Someone has opened the doors to the Village Archive, but what drives the sleepless out of their houses is not that which was stolen, but that which has escaped. A vixen is looking for eggs for her young, and Mr Schramm is discovering more reasons to quit life than smoking. A bell-ringer and his apprentice want to ring the bells - the only problem is that the bells have gone. And Mrs Kranz, the night-blind painter, who wants to depict her village for the first time at night. It's the night before the feast in the village of Fürstenfelde (population: an odd number).

Stanisic some kind of freak genius' - Irish Examiner Présentation de l'éditeur : reminded me of nothing so much as A Midsummer Night s Dream filtered through the uncanny lens of Welcome to Night Vale' Elle Thinks 'In its combination of the fantastic, the menacing and the inexplicable, it reminded me of nothing so much as A Midsummer Night s Dream filtered through the uncanny lens of Welcome to Night Vale Elle Thinks thought-provoking and energetic' Big Issue cleverly done, and so mesmerising from the off. its sheer versatility of voice and multiplicity of viewpoint mean that this vigil never drags' Independent Stani ic makes a dream team with Anthea Bell, who translates with a pitch-perfect ear for every twist and frisk of his German. 'Switching among styles with a dancing virtuosity. a great, sad joy' Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung 'Episodic, impressionistic and whimsical.

'Highly entertaining and full of chutzpah' Die Welt 'A brilliant, quirky entertainment' Kirkus

Before the feast sasa stanisic