE

‘Powerful’

Times Literary Supplement

‘Formally adventurous’

New York Times

‘An exquisite inquiry into what it means to be an individual in a body, a family, a society, with all the attendant misery, humour, joy and enduring mystery’

Krystelle Bamford, author of Idle Grounds

As their grandmother slides into dementia, an unnamed narrator begins to ask questions – to fill in the gaps, to resist the silence that shrouds their family. Childhood memories resurface, revealing a path into the past, winding back through generations. This matrilineal line leads toward nature, witchcraft, freedom. Could this be where they belong?

What follows is an astounding quest for liberation – from generational trauma, class identity, the limits of language. It’s a search for other forms of knowledge and traditions, other ways of becoming. Bold and expansive, Blood Book is an unforgettable reckoning with the past, and a mesmerising exploration of who we are.

‘Everything about it is fantastic’

Die Welt

‘One can only marvel’

Die Zeit

‘An important new voice for a new form of writing’

Tages-Anzeiger

Published in the US as Sea, Mothers, Swallow, Tongues