Nino Haratischwili on 'The lack of light'

(English language) interview by Berrie Vugts

Following the declaration of independence, chaos erupts in the young state of Georgia. In the late 1980s, between the damp walls and the enchanting wooden balconies of Tbilisi's inner city, four girls form a deep friendship that defies everything, until betrayal and a tragic death finally drive them apart.

Nino Haratischwili tells about a lost country and a lost generation, a revolution that eats its own children, about love and betrayal and an unconditional friendship between four women.

Nino Haratischwili (1983, Tbilisi) is a novelist, playwright and director. Some 90,000 copies of her book The eighth life (for Brilka) have already been sold in the Netherlands. In 2019 she received the Schillerpreis for her entire oeuvre, an important prize that has also been awarded to Christa Wolf, Friedrich Dürrenmatt and Peter Handke, among others.

"It reads like a horrifying prelude to the war in Ukraine we are currently experiencing" - Die Zeit

"An insanely good novel" - Der Spiegel