The Empusium: A Health Resort Horror Story

by Olga Tokarczuk Narrated by Not Yet Available

Overview

The Nobelist's latest masterwork, set in a sanitarium on the eve of World War I, probes the horrors that lie beneath our most hallowed ideas

September 1913. A young Pole suffering from tuberculosis arrives at Wilhelm Opitz's Guesthouse for Gentlemen in the village of Görbersdorf, a health resort in the Silesian mountains. Every evening the residents gather to imbibe the hallucinogenic local liqueur and debate the great issues of the day: Monarchy or democracy? Do devils exist? Are women born inferior? War or peace? Meanwhile, disturbing things are happening in the guesthouse and the surrounding hills. Someone-or something-seems to be watching, attempting to infiltrate this cloistered world. Little does the newcomer realize, as he tries to unravel both the truths within himself and the mystery of the sinister forces beyond, that they have already chosen their next target.

A century after the publication of The Magic Mountain, Olga Tokarczuk revisits Thomas Mann territory and lays claim to it, with signature boldness, inventiveness, humor, and bravura.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

Praise for The Books of Jacob:

“Just as awe-inspiring as the Nobel judges claimed.” —The Washington Post

“Sophisticated and ribald and briming with folk wit. . . . The comedy in this novel blends, as it does in life, with genuine tragedy.” —Dwight Garner, The New York Times

“Tokarczuk concocts a potent blend of horror tropes and literary references (Franz Kafka, Thomas Mann) as she realizes the potential of her tale’s uncommon setting—a community set apart by the omnipresence of sickness and death, where the rules of civilized propriety give way to more fantastic possibilities. Readers will find much to savor.” –Publishers Weekly

Praise for Drive Your Plow over the Bones of the Dead:

“A brlliant literary murder mystery.” —Chicago Tribune

“A winding, imaginative, genre-defying story. Part murder mystery, part fairy tale. . . a thrilling philosophical examination of the ways in which some living creatures are privileged above others.” —Time

Praise for Flights:

“A revelation. . . In this risky, restlessly mercurial book, Tokarczuk has found a way of turning. . .  philosophy into writing that doesn't just take flight but soars.” —NPR's Fresh Air

Product Details

BN ID:	2940160537610
Publisher:	Penguin Random House
Publication date:	09/24/2024
Edition description:	Unabridged