"M, a 50-year-old novelist living in an idyllic place by a lake, is travelling to a literary festival to give a talk. A sequence of events, mostly beyond her control, leaves her stranded in an unfamiliar town. It's dead quiet, except for a travelling circus camped on the outskirts. M checks into a hotel, ignores her phone and wanders around, reminiscing about books read, films watched, museums visited."
"Some of these recollections are grounded in fable; others are vividly realistic. Among the latter are memories of her childhood and youth, spent in a country that no longer exists apart from on old maps and in history books. M describes the country she comes from as a beast waging war against its neighbour. We can guess her meaning without turning to the author's biographical note."
"She understands that joy was the very thing the beast was bent on annihilating and that it was important to keep it alive to spite the beast, but that's little consolation now that her former compatriots are killing others with missiles, with fire from the sky, with bare hands. She forces bread into her mouth, as if trying to convince herself that she is hungry and therefore still there"
A 50-year-old novelist becomes stranded in an unfamiliar, quiet town with a travelling circus on the outskirts. She wanders and recalls books, films and museum visits, with memories that alternate between fable and vivid realism. Her childhood and youth took place in a country that no longer exists except on maps and in histories, a place she imagines as a beast waging war. She struggles with guilt about enjoying life under that regime, recognizes joy as a target of annihilation, and feels her relationship to her homeland and its language compromised, symbolized by a silenced linguist.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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