Description

Tereza and Ivan share secrets. Tereza is now in art school away from the town where she grew up. Ivan is a teacher and artist. Tereza is now nineteen, Ivan is fifty-seven. They have known each other for years.

Tereza shares her secrets with her friend Silvia. Ivan does not tell anyone. He constructs memories of Tereza to keep in his bed at night, covering them with sweat and tears.

In this minimalist, poetic novella with autobiographical elements Nicol Hochholczerova weaves a story of obsession and power and how both can lead to damage and separation. Rich with symbolism, its explosive themes – of eating disorders, abusive control and family dysfunction – are delicately handled with honesty and intelligence.

Nicol Hochholczerova’s first novel is a controversial best-seller. It has been awarded prizes and is being widely translated across Europe.

Publisher Review

“Courageous… can be swallowed in one gulp” – Ivana Gibova

“A surreal imagination” – Peter FL Jilek

“Nicol Hochholczerova’s striking debut novel, This Room is Impossible to Eat is part fairy tale, part allegory, and one of the realest stories you’ll ever read. With effortless prose that is as beguiling as it is lucid, Hochholczerova captures the dynamics of abuse in a way that few novels, or even memoirs, accomplish” – Joshua Mensch, European Literature Network

“An unmissable, brave new literary voice.” – Gosia Buzzanca, Buzz Magazine

“There’s an unsettling tension that runs throughout This Room Is Impossible to Eat that goes beyond its unsettling subject matter… This book left me both devastated and eager to read more” – Tobias Carroll, Words Without Borders