Lapvona

NAMED A MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK OF 2022 BY The Millions; Harper's Bazaar; New York Magazine; LitHub; AV Club; and more In a village in a medieval fiefdom buffeted by natural disasters; a motherless shepherd boy finds himself the unlikely pivot of a power struggle that puts all manner of faith to a savage test; in a spellbinding novel that represents Ottessa Moshfegh’s most exciting leap yet Little Marek; the abused and delusional son of the village shepherd; never knew his mother; his father told him she died in childbirth. One of life’s few consolations for Marek is his enduring bond with the blind village midwife; Ina; who suckled him when he was a baby; as she did so many of the village’s children. Ina’s gifts extend beyond childcare: she possesses a unique ability to communicate with the natural world. Her gift often brings her the transmission of sacred knowledge on levels far beyond those available to other villagers; however religious they might be. For some people; Ina’s home in the woods outside of the village is a place to fear and to avoid; a godless place. Among their number is Father Barnabas; the town priest and lackey for the depraved lord and governor; Villiam; whose hilltop manor contains a secret embarrassment of riches. The people’s desperate need to believe that there are powers that be who have their best interests at heart is put to a cruel test by Villiam and the priest; especially in this year of record drought and famine. But when fate brings Marek into violent proximity to the lord’s family; new and occult forces upset the old order. By year’s end; the veil between blindness and sight; life and death; the natural world and the spirit world; will prove to be very thin indeed.