Whispers

A coming-of-age story in a land no one could have invented.

Podlasie, a forested region between Poland and Belarus, is a somewhat forgotten land. To this day, it is shrouded in legends and mists, inhabited by people who seem peculiar at first glance — they have their own faith, their poverty, and their 'whisperers': women who know how to heal. Or perhaps they don't, but everyone believes they do.

The narrator, the best friend of the gravedigger's daughter Dorota, guides the reader through this coming-of-age story set in a magical land. The phenomenon of borders and the (im)possibility of crossing them is a recurring theme. The world of the living intertwines with the world of the dead, Christian piety with the pagan tradition of the whisperers, and modern Western cultural influences sway with local folklore. The novel's heroines are driven by an unstoppable desire to leave, to cross the border, to break free. But no matter where they go, they will always carry the experience of life on the periphery with them.

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How can one describe Alena Sabuchová’s book without emotion, when it flutters with a touch of magic, a touch of genius loci from a God-forsaken place, and a touch of childhood memories? [...] The author manages her narrative without the sentimentality that could be associated with some of the themes. She juxtaposes it with the present, with the penetration of the modern world into the world of the region, much like in the prose of Olga Tokarczuk.
— Michal Jareš, Anasoft Litera prize judge

Growing up in the countryside is different from growing up in the city, but in a place in the middle of nowhere, it is even more so. To describe it in a way that makes even an older reader want to read about it is a true art. Sabuchová has succeeded.

— Ivana Zacharová, Sieťovka

Alena Sabuchová’s sensitive observations about people, children, alcoholics, houses, cemeteries, and gardens intertwine with the intimate history of adolescent girls. Their friendship and teenage experiences could just as well have taken place on a Bratislava housing estate or in Naples. [...] The author hints at a lot, keeps things back, allows her characters their secrets, and gives the reader the opportunity to co-create the story.

— Katarína Labudová, iLiteratura.cz