Primeval and Other Times

The Nobel Prize winner at her earthiest and most ethereal, in a fictional journey through three generations in the life of a mythical Polish village. For the denizens of mythical Primeval, its fields and forests bounded by two rivers, the world beyond is nothing more than a dream. Yet their stories – or Times – are a microcosm of the tumultuous recent history of the world. The fortunes of the family of Michal the miller, whom conscription carries away in 1914, punctuate nearly a century of war and occupation. The outcast Cornspike raises her daughter among the creatures and spirits of the forest. The squire Popielski loses his faith and becomes obsessed with a game where progress is attained only by dreaming the right kind of dream. Nonhuman beings – trees and mushrooms and archangels – have their Times too, as do inanimate objects, which may be “more important for the world than people.” Alongside bloodshed and betrayal, the dramas of Primeval’s daily life mark the birth, life, and decline of its little world and Time, making us consider afresh the stories that help us comprehend and navigate our own. Rich with the capaciousness and innovation that have brought Tokarczuk to sustained international fame,

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Olga Tokarczuk has won the Nobel Prize in Literature and the International Booker Prize, among many other honors. She is the author of more than a dozen works of fiction, two collections of essays, and a children’s book; her work has been translated into more than fifty languages.

Antonia Lloyd-Jones is an award-winning translator of Polish fiction, reportage, poetry, and children’s books. A longtime mentor for the UK's Emerging Translators’ Mentorship Program, she is also a former co-chair of the UK Translators Association.