Before the Feast
ABOUT
THE BOOK
We are sad. We don’t have a ferryman any more. The ferryman is dead. Two lakes, no ferryman. You can’t get to the islands now unless you have a boat. Or unless you are a boat.
It’s the night before the Feast in the village of Fürstenfelde (population: declining), but not everyone is asleep. The local artist, wearing an evening dress and gum-boots, goes down to the lake under cover of darkness. The village archivist is kept awake by ancient tales that threaten to take on a life of their own. A retired lieutenant-colonel weighs his pistol, and his future, in his hand. And eighteen-year-old Anna, namesake of the Feast, prepares to take her place in tomorrow’s drinking and dancing, eating and burning.
On this night of misdeeds and mischief, they are joined by a dead ferryman, a hapless bellringer, a cigarette machine, two robbers in football shirts and a vixen on the hunt – as their fates collide in the most unexpected ways.
NOMINATING LIBRARY COMMENTS
The highly talented storyteller Saša Stanišić tells the story of a long night before a feast in a village in the Uckermark, a region in Northeastern Germany. The story is a mosaic of the village life. Established residents, strangers, the dead and the living, craftsmen, pensioners and many others – they all want to bring something to a close in the night before the feast. Stanišić switches among styles with a great virtuosity. The novel, outstandingly translated by Anthea Bell, won the prestigious Leipzip Book Fair Prize.