Description
Description
A couple deep in the woods of a failing marriage find themselves the unwitting victims of a kidnapping plot after they move to a mysterious village in this distinctly poetic and disturbingly elegant horror novel for fans of Midsommar and The Witch Husband and wife Bohumil and Bohumila, together with their son, move from Prague to a remote village with the hopes of salvaging their marriage. In the searing summer heat, they try to fit in with the villagers, only to be met with hostile stares and evasive lies. Each night, the couple hears what they suspect to be a large animal wandering around their cottage--an impression that oddly corresponds to the mysterious flyers found at the local watering hole regarding a wolfen fairytale. As inexplicable coincidences begin piling up, it's clear something sinister is afoot. After a drunken night out, Bohumil and Bohumila come home to find the house empty: their son is gone. After three days of searching, they find the villagers in festive costumes gathered outside their cottage. Is it a bizarre game, or some perverse, folkloric ritual? Are Bohumil and Bohumila in danger? And what has happened to their son? A dark social tale that slides inexorably towards psychological horror, Playing Wolf is a modern ballad of human destiny and discovering the animal in each of us.
About the Author
About the Author
ZUZANA ลรHOVร studied Czech Language and Literature and Comparative Literature at the Charles University in Prague. She has been working at the Institute of Czech Literature since 2007 and was Head of Czech Studies at the University of Oxford from 2014-2017. ลรญhovรก, who has a lifelong interest in Czech avantgarde literature, has published a collection of poetry, I'll Let You in My House (Pustรญm si tฤ do domu, 2016), and a novella, Little Eve (Eviฤka, 2018), which was named as one of the Books of the Year in 2018 by a Czech literary web magazine. ALEX ZUCKER's translations include novels by Magdalรฉna Platzovรก, Jรกchym Topol, Bianca Bellovรก, Petra Hลฏlovรก, and Tomรกs Zmeskal. He has also Englished plays, subtitles, young adult and children's books, poems, philosophy, art history, and an opera.
Critical Reviews
Critical Reviews
Goodreads, A Most Anticipated Book "Deepling unnerving, all the more visceral because we're left to our imaginations . . . Horror fiction, at its best, illuminates the darker corners of our nature, the parts we'd rather keep secret or never admit to. Playing Wolf, for all its elisions and upended expectations, never obscures the flawed, conflicted psyches of its main characters." --Ian Mond, Locus "What starts as an attempt at healing via nature and small-town values ends up closer to a Bohemian Chainsaw Massacre, albeit without the chainsaws . . . Zucker also deftly captures the playfulness of ลรญhovรก's text . . . These types of subtle decisions derive from instinct and experience as much as fluency, and they are part of what makes Zucker such a premier translator . . . You'll be both delighted and disturbed." --Cory Oldweiler, On the Seawall "A gripping and cinematic English-language debut that blends elements of folk horror, psychological thrillers, and the story of Little Red Riding Hood to stunning effect . . . ลรญhovรก is also a poet, and it shows in the lyrical and atmospheric language of the novel, impressively translated by Alex Zucker. It is a dark beauty, a brutal and violent novel, but one that ensnares." --Pierce Alquist, BookRiot "Eloquent and psychologically intense . . . I couldn't help but be pulled along for the ride . . . [a] fantastic psychological horror that exceeded my expectations tenfold." --Sammy Loree, Bookstr "A devilishly creepy work of folk horror . . . A hair-raising tale of a culture clash." --Publishers Weekly "Playing Wolf is a fascinating combination of rural creepiness and gruesome fairy tale imagery. Zuzana ลรญhovรก's prose, beautifully translated from the Czech by Alex Zucker, swirls with thoughts, paranoia, dread, and disappointment. You will cringe at the body horror, the wrong turns, the failure of the characters to see the danger before them, to escape the fairy tale they've inevitably fallen into. Gripping as it is harrowing!" --Richard Mirabella, author of Brother & Sister Enter the Forest
Publishing Information
Publishing Information
Publisher:
Catapult
Pub date:
2026-09-22
Length:
256 pages
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