DRIVE YOUR PLOW OVER THE BONES OF THE DEAD by Olga Tokarczuk, translated by Antonia Lloyd-Jones (Fitzcarraldo Editions, 2009)
Janina Duszejko is no run of the mill eco-warrior. To see her on the street you’d dismiss her as mad bag lady or brand her as just a crazy crone. You’d imagine her in a rundown house full of cats but in her case, dogs are her beloved pets.
She used to have two but they are missing, presumed dead at the hands of the local hunters she hates with a vengeance.
Janina (a name she loathes) is getting on in years and her rage against cruelty to animals is fierce. Although not lacking in strength or energy, she struggles to find peace of mind in a world dominated by supposedly “exemplary citizens” whose values are not her own.
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The Book of Dust Volume 1 – ‘La Belle Sauvage’, was a prequel to Philip Pullman’s ‘His Dark Materials’ trilogy. It told how, as a baby, Lyra Belacqua/Silvertongue was saved from the deadly agents of the Magisterium, an authoritarian church that has striking similarities to the Catholic Church.
