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Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead

by Olga Tokarczuk

A village mystery shaped by questions of justice and voice

Regular price $24.31 USD
Regular price $40.52 USD Sale price $24.31 USD
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Awards & Recognition

  • Editorial selection

    New York Times Readers Pick: 100 Best Books of the 21st Century

    Included in the New York Times Readers Pick: 100 Best Books of the 21st Century.

  • Author recognition

    Olga Tokarczuk — Nobel Prize in Literature winner

    The metadata identifies the credited author as a winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature.

AlbakiReads Editorial

A village mystery shaped by questions of justice and voice

Set in a remote Polish village during winter, the novel brings together a series of deaths and Janina’s conviction that she can identify the culprit. Her days are divided among astrology, translating William Blake, and tending summer homes; her preference for animals over people has helped earn her a reputation as a recluse. As she pushes herself into the investigation, the mystery opens onto questions the description places at its heart: how communities define sanity, whose voices count, and how justice intersects with tradition, autonomy, and fate. The book is presented as a crime story with elements of fairy tale.

Good fit for readers who enjoy

  • Readers interested in crime fiction set in a remote village.
  • Readers drawn to mysteries that also explore justice, social judgment, and whose accounts are heard.
  • Readers interested in fiction that brings astrology, William Blake, and human-animal relationships into its premise.

Themes

Justice and traditionSanity and social judgmentVoice and autonomyHuman relationships with animalsFate

Based on publisher information and book metadata.

Book overview

WINNER OF THE NOBEL PRIZE IN LITERATURE

New York Times Readers Pick: 100 Best Books of the 21st Century

"A brilliant literary murder mystery." --Chicago Tribune

"Extraordinary. Tokarczuk's novel is funny, vivid, dangerous, and disturbing, and it raises some fierce questions about human behavior. My sincere admiration for her brilliant work." --Annie Proulx


In a remote Polish village, Janina devotes the dark winter days to studying astrology, translating the poetry of William Blake, and taking care of the summer homes of wealthy Warsaw residents. Her reputation as a crank and a recluse is amplified by her not-so-secret preference for the company of animals over humans. Then a neighbor, Big Foot, turns up dead. Soon other bodies are discovered, in increasingly strange circumstances. As suspicions mount, Janina inserts herself into the investigation, certain that she knows whodunit. If only anyone would pay her mind . . .

A deeply satisfying thriller cum fairy tale, Drive Your Plow over the Bones of the Dead is a provocative exploration of the murky borderland between sanity and madness, justice and tradition, autonomy and fate. Whom do we deem sane? it asks. Who is worthy of a voice?
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Customer reviews

M
AlbakiReads
Malaika Taylor

I highly recommend to for anyone looking for inner clarity

T
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Thomas DiMassa

Great service and fast service

Great shopping experience! The book arrived quickly, was well packaged, and matched the description perfectly. I would definitely shop with you again

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Olivia

Smooth.