Lit in Translation

The Singularity

Singulariteten

Balsam Karam (born 1983)

Translated by Saskia Vogel

English editions

In English

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A mother combs the seafront road where her girl once worked, looking for her until she loses her mind. A pregnant woman on holiday witnesses a fall from the cliffs; later, when her own baby dies inside her, she delays the birth, since while it remains in her body nobody can take it away completely. The bereaved mother thinks back on what her own mother lost: a tongue, a homeland, a self. Whether such wounds can be compared is one of the book's questions. In three sections of compressed, lyrical prose, it mourns, and lets a common humanity appear out of separate lives.

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About the book

Form
Novel
Length
226 pages in the original
First published
2021 by Norstedts
Author's age
38 when first published
ISBN

9789113112824 (original)

9781804270813 (Fitzcarraldo Editions, United Kingdom)

9781558611931 (The Feminist Press, United States)

9781922790583 (Text Publishing, Australia)