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    Strega: A Novel
    Unavailable
    Strega: A Novel
    Unavailable
    Strega: A Novel
    Audiobook4 hours

    Strega: A Novel

    Written by Johanne Lykke Holm

    Narrated by Kristen Sieh

    3/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    “Strega left me breathless, angry, and then thrilled by the dare it leaves in the reader's lap.” —Lidia Yuknavitch, author of Thrust and The Chronology of Water

    Powerfully inventive and atmospheric, a modern gothic story of nine young women sent to work at a remote Alpine hotel and what happens when one of them goes missing

    With toiletries, hairbands, and notebooks in her bag, and at her mother’s instruction, a nineteen-year-old girl leaves her parents’ home and the seaside town she grew up in. Out the train window, Rafa sees the lit-up mountains and perfect trees—and the Olympic Hotel waiting for her perched above the small village of Strega. There, she and eight other girls receive the stiff black uniforms of seasonal workers and move into their shared dorm. But while they toil constantly to perform their role and prepare the hotel for guests, none arrive. Instead, they contort themselves daily to the expectations of their strict, matronly bosses without clear purpose and, in their spare moments, escape to the herb garden, confide in each other, and quickly find solace together. Finally, the hotel is filled with people for a wild and raucous party, only for one of the girls to disappear. What follows are deeper revelations about the myths we teach young women, what we raise them to expect from the world, and whether a gentler, more beautiful life is possible.
     
    In stimulating and uninhibited imagery, Johanne Lykke Holm builds a world laced with the supernatural, filled with the secrecy and potential energy of girls on the cusp of womanhood. An allegory for the societal rites, expectations of women, and violence we too easily allow, Strega builds like a spell that keeps exerting its powers long after reading.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Audio
    TranslatorSaskia Vogel
    Release dateNov 15, 2022
    ISBN9780593612453
    Unavailable
    Strega: A Novel

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    Reviews for Strega

    3/5

    22 ratings2 reviews

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    • 4/5
      Stuck in a hotel in the middle of nowhere, a group of nine young women work for the season. Once majestic, the Olympic Hotel is now an empty shell, perched in the mountains above the small village of Strega. Everyday is the same routine, the same gestures. Everyday the girls wait for guests who never come. One evening, guests arrive to celebrate the solstice and one of the girls disappears.

      The atmosphere of Strega is very unique, almost claustrophobic. The reader shares the daily life of the young women, witnessing the work they do everyday, seemingly without any purpose as no guest ever comes . The days are calm, and peaceful, and the girls just enjoy each other’s company. Until something very dark happens. The reader never knows exactly what happened to the missing girl, but clues are left along the way.

      Strega is a very slow novel. Johanne Lykke Holm takes her time to establish her background story, weaving a tale with gothic elements. I loved the slow pace of the story. It is a slow ride where you take the time to contemplate the landscapes. It is strange. Very strange. Full of esoteric elements. Certainly a deep read that stays with you afterwards, still wondering what exactly happened.
    • 4/5
      Originally published in Sweden in 2020, Johanne Lykke Holm’s gently gothic novel Strega makes its US debut on November 15. The plot is both sparse and intense: Nine young women arrive at the Hotel Olympic, ostensibly to serve as seasonal maids. Yet despite the long list of chores set by the three female managers, no guests arrive, and tables are set for people who never come. Intrinsically bound together, the women share dreams, sensations, and the impending feeling of darkness coalescing around them. Our window into this world, Rafaela, lives in a waking reverie, watching her hands complete actions as her mind wanders. When the hotel finally receives guests on the night of a local festival, unnerving truths unveil themselves, and in the chaos, one of the women disappears.

      Holm’s style is gaunt, inscrutable, and deeply remote, despite the first person narration. The book is devised in a very literary fashion, extremely descriptive but ultimately enigmatic, forcing you to observe the character’s inner reflections from afar. The focus of the prose is sensory, with constant mention of taste, scent, the physical consciousness of touch. Holm thrusts you straight into the bones of the story, and finishes just as abruptly, leaving the reader reeling. Reading this novel feels like sinking into a hypnotic dream, brimming with sensory images and dark suggestions.

      I listened to Milana Zilnik’s Notturni (Dreaming of Chopin) I & II while reading this book, and found that her classical crossover albums greatly enhanced the atmosphere and experience.