Drive Your Plough over the Bones of the Dead

A book which is entertaining and enjoyable to read, while at the same time also discussing deep, controversial topics in an unconventional way - Drive Your Plough over the Bones of the Dead combines both. The title, which admittedly is quite a mouthful, is taken from a poem by William Blake, whose work plays an important role in the novel.

After Olga Tokarczuk won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2018, I was curious to read some translations of her work. It was not easy to obtain, a situation that will no doubt be improved in future years, so I was not able to choose freely from all her work. I first tried Flights (Bieguni in Polish, in German titled Unrast), but gave up at some point because I didn’t get into the novel at all (which happens extremely rarely to me). But then I found this novel in an English translation when I visited Poland, and decided to give it a try (the original title is Prowadzswój pług przez kosci umarłych, while the German title is Der Gesang der Fledermäuse, which is not a literal translation in any way). I did not regret that choice for a second.

The protagonist of the novel is an elderly woman, Janina Duzsejko, who lives alone in a remote village in the Polish mountains, close to the Czech border. She spends some of her time teaching English, and also looks after the houses of part-time residents in the area. It seems like her connection with her books and house is much closer than with most pople around her, with the exception of a few close friends. In addition, she cares about nature and has a deep interest and protective instinct over animals, which causes her to clash with some neighbours and hunters in the area. This unusual protagonist, living at the marginalised edge of society but revealing her charming eccentricities to the reader, was compelling enough for me to get hooked.

The plot, however, is just as interesting as the setting and the protagonist, and rather unusual for a critically acclaimed author of this  caliber - it is essentially a crime story, but also so much more. Without wanting to reveal too much, the action revolved around several incidents in which men disappear and are found dead in this area. The police is investigating, and the neighbours are starting to wonder what might be happening - some signs seem to point to animals having been involved in the deaths. The mysterious case unfolds and keeps the reader guessing.

As a reader who has some knowledge of the Polish geography, language und culture, I found some of these elements to be very entertaining - for example when Janina is commenting on the different characters of the Czech and Polish languages. Being an outsider to society, this protagonist is not afraid to challenge the authorities and some conventions in her country, which is very interesting from a perspective of someone abroad, but has also caused quite an uproar in Poland. This only goes to show the bravery not only of the character, but also the author, who are both not afraid to bring up difficult subjects and unpopular opinions.

Overall, this novel is highly enjoyable, especially if you find some joy in crime fiction, literature and eccentric heroines.

PS: The poetry of Blake is used and referenced regularly throughout the novel, including with two lines being added in the beginning of every chapter. So while this is not an English work of literature but a translation, there  are many connections to English literature to be found, in the best possible way.