Lapvona A Novel
Lapvona A Novel by Ottessa Moshfegh is published by Jonathan Cape and released on June 23, 2022. This international edition spans 320 pages and is presented in English. The narrative unfolds in a medieval village grappling with natural disasters, centering on Marek, a motherless shepherd boy. As he navigates a world filled with deception, power struggles, and dark humor, Marek’s life intertwines with that of the village midwife, Ina, who possesses a unique connection to the natural world.
Readers will encounter a blend of fantasy and psychological elements as the story explores themes of faith, familial relations, and the human condition. The dynamics between Marek, the corrupt village priest, and the depraved lord create a backdrop of tension and intrigue. As the villagers face drought and famine, the narrative delves into the thin line between the natural and spiritual realms, revealing the complexities of belief and power in a harsh environment.
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An Instant New York Times Bestseller!
“Lapvona flips all the conventions of familial and parental relations, putting hatred where love should be or a negotiation where grief should be . . . Through a mix of witchery, deception, murder, abuse, grand delusion, ludicrous conversations, and cringeworthy moments of bodily disgust, Moshfegh creates a world that you definitely don’t want to live in, but from which you can’t look away.” —The Atlantic
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.
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