The Slaughterman's Daughter

With boundless imagination and a vibrant style, Yaniv Iczkovits creates a colorful family drama that spins nineteenth century Russia out of control, and he delivers a heroine of unforgettable grit. Iczkovits wields his pen with wit and panache. A remarkable and evocative read – David GrossmanA story of great beauty and surprise. A necessary antidote for our times – Gary ShteyngartThe Slaughterman’s Daughter is a miraculous patchwork-quilt of individual stories within stories told by different voices through which Fanny, the Belorussian Jewish slaughterman’s daughter, cuts with her butcher’s knife in search of justice. That quest for justice is the master story: a feminist picaresque set in a landscape of visionary and intimate historical and physical detail – George SzirtesTotally compulsive reading – Rosemary SullivanWith the sweeping grandeur of a Russian epic and the sly, sometimes bawdy humour of the Yiddish greats, The Slaughterman’s Daughter is a magnificent triumph – Bram Presser, author of The Book of Dirt“An extraordinarily vivid portrayal of life in the Pale of Settlement, an area of the pre-revolutionary Russian Empire where Jews were allowed, begrudgingly, to live” – Antonia Senior * The Times *A narrative full of invention and surprises … Iczkovits mixes real history, fable and the products of his imagination into an intoxicating, thoroughly enjoyable brew – Nick Rennison * Sunday Times *Yaniv Iczkovits’ brilliant, sweeping novel is set in czarist Russia during the late nineteenth century, but feels highly relevant and resonant today … filled with exquisitely drawn characters … bold and provocative – Elaine Margolin * TLS *A born storyteller … Iczkovits is clearly a talent to watch and The Slaughterman’s Daughter is the place to start – David Herman * Jewish Chronicle *Echoes of Russian and Yiddish literature resound in this delightful picaresque, but you need not hear them to enjoy it … Technicolour characters, pathos and humour are all wonderfully captured in a nimble translation from the Hebrew * Economist (Books of the Year, 2020) *It’s a genuine pleasure to see all of the different strands of the story come together in the final act. If the Coen brothers ever ventured beyond the United States for their films, they would find ample material in this novel … An ultimately hopeful search for small comforts and a modicum of justice in an absurd and immoral world – New York Times * Shay K. Azoulay *Approaches history in a fabulist style reminiscent of Sholem Aleichem and his disciples … The folktale tradition evoked in the storytelling has an estimable history, but perhaps even more old-fashioned is this novel’s length and leisurely tempo. Mr. Iczkovits slowly elaborates his scenes, indulging in every tangent and scrap of context, as though there weren’t countless forms of instant entertainment vying for the reader’s attention. I appreciated the pace … Today it would be a quick drive to Minsk; once upon a time the trip was the stuff of epics – Sam Sacks * Wall Street Journal *Occasionally a book comes along so fresh, strange, and original that it seems peerless, utterly unprecedented. This is one of those books. Iczkovits is a superb talent, and this novel is a resounding success * Kirkus Reviews (starred review) *What begins as a small family drama explodes in every possible direction in its virtuosity * Haaretz *An adventure story with few like it in modern Hebrew literature … a simply outstanding novel * Walla *A major novel that zigzags between characters and plots, between history and psychology, rooted in a brilliant narrative * Haaretz Gallery *We should keep an eye on Iczkovits. He is an amazing talent who will be talked about for a long time to come * Time Out, on ADAM AND SOPHIE *

Yaniv Iczkovits is an award-winning author and was formerly a lecturer in philosophy at the University of Tel Aviv. His previous works include Pulse (2007), Adam and Sophie (2009) and Wittgenstein’s Ethical Thought, based on his academic work, in 2012. In 2002, he was an inaugural signatory of the “combatants’ letter”, in which hundreds of Israeli soldiers affirmed their refusal to fight in the occupied territories, and he spent a month in military prison as a result. The Slaughterman’s Daughter is his third novel and won the Ramat Gan Prize and the Agnon Prize in 2015, the first time the prize had been awarded in ten years. It was also shortlisted for the Sapir Prize. Yaniv Iczkovits previously held a postdoctoral fellowship at Columbia University and lives with his family in Tel Aviv.