Going Under

As the first frosts settle in late November, a woman’s body is discovered in the marshes on the town’s outskirts—a place steeped in eerie silence and the stench of decay. Her corpse, half-sunken into the soft earth and veiled in fallen leaves, her long hair carefully combed, presents a macabre yet strangely beautiful sight. The dead woman is the wife of the local doctor. In a town where little ever happens, the discovery sends shockwaves through the community. A storm of speculation, rumours and whispered gossip begins to swirl. Nearly everyone knew the woman. The lives of several protagonists intertwine to form a vivid, realistic portrait of a small-town community. Everyday struggles and tangled relationships are hauntingly reflected in the surrounding nature—fog, a cold, flowing river, frost, and swampland—as the mundane blends with the mystical.

Published in 2017 by Odeon Publishers in the Czech Republic.
288 pages / 13,8 x 20,7 cm

ALso by Anna Bolavá