The Village on the Edge of the World
Writing and Surviving Ceausescu's Romania
Published on 7. May 2026
Book
Hardback
256 pages
978-1-78378-817-0 (ISBN)
Description
From her childhood in Romania, in a village 'as small as a thimble on the edge of the world', through to life in exile in Germany, Herta Mueller's story unspools against the tumultuous history of Romania in the latter half of the twentieth century. Here, the Nobel Prize laureate reflects on cultural history, memory and trauma, and on what it was to live and write during Ceausescu's regime: on the friendships that buckled under the weight of fear and paranoia; on the experience of being surveilled and interrogated; and on the unique blend of fear and tedium borne through life under totalitarianism.
The Village on the Edge of the World is a book that chronicles the minutiae of life under both fascism and the Soviet Union, while charting the existential questions posed by these regimes of the twentieth century - and how they remain with us in the twenty-first.
The Village on the Edge of the World is a book that chronicles the minutiae of life under both fascism and the Soviet Union, while charting the existential questions posed by these regimes of the twentieth century - and how they remain with us in the twenty-first.
Reviews / Votes
Superb... Mueller articulates well the pain and anxiety she suffered as an enemy of the state. It's heartening to learn how she regained her strength and found ways, however small, to stand up to the Securitate -- (Five stars) * Telegraph * The Village on the Edge of the World is a rare document that shows just how much darkness can go into prose as luminous as that of Mueller * TLS * A profound delight. In this seemingly casual tour inside the mind of one of the century's great writers there are frequent, electrifying moments of immense insight - each one feels like a trapdoor opening into a reality you realise you were, till now, just skimming the surface of. Mueller's thinking is glorious to share in, and her thoughts have never been more relevant -- Anna Funder A vivid reflection on life and literature * FT * Mueller is an unnervingly acute observer and the account here of the nightmarish texture of persecution is equal in its intensity to any in fiction... The Village on the Edge of the World is an autobiographical work of rare and unsettling honesty, an extraordinary and uncompromising telling of an extraordinary and uncompromising life * Literary Review * Certain to be brilliant * New Statesman *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Dimensions
Height: 224 mm
Width: 145 mm
Thickness: 27 mm
Weight
364 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-78378-817-0 (9781783788170)
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Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Herta Mueller was born on 17 August 1953 in Banat, Romania. In 1987, she emigrated to Germany and has lived in Berlin ever since. She is the author of The Land of Green Plums, The Appointment, The Hunger Angel and The Fox Was Ever the Hunter, among other works. She won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2009.
Kate McNaughton is a documentary film maker, author and translator, working from the French, German and Italian. Her debut novel, How I Lose You, was published in 2018.
Kate McNaughton is a documentary film maker, author and translator, working from the French, German and Italian. Her debut novel, How I Lose You, was published in 2018.