WINNER OF THE GERMAN BOOK PRIZE, THE SWISS BOOK PRIZE AND THE JÜRGEN PONTO LITERATURE PRIZE

'Powerful'
Times Literary Supplement

'Formally adventurous'
New York Times

'An exquisite inquiry into what it means to be an individual in a body, a family, a society, with all the attendant misery, humour, joy and enduring mystery'
Krystelle Bamford, author of Idle Grounds

As their grandmother slides into dementia, an unnamed narrator begins to ask questions - to fill in the gaps, to resist the silence that shrouds their family. Childhood memories resurface, revealing a path into the past, winding back through generations. This matrilineal line leads toward nature, witchcraft, freedom. Could this be where they belong?

What follows is an astounding quest for liberation - from generational trauma, class identity, the limits of language. It's a search for other forms of knowledge and traditions, other ways of becoming. Bold and expansive, Blood Book is an unforgettable reckoning with the past, and a mesmerising exploration of who we are.

'Everything about it is fantastic'
Die Welt

'One can only marvel'
Die Zeit

'An important new voice for a new form of writing'
Tages-Anzeiger

Published in the US as Sea, Mothers, Swallow, Tongues

"Although the novel chronicles experiences that are relatively niche, the narrator's struggles transcend the specificity of what they are describing. This, ultimately, is what makes Blutbuch so powerful: it's not simply about the unique struggles of someone who is gender-fluid, but about what it means to be human in a gendered, classist, and sexist world" - Times Literary Supplement

"A touching, literarily opulent, utterly fascinating book" - Bayerischer Rundfunk

"Kim de l'Horizon has won the German Book Prize and everything about it is fantastic . . . it is a story about the search for the language of one's own identity, a story of becoming and being oneself" - Die Welt

"Such a deep story with a gorgeous language. I am completely enthralled" - Frankfurter Rundschau

"Language becomes as fluid as bodies and identities: it sweeps you along in its current" - Süddeutsche Zeitung

"An irrepressible literary talent" - Süddeutsche Zeitung Magazin

"Blutbuch surprises and amazes again and again through the mutability of language, the play with forms and text flows, and above all through the clever and witty narrative style" - Ö1 Kultur Aktuell

"One can only marvel at the literary mastery that de l'Horizon unfolds" - Die Zeit

"An important new voice for a new form of writing" - Tages-Anzeiger

"Formally adventurous" - New York Times