Hexes of the Deadwood Forest with Agnieszka Szpila

‘You’re holding a torpedo of a book in your hand. Take a seat and get comfortable. This novel’s energy, humour and rebel spirit will awaken your mind and change your way of thinking’ Olga Tokarczuk

Anna Frenza hates the tyrannical tree huggers and idiotic eco-warriors, after all, she’s CEO of Poland’s biggest oil company. But when she finds herself sleepwalking into the woods and making love to a tree, all caught on camera, her career comes to an abrupt end. Her mind splinters and, whether by delusion or possession of spirit, she finds herself in a medieval province ruled by the Catholic Church.

Deep in the past, she falls in with Mathilde Spalt, leader of the Earthen Ones – a congregation of women who live in the woods and reject all patriarchy. Instead engaging in the ecstatic, sensuous worship of Mother Earth. Anna learns to love the forest she had once dismissed . . . until the Church decides to fell the trees and all the women within it.

Bold and entirely unexpected, Hexes of the Deadwood Forest is a collective rebellion, the death knell to the elevation of the erect. Take hold of your seat; patriarchy is coming to an end.

We are delighted to be joined by Agnieszka Szpila here at bookhaus. Tickets cost £7 and include a glass of wine or soft drink and £2 off the book. Presented by bookhaus.

Agnieszka Szpila is one of Poland’s most critically acclaimed, bestselling, and transgressive writers. The Polish edition of Hexes of the Deadwood Forest was longlisted for the Nike Award, the country’s premier literary award, and will be published in at least nine countries around the world.

‘The kind of debut that grabs you by the collar and doesn’t apologise, it’s bold, surreal, feminist and ferociously funny – exactly the kind of book that rewires your brain’ – Service95

‘You’re holding a torpedo of a book in your hand. Take a seat and get comfortable. This novel’s energy, humor, and rebel spirit will awaken your mind and change your way of thinking’ – Olga Tokarczuk

‘A riproaring novel that combines ecological fury, female estrangement, and anti-institutional bite into a work of funny, shocking and deeply affecting feminist satire . . . Hexes is a genuinely, fiercely original work’ – Foyles, Top Ten Reads for May

‘A fever dream of Eastern European magic realism’ – New York Times

‘[A] ribald, diabolically clever, fiercely feminist satire . . . Szpila’s lacerating, sly, ecosexual tale offers recalibrating perspectives on history, sex, the sacred, environmental decimation and woman power’ – Donna Seaman, Booklist