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When her parents die in a car accident, highly talented Austrian physicist Ruth Schwarz is confronted with a problem. Her parents' will calls for them to be buried in their childhood home - but for strangers, the village of Gross-Einland remains stubbornly hidden from view.
When Ruth finally finds her way there, she makes a disturbing discovery: beneath the town lies a vast cavern that exerts a strange control over the lives of the villagers. There are hidden clues about the hole everywhere, but nobody wants to talk about it - not even when it becomes clear that the stability of the entire town is in jeopardy.
In the literary tradition of Thomas Bernhard and Elfriede Jelinek, Raphaela Edelbauer's tale of trauma and history weaves an opaque dream fabric that is frighteningly true to life, and in the process she turns us towards the abject horror that lies beneath repressed memory.
The Liquid Land is a dangerous novel, at once glittering nightmare and dark reality, from an extraordinary new voice.
About the author
Raphaela Edelbauer was born in Vienna in 1990. She studied Language Art (Sprachkunst) with Robert Schindel at the University of Applied Arts Vienna. The Liquid Land was published by Klett-Cotta in 2019, and was shortlisted for the German Book Prize and longlisted for the Austrian Book Prize.
Jen Calleja is a British writer and literary translator. She’s the author of I’m Afraid That’s All We’ve Got Time For (Prototype), Goblins (Rough Trade Books), and Serious Justice (Test Centre). Her translations from German include the work of Marion Poschmann, Wim Wenders, Kerstin Hensel, Michelle Steinbeck, and Gregor Hens. Her translation of The Pine Islands was shortlisted for the Man Booker International Prize 2019.
Summary
When her parents die in a car accident, highly talented Austrian physicist Ruth Schwarz is confronted with a problem. Her parents’ will calls for them to be buried in their childhood home — but for strangers, the village of Gross-Einland remains stubbornly hidden from view.
When Ruth finally finds her way there, she makes a disturbing discovery: beneath the town lies a vast cavern that exerts a strange control over the lives of the villagers. There are hidden clues about the hole everywhere, but nobody wants to talk about it — not even when it becomes clear that the stability of the entire town is in jeopardy.
In the literary tradition of Thomas Bernhard and Elfriede Jelinek, Raphaela Edelbauer’s tale of trauma and history weaves an opaque dream fabric that is frighteningly true to life, and in the process she turns us towards the abject horror that lies beneath repressed memory. The Liquid Land is a dangerous novel, at once glittering nightmare and dark reality, from an extraordinary new voice.
Additional text
‘The Liquid Land is a daring and surreal nightmare that lingers long after you turn the final page … The Liquid Land is a powerful sociological and philosophical reflection on society and government.’
