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A page-turning epic of loss and redemption in the vein of Rebecca Makkai''s The Great Believers and Elena Ferrante''s Neapolitan novels, about a group of four women who formed a deep friendship in the turbulent years leading up to and after Georgia''s independence from the Soviet Union. As the turbulent twentieth-century nears its end, calls for independence grow increasingly louder in the Soviet Georgia. During this period of great upheaval, childhood friends Keto, Dina, Nene, and Ira grow up in one of the many "Italian courtyards" that define Tbilisi''s Sololaki neighborhood. The four girls are as different as can be: Dina, the rebellious, daughter of an unconventional mother; Ira, the clever outsider; Nene, the romantic, and niece of the most powerful criminal in the city; and Keto, the sensitive, motherless waif. Rising up to challenges both personal and political --a first love that can only blossom in secret, violence that erupts in the wake of national independence, bloody street battles and civil wars, food rationing and power cuts--the four women''s friendship seems indestructible, until an unforgivable act of betrayal and a tragic death shatters their bond. Decades later, the three survivors are reunited at a major retrospective of their late friend''s photographs in Brussels. The pictures document not only their story, but that of their country. Confronted by the evidence of their shared past, the trio must contend with memories that emerge from the shadows of their minds. Unexpectedly, something new is glimpsed, and forgiveness seems within reach. Like the International Booker Prize nominated The Eighth Life before it, Nino Haratischwili''s The Lack of Light is an explosive, decades-spanning novel in which to lose yourself, brought to life by the vibrant colors of Georgian culture and its people, and told in the classic style of an epic. It is a glorious book readers will return to again and again. Tumbling down the years, and across vast expanses of longing and loss, generation after generation of this compelling family hears echoes and sees reflections. Great characters and greater relationships come and go and come again; the world shakes, and shakes some more, and the reader rejoices to have found at last one of those glorious old books in which you can live and learn, be lost and found, and make indelible new friends. Translated by Charlotte Martin and Ruth Martin ...
About the author
Born in Tbilisi in 1983, Nino Haratischwili is an award-winning novelist, playwright, and theatre director. She is among the most acclaimed and widely-read authors of contemporary German literature. Her third novel, The Eighth Life (for Brilka), was translated into thirty languages and became an international bestseller. It won the Warwick Prize for Women in Translation, the Anna Seghers Prize, and the Bertolt Brecht Prize, and was longlisted for the International Booker Prize in 2020. The Lack of Light is her most recent novel. Haratischwili lives in Berlin.
Summary
A page-turning epic of loss and redemption in the vein of Rebecca Makkai’s The Great Believers and Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan novels, about a group of four women who formed a deep friendship in the turbulent years leading up to and after Georgia’s independence from the Soviet Union.
They are four, as different as can be: the romantic Nene, the clever outsider Ira, the idealistic Dina, and the sensitive Keto. Inseparable since childhood, they grow up together in an old Tiblisi courtyard, in Georgia, at a time when the Soviet Union is crumbling and the future of their country is in question. Each in her own way experiences love, hope, and disappointment as local mob wars, romance, and civil war threaten to swallow up their worlds. Rising to challenges both personal and political —a first love that can only blossom in secret, violent street skirmishes, a ravaging drug epidemic—the four women’s friendship seems indestructible, until an unforgivable act of betrayal and a tragic death shatter their bond.
Decades later, the three survivors reunite at a major retrospective of their late friend’s photography. The pictures on display tell the story not only of their country but also of their friendship, and, confronted by them, Nene, Ira, and Keto relive their staggering loss. Then, unexpectedly, something new is glimpsed, and forgiveness seems within reach. Like the International Booker Prize nominated The Eighth Life before it, Nino Haratischwili’s The Lack of Light is an emotionally bold, decades-spanning epic in which to lose yourself, brought to life by the vibrant colors of Georgia's culture and its people. It is a glorious book readers will return to again and again.
Translated by Charlotte Collins and Ruth Martin
Report
"Brilliant. [The Lack of Light] dazzles, first and foremost, by its epic scale: over 700 pages, a dozen characters, a human fresco spanning more than thirty years, and fascinating . . . at once Russian in its existential ardor and German in its psychological depth . . . a great novel about rebellion, about the attempt and temptation to live." - Le Figaro
"Remember this name: Nino Haratischwili . . . a formidable storyteller . . . The Lack of Light is a novel that devours the reader even as the reader devours it . . . Haratischwili manages to sew together the euphoria of intimacy with the brutality of politics. Masterfully. Without ever stifling the characters' warmth of hope." - Le Monde
"[The Lack of Light] features a whirlwind cast of supporting characters that bring to mind the spellbinding atmospheres of Orhan Pamuk's novels. But it is above all Elena Ferrante who seems to be whispering in Nino Haratischwili's ear, as she recounts the tormented lives of these prodigious new friends. Her radiant novel is the splendid gift of this literary season." - L'OBS
