Wretchedness

Andrzej Tichý

A post-political foray into contemporary Swedish society and the forth-coming English-language debut for the
author.

Malmö, Sweden. A cellist meets a spun-out junkie. That could have been me. His mind starts to glitch between his memories and the avant-garde music he loves, and he descends into his past, hearing all over again the chaotic song of his youth. He emerges to a different sound, heading for a crash.

From sprawling housing projects to underground clubs and squat parties, WRETCHEDNESS is a blistering trip through the underbelly of Europe’s cities. Powered by a furious, unpredictable beat, this is a paean to brotherhood, to those who didn’t make it however hard they fought, and a visceral indictment of the poverty which took them.

With its rhythmic, mesmerising flow and intensity of form, Tichý’s novel explores the possibility of social mobility and the ambivalent desire to escape your origins, asking how to love your neighbour when that neighbour is an addict, a criminal—wretched. Comparable in its torrential intensity to Fernanda Melchor’s Hurricane Season. Full English translation now available.

Winner of the Eyvind Johnson Prize 2018
Nominated for the August Prize for Fiction 2016

Featured in The Guardian’s ‘Great, new European authors’ 2020

‘What can a survivor do with their history? Can you be loyal to the friends you left behind? Andrzej Tichy´ turns this wretched reality into something poignant. His polyphonic novel has a rough, rhythmic melody and a ferocious rage.’
— August Prize jury

‘In virtuosically rendered language, full of the poetry of spoken word, the innovation of contemporary slang, and the philosophical verve of great literature, Tichý gives a voice to the lost ‘brothers’ of his youth’
— Aftonbladet