Lapvona: A Novel by Ottessa Moshfegh

In a village buffeted by natural disasters, a motherless shepherd boy finds himself part of a power struggle that puts the community’s faith to a savage test, in a spellbinding novel that represents Ottessa Moshfegh’s most exciting leap yetLittle Marek, the abused and delusional son of the village shepherd, never knew his mother—his father told him she died in childbirth. One of Marek’s few consolations is his enduring bond with the blind village midwife, Ina, who suckled him when he was a baby. For some people, Ina’s ability to receive transmissions of sacred knowledge from the natural world is a godsend. For others, her home in the woods outside of the village is a place to fear and to avoid, a godless place.  Among the villagers is Father Barnabas, the town priest and lackey for the depraved lord and governor, Villiam, whose hilltop manor contains a secret embarrassment of riches. The people’s faith in the powers that be is put to a cruel test by Villiam and the priest, especially i