Swallowing Mercury / Wioletta Greg ; Translated From the Polish by Eliza MarciniakSwallowing Mercury / Wioletta Greg ; Translated From the Polish by Eliza Marciniak
Title rated 0 out of 5 stars, based on 0 ratings(0 ratings)
Book, 2017
Current format, Book, 2017, , Available .Book, 2017
Current format, Book, 2017, , Available . Offered in 0 more formatsSet in rural south Poland in the 1980s, this novella follows a young girl's passage to adulthood in her village, where folklore lives alongside religious belief and peculiar personal metamorphoses are the normWiola lives in a close-knit agricultural community. Wiola has a black cat called Blackie. Wiola's father was a deserter but now he's a taxidermist. Wiola's mother tells her that killing spiders brings on storms. Wiola must never enter the seamstress's 'secret' room. Wiola collects matchbox labels. Wiola is a good Catholic girl brought up with folktales and nurtured on superstition. Wiola lives in a Poland that is both very recent and lost in time. Wiola's life is peculiar. Wiola's life is just a life.Following Wiola's progress from childhood to adolescence, Swallowing Mercury is a novella about the ordinary passing of years filled with extraordinary days. In vivid prose, filled with texture, colour and sound, it depicts an enchanting world of horse-drawn carts and local markets, folk customs and political unrest, freshly-picked cherries and rival cigarette brands. It is a precise and sensitive character study of a clever, strong-willed, thoughtful girl who grows into a unique young woman, both an observer of and a participant in her world.
Title availability
About
Contributors
Details
Publication
- London : Portobello Books, [2017]
Opinion
More from the community
Community lists featuring this title
There are no community lists featuring this title
Community contributions
Community quotations are the opinions of contributing users. These quotations do not represent the opinions of Strathcona County Library.
There are no quotations from this title
Community quotations are the opinions of contributing users. These quotations do not represent the opinions of Strathcona County Library.
There are no quotations from this title
From the community