Baba Yaga Laid an Egg

Translated from the Croatian by Ellen Elias-Bursác, Celia Hawkesworth and Mark Thompson

Through the voices of three contemporary women, Dubravka Ugresic retells the myth of Baba Yaga—one of the most famous stories in Russian and Eastern European mythology. Baba Yaga is a witch-like character who flies around on a giant mortar, kidnapping (and presumably eating) small children. She lives in a house on chicken feet. She is generally a terrifying figure, portrayed not only in literature but also film, animation and music throughout Russian culture.

Dubravka Ugrešić takes the story of Baba Yaga and weaves it into something completely fresh. The result is an extraordinary meditation on femininity, ageing, identity, secrets, storytelling and love.

Praise for Baba Yaga Laid an Egg:

‘Ugrešić is a writer to follow, a writer to be cherished.’

Susan Sontag

‘A profound and startling meditation on the themes of femininity and ageing.’

London Review of Books

‘Here is Margaret Atwood’s dark vision of the speciousness of modern times coexisting comfortably with Molly Keane’s sense of absurdity, against a backdrop of the Balkan surreal out of The Good Soldier Schweik…it is a grown-up novel with grown-up prepositions; its humane vision of the world is driven by great imaginative impetus.’

Times Literary Supplement

‘A mirthlessly witty divertimento on female old age. Ugrešić’s meta-narrative sings with intelligence, its cryptic weirdness challenge the reader…These stories are a whirligig of outrageous invention.’

Independent