Nine Rabbits

On the Black Sea coast in 1960s communist Bulgaria, six-year-old Manda is brought up by a cruel grandmother who beats her, once even with nettles, and holds her own by taking delight in the small things around her: the vegetable garden, the gnomes, the shadows under the roof, the sea. The longer second part finds her in her forties, an artist and Sofia intellectual in post-communist Bulgaria, whose marriage has fallen apart and who struggles to become someone beyond wife and mother, trying yoga, calligraphy and other remedies. Told in short chapters with recipes woven in, the book imagines the world as a divine kitchen where people, places, colours and smells are mixed into ever new dishes.

AI-generated summary

About the book

Form

Novel

Length

280 pages in the original

Genres

Coming of age (assigned by AI)

First published

2008 by QM

ISBN

9789549224818 (original)

9781908236050 (Istros Books, United Kingdom)

9781936787135 (Black Balloon Publishing, United States)