Awards

• Long-listed for Oxford-Weidenfeld Prize 2022 (UK)
• Short-listed for Oxford-Weidenfeld Prize 2022 (UK)

Overview

When her parents die in a car accident, highly talented Austrian physicist Ruth Schwarz is confronted with a problem. Her parents’ will calls for them to be buried in their childhood home — but for strangers, the village of Gross-Einland remains stubbornly hidden from view. When Ruth finally finds her way there, she makes a disturbing discovery: beneath the town lies a vast cavern that exerts a strange control over the lives of the villagers. There are hidden clues about the hole everywhere, but nobody wants to talk about it — not even when it becomes clear that the stability of the entire town is in jeopardy. In the literary tradition of Thomas Bernhard and Elfriede Jelinek, Raphaela Edelbauer’s tale of trauma and history weaves an opaque dream fabric that is frighteningly true to life, and in the process she turns us towards the abject horror that lies beneath repressed memory. The Liquid Land is a dangerous novel, at once glittering nightmare and dark reality, from an extraordinary new voice.

Full Product Details

9781913348076

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Reviews

'An unfathomable and imaginative parable about Austria and how it dealt with its National Socialist past ... philosophical and fantastic.' -- Florian Baranyi * ORF * 'Edelbauer crosses borders and advances into unexplored areas of literature.' * 2017 Rauriser Literature Prize jury citation * 'A village that officially does not exist and that seems to be disappearing more and more ... Anyone who embarks on this trip is safely guided by Edelbauer - on a fine line between madness and adventure.' -- Christina Risken * Buchhandlung Kruger * Praise for Raphaela Edelbauer: 'Edelbauer's essays are huge and impossible, utopian and full of fantastical realisms, brilliant and unwieldy. Vulcanoid salvos, cold and hard, which hit the reader with brute force.' * Marietta Boening, <i>Magazine of the Literaturhaus Wien</i> *

'An unfathomable and imaginative parable about Austria and how it dealt with its National Socialist past ... philosophical and fantastic.' -- Florian Baranyi * ORF * 'Edelbauer crosses borders and advances into unexplored areas of literature.' * 2017 Rauriser Literature Prize jury citation * 'A village that officially does not exist and that seems to be disappearing more and more ... Anyone who embarks on this trip is safely guided by Edelbauer - on a fine line between madness and adventure.' -- Christina Risken * Buchhandlung Kruger * Praise for Raphaela Edelbauer: 'Edelbauer's essays are huge and impossible, utopian and full of fantastical realisms, brilliant and unwieldy. Vulcanoid salvos, cold and hard, which hit the reader with brute force.' * Marietta Boening, <i>Magazine of the Literaturhaus Wien</i> * '[A] fun and fascinating read.' -- <i>Nicki J. Markus</i>, starred reivew 'For a novel meticulously built on a series of familiar, strange, and compelling conceptual metaphors, The Liquid Land isn't a dense or overly taxing read-just the opposite, in fact. Ruth's brief meditations on the nature of time and space at the beginning of the novel become our entry-point into the first of many motifs Edelbauer spends the rest of the book unpicking: the fluidity of time and space in our social lives, the implications of ecological collapse, the permeability of natural and built worlds, and our attempt to make sense of the past, and more importantly, come to terms with it. With The Liquid Land, Raphaela Edelbauer has written a book that is oblique, familiar, and completely new. It's a fascinating, heady combination.' -- Khalid Warsame * ABC Arts *

'A Freudian exploration of complicated grief.' -- Simon Ings * The Times * 'Clever and compelling.' -- Dani Garavelli * The Big Issue * 'An unfathomable and imaginative parable about Austria and how it dealt with its National Socialist past ... philosophical and fantastic.' -- Florian Baranyi * ORF * 'Edelbauer crosses borders and advances into unexplored areas of literature.' * 2017 Rauriser Literature Prize jury citation * 'A village that officially does not exist and that seems to be disappearing more and more ... Anyone who embarks on this trip is safely guided by Edelbauer - on a fine line between madness and adventure.' -- Christina Risken * Buchhandlung Kruger * Praise for Raphaela Edelbauer: 'Edelbauer's essays are huge and impossible, utopian and full of fantastical realisms, brilliant and unwieldy. Vulcanoid salvos, cold and hard, which hit the reader with brute force.' * Marietta Boening, <i>Magazine of the Literaturhaus Wien</i> * 'The Liquid Land was a fun and fascinating read ... This is a quirky tale that is sure to please readers of contemporary fiction looking for something a little different, since it combines family drama with mystery/investigation and a touch of magical realism.' -- Nicki J. Markus/Asta Idonea, author of <i>Fire Up My Heart</i> and <i>Northern Lights</i> 'For a novel meticulously built on a series of familiar, strange, and compelling conceptual metaphors, The Liquid Land isn't a dense or overly taxing read - just the opposite, in fact. Ruth's brief meditations on the nature of time and space at the beginning of the novel become our entry-point into the first of many motifs Edelbauer spends the rest of the book unpicking: the fluidity of time and space in our social lives, the implications of ecological collapse, the permeability of natural and built worlds, and our attempt to make sense of the past, and more importantly, come to terms with it. With The Liquid Land, Raphaela Edelbauer has written a book that is oblique, familiar, and completely new. It's a fascinating, heady combination.' -- Khalid Warsame * ABC Arts * 'Edelbauer conjures a gut-level queasiness around questions of participation in and propagation of historical lies in a country with a silenced history of violence. This novel becomes a study of the deformations that such silences work upon citizens and indeed on physical landscapes. It's a visceral wrestle with the presence of the past.' -- Bernard Caleo, Readings 'The Liquid Land is a tale that nods to the traditions of magical realism while also exploring the threat of a very real past. On one level, it deals with a practical problem that falls to the protagonist, Ruth. But in searching for the solution - a town that has written itself off the map - she uncovers a looming danger that threatens to engulf the place. An intoxicating adventure unfolds from this unique premise.' * Happy Mag * 'Fascinating and richly imaginative.' -- Eric Karl Anderson * Lonesome Reader *

