Fleeing stay-at-home orders in the big city, Dora and her dog move to the countryside to sit out the pandemic. She knows that Bracken, a village in the middle of nowhere, isn't the idyll most city dwellers dream of, but she's desperate for space and a change of scene. The quaint old house she's saved up for needs works, weeds have taken over the yard, and her skinhead neighbor fits all the stereotypes. Just what is Dora really looking for? Distance from her boyfriend Robert, whose climate activism has crossed into obession? Refuge from her iner turmoil? As Dora tries to keep her demons in check, unexpected things start happening all around her. Juli Zeh's epic novel explores our present predicaments, biases, weaknesses, and fears, but - above all - it reveals the strengths that come to light when we dare to be human.
Writer:
Juli Zeh
Juli Zeh studied law in Passau and Leipzig, and holds a doctorate in international law from the University of Saarbrücken. She is one of Germany's most successful authors of both literary thrillers and novels. Her debut novel EAGLES AND ANGELS was an international bestseller and won the Deutscher Book Prize, since which time her books have been translated into 35 languages. She has been awarded myriad prizes for her work, including the Carl Amery Literature Prize, the Thomas Mann Prize, and teh German Order of Merit.
Wong Yi is an award-winning Hong Kong writer, librettist, radio show host, and a founding member of Xi Xi Foundation. In 2020, she was named one of 20 Young Sinophone Novelists to Watch by the Taiwanese literary magazine Unitas. She is the author of four short story collections: Ways To Love In A Crowded City (2021), The Four Seasons of Lam Yip (2019), Patched Up (2015), and News Stories (2010). She was the Hong Kong Writer-in-residence for Hong Kong Baptist University's first Chinese Writers Workshop in 2021, Writer-in-residence for Hong Kong Education University in 2023, and has participated in events such as the Singapore Writers Festival, Singapore Book Fair, Hong Kong International Literary Festival, and Taipei International Book Exhibition. In 2023, she participated in the University of Iowa's International Writing Program Fall Residency.
