Horror Vacui

HORROR VACUI 2013 / novel


Not out. Inward. Into the belly. Into the worlds that each of us carries inside.

Nor(m)a has a fat, drunk Father and a thin, cruel Mother. The contract of being a family cannot easily be broken. She escapes from the home that isn’t one, to the school she hates, and back again. When her sick Grandmother appears, another way out reveals itself — not through the door, but inward. Her guide will not be a white rabbit, but a Peacock and a Snake, a prostitute and a giant, an Old Woman and a wooden Jesus. Nor(m)a will get lost anyway. Along the way she will encounter the cruel, strange fairy tales one must know in order to return — to the world, to oneself.


Author: Katarzyna Gondek

Publisher: Świat Książki

Series: Nowa Proza Polska

Year: 2013

Language: Polish


Awards & Nominations: Poznańska Nagroda Literacka im. Stanisława Barańczaka 2015 — nominacja