'An unfathomable and imaginative parable about Austria and how it dealt with its National Socialist past ... philosophical and fantastic.' -- Florian Baranyi * ORF * 'Edelbauer crosses borders and advances into unexplored areas of literature.' * 2017 Rauriser Literature Prize jury citation * 'A village that officially does not exist and that seems to be disappearing more and more ... Anyone who embarks on this trip is safely guided by Edelbauer - on a fine line between madness and adventure.' -- Christina Risken * Buchhandlung Kruger * 'Edelbauer's essays are huge and impossible, utopian and full of fantastical realisms, brilliant and unwieldy. Vulcanoid salvos, cold and hard, which hit the reader with brute force.' -- Marietta Boening * Magazine of the Literaturhaus Wien * Praise for Raphaela Edelbauer: 'Edelbauer's essays are huge and impossible, utopian and full of fantastical realisms, brilliant and unwieldy. Vulcanoid salvos, cold and hard, which hit the reader with brute force.' * Marietta Boening, <i>Magazine of the Literaturhaus Wien</i> *

'A Freudian exploration of complicated grief.' -- Simon Ings * The Times * 'Ably translated from the German by Jen Calleja, Raphaela Edelbauer's impressive debut novel is a subtle allegory of historical memory and collective guilt, combining a dreamy, gothic strangeness with whimsical humour and an element of farce ... The novel's deft blend of registers - at once uncannily foreboding and drily comic - makes for an absorbing and memorable tale.' -- Houman Barekat * The Guardian * 'Clever and compelling.' -- Dani Garavelli * The Big Issue * 'An unfathomable and imaginative parable about Austria and how it dealt with its National Socialist past ... philosophical and fantastic.' -- Florian Baranyi * ORF * 'Edelbauer crosses borders and advances into unexplored areas of literature.' * 2017 Rauriser Literature Prize jury citation * 'A village that officially does not exist and that seems to be disappearing more and more ... Anyone who embarks on this trip is safely guided by Edelbauer - on a fine line between madness and adventure.' -- Christina Risken * Buchhandlung Kruger * Praise for Raphaela Edelbauer: 'Edelbauer's essays are huge and impossible, utopian and full of fantastical realisms, brilliant and unwieldy. Vulcanoid salvos, cold and hard, which hit the reader with brute force.' * Marietta Boening, <i>Magazine of the Literaturhaus Wien</i> * 'The Liquid Land was a fun and fascinating read ... This is a quirky tale that is sure to please readers of contemporary fiction looking for something a little different, since it combines family drama with mystery/investigation and a touch of magical realism.' -- Nicki J. Markus/Asta Idonea, author of <i>Fire Up My Heart</i> and <i>Northern Lights</i> 'For a novel meticulously built on a series of familiar, strange, and compelling conceptual metaphors, The Liquid Land isn't a dense or overly taxing read - just the opposite, in fact. Ruth's brief meditations on the nature of time and space at the beginning of the novel become our entry-point into the first of many motifs Edelbauer spends the rest of the book unpicking: the fluidity of time and space in our social lives, the implications of ecological collapse, the permeability of natural and built worlds, and our attempt to make sense of the past, and more importantly, come to terms with it. With The Liquid Land, Raphaela Edelbauer has written a book that is oblique, familiar, and completely new. It's a fascinating, heady combination.' -- Khalid Warsame * ABC Arts * 'Edelbauer conjures a gut-level queasiness around questions of participation in and propagation of historical lies in a country with a silenced history of violence. This novel becomes a study of the deformations that such silences work upon citizens and indeed on physical landscapes. It's a visceral wrestle with the presence of the past.' -- Bernard Caleo, Readings 'The Liquid Land is a tale that nods to the traditions of magical realism while also exploring the threat of a very real past. On one level, it deals with a practical problem that falls to the protagonist, Ruth. But in searching for the solution - a town that has written itself off the map - she uncovers a looming danger that threatens to engulf the place. An intoxicating adventure unfolds from this unique premise.' * Happy Mag * 'Fascinating and richly imaginative.' -- Eric Karl Anderson * Lonesome Reader * 'A dark and deliciously unique novel ... An uncanny page-turner, The Liquid Land pits family drama and an eerie almost Hot Fuzz-like town against darker presences - whether physical, emotional, or historical. The end result is an engaging and thought-provoking piece of contemporary fiction.' -- Jodie Sloan * <i> The AU Review</i<, starred review * 'The Liquid Land is a daring and surreal nightmare that lingers long after you turn the final page ... The Liquid Land is a powerful sociological and philosophical reflection on society and government.' -- Samuel Bernard Williams * <i>Good Reading</i>, starred review *

Author Information

Raphaela Edelbauer was born in Vienna in 1990. She studied Language Art (Sprachkunst) with Robert Schindel at the University of Applied Arts Vienna. The Liquid Land was published by Klett-Cotta in 2019, and was shortlisted for the German Book Prize and longlisted for the Austrian Book Prize. Jen Calleja is a British writer and literary translator. She’s the author of I’m Afraid That’s All We’ve Got Time For (Prototype), Goblins (Rough Trade Books), and Serious Justice (Test Centre). Her translations from German include the work of Marion Poschmann, Wim Wenders, Kerstin Hensel, Michelle Steinbeck, and Gregor Hens. Her translation of The Pine Islands was shortlisted for the Man Booker International Prize 2019.

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