“This is a book about mothers, and also a book fathers should read. It is a daughter’s book—about the body, shame, awakening, and vulnerability. It is a book about childhood. It is a book that finds words where there were once only feelings.” — Saša Stanišić

“Every child has a mother, and every mother was once a child: Paulina Zińczukowski transforms these basic truths into poems that are delicate, stark, and yet strikingly clear-eyed.” — Theresia Enzensberger

“Thoughts, language—like newborns. They disarm you, draw you in, and at the same time feel tentative. It’s as if you’ve entered another world, yet it is intimately connected to the deepest part of your own heart. A love of words.” — Inge Marschall

“This Berlin-based writer possesses a distinctive style that few can match: richly poetic, genuinely moving, and thoroughly modern.” — Vogue magazine

“A captivating narrative… This book grips its readers so deeply that they cannot easily let it go.” — Ragna Kühn, Litlog

“Paulina Zińczukowski skillfully blends poetic lines with intense emotion, making her work impossible to put down.” — Sandra Belschner, Cannstatter Zeitung

“With a keen literary eye, she addresses the pressing issues of our time.” — Roland Mischke, Aachener Zeitung

“Zińczukowski’s tentative, poetic language does not seek straightforward plots or fixed narratives. It lingers in the spaces between them, where emotions are allowed to unfold.” — Missy magazine

“In her recollections, the first-person narrator feels her way toward her past—toward her mother, and even earlier, toward her grandmother—a past that defies expression in words.” — Dano Senger, Instagram

“The memories and observations shared by the narrator may seem unremarkable at first glance; yet behind almost every scene lies a powerful undercurrent of thought and feeling.” — Vivian Alterauge, Brigitte

“Reading… is like an almost meditative exploration of themes such as origins, care, insecurity, and the loss of self.” — Anna Von Broen, Instagram

“The author’s writing is poetically precise, touching the heart without ever being contrived.” — Irem Özkalgay, Harper’s Bazaar

“Very fluid, beautifully written prose, almost poetic […] a novel of exquisite language.” — Maria-Christina Piwowarski, blauschwarzberlin

“It skillfully and masterfully highlights the issues surrounding motherhood and intergenerational trauma, topics that touch upon silence…” — Björn Schäfer, Instagram

“Paulina Zińczukowski’s language unfolds in a magical, delicately nuanced way—every observation is perfectly placed, sometimes heartbreaking, yet always imbued with a sense of reconciliation.” — Jennifer Witt, Instagram

“A novel brimming with poetry.” — Elisabeth Mittenbauer, Women’s Magazine

“This novel gently guides readers to rediscover themselves within the传承 of women across generations.” — Virginia

“A novel that impresses with its poetic language.” — egofm

★This book is the highly anticipated second novel by Paulina Zionskowski, whose debut, “Pigeon Life,” published in 2020, was shortlisted for the European Union Prize for Literature and hailed by the European literary scene as a fresh, exceptionally talented, and explosively promising voice.
★A work lavishly praised by numerous media outlets and magazines, including Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, L’Hebdo Littéraire, Women’s Journal, Aachener Zeitung, and Brigitte!
★Cleverly exploring themes of motherhood and intergenerational dynamics, this novel zeroes in on universal struggles—such as the impact of one’s family of origin, maternal love, the loss of self, shame, and vulnerability—resonating deeply with readers. With its cyclical, dynamic narrative and piercingly concise prose, it infuses the echoes of memory with philosophical reflection, guiding women to rediscover themselves within the continuum of generational inheritance.

A bittersweet, poetically luminous tale of the bond between mother and daughter.
With the arrival of her child, a young woman’s way of seeing the world shifts. Fantasies of love and loss consume her, and words seem to slip away. Only now does she realize how reticent her mother and grandmother were in life, how they never told their own stories. Questions of belonging and fragmentation keep rising within her. She cautiously probes these unspoken mysteries, tracing their lives with sensuous persistence through the haze of memory. For if a child does not know where she comes from, how can she know where she is going?
In her new work, Paulina Ziębska‑Wojtasik employs a circular narrative to illuminate the reverberations across generations—three women, three mothers, and a new life reflected as in a mirror.

Paulina Zienkowski
Paulina Zienkowski was born and raised in Berlin, where she now lives and works. Her essays have appeared in numerous publications, including the weekly newspaper Die Zeit. In 2018, her collection of short stories, “A Manifesto Against Emotional Atrophy,” was published by Korbinian Verlag. In 2020, her debut novel, “Pigeon Life,” was released by Blumenbar Verlag and was shortlisted for the European Union Prize for Literature, establishing her as a highly talented and dynamic new voice on the European literary scene. Since then, she has written radio dramas for Deutschlandfunk Kultur and also creates stage plays.