Sarma is an ordinary modern woman. She has a nursing baby and another who is not yet in school. She wants to do everything and even the impossible to save her marriage. They will go to a couples therapist. But the husband is not in the mood to listen to any nonsense. He runs away, jumps into the car and drives away, screeching on the brakes. Sarma is desperate, but an inner voice urges her not to give up.
“In the latest novel, Inga Gaile’s prose leaves the usual background of Latvia’s 20th century history and focuses on the present day. While reading, imagine this book as Netflix a series in which the honey of wit is mixed with bitter truths, yet you cannot tear yourself away until you have watched it until the last episode. Here is everything for which we respect, admire and love Inga’s works – a fusion of confession and fantasy, an amalgam of polemics and fiction, lively, open language and poetic power,” writes Arvis Viguls.
“In a nice way the insights of different generations of feminist and philosophical authors intertwine with very personal private life events. But the nicest thing, in my opinion, is that the action of the novel takes place right next door – in one of the coziest residential areas of Riga, where in the store Santa un Barbara you can always meet a well-known poetess, writer, local drinker, editor or proofreader, and the events described in it could be very well known to many cultured Riga women,” said Santa Remere.
Inga Gaile (1976) is a poet, prose writer and playwright. Almost a quarter of a century has passed since the publication of her first book. Her poetry has been awarded the Klāvas Elsberg and Ojārs Vācieš awards, the Anna Dagdas Foundation and the Poetry Days award. Inga Gaile is a two-time laureate of the Latvian Literature of the Year Award: for a collection of poems for children Can the other group hear me? (2015) and the novel Beautiful (2020).
The book was published with the support of the State Cultural Capital Fund.
Cover design artist Elīna Brasliņa.
