The novel Insomnia takes place in a block of flats in 1960s Soviet Latvia, revolving around the main character Eduards