Chasing the King of Hearts

The internationally acclaimed Polish bestseller about the Holocaust, now for the first time in English. A remarkable true story of love and survival. The Warsaw Ghetto 1942: When Izolda's husband, Shayek, is imprisoned, she sets out to release him. She changes her name, her hair, her religion. Eventually she is captured and deported to Auschwitz. But even there, she trusts that her love will save them both. ------ Why Peirene chose to publish this book: 'This is a beautiful love story but also an incredible account of one woman's quest to be heard. Told with astounding simplicity, the book recreates the Holocaust not as an historical event but as a terrifying, shared, experience. I am amazed - and honoured - that it was left to Peirene to publish this book for the first time in English.' Meike Ziervogel, Publisher

'A spare, startling tale of love and survival.' Justine Jordan, GUARDIAN ------ 'This strange unsettling novel ... is a remarkable find... The style is bluntly simple, like the affectless telling of a fable. The reader is held at a distance by a tone that is so studiedly neutral as to be almost jaunty, yet because it is relating the most appalling atrocities it becomes the more affecting.' David Mills, SUNDAY TIMES ------ 'Krall has created an elegant, nuanced book about choice, consequences, identity and guilt ... We have come slowly to the Central European and Germans - Hans Fallada, Joseph Roth, Ryszard Kapuscinski, all originally journalists like Krall - and we have missed so much.' Roger Boyes, THE TIMES ------ 'An arresting style that rises in remarkable fashion to the challenge such a history poses to any narrator, combining steely lyricism with a thriller's tension.' Marek Kohn, INDEPENDENT ------ 'Chasing the King of Hearts is not only a love story and a Holocaust novel. Its deep and intimate inquiry is the mystery of personality - in other words, spiritual survival in a fateless universe ... You now have in your hands a masterpiece.' Kapka Kassabova, GUARDIAN ------ 'Powerful in its raw simplicity and deeply affecting in its emotional stoicism ... An unforgettable and unparalleled addition to the classy stable of Peirene Press books.' Pam Norfolk, LANCASHIRE EVENING POST

Hanna Krall was born in 1935 in Poland and survived the Second World War hiding in a cupboard. She began her writing career as a prize-winning journalist. Since the early '80s she has worked as a novelist. She has received numerous Polish and international awards, such as the underground Solidarity Prize, Polish PEN Club Prize and the German Wurth Preis for European Literature 2012. Translated into 17 languages, her work has gained widespread recognition. In 2007 Krol kier znow na wylocie (Chasing the King of Hearts) was shortlisted for the Angelus Central European Literary Award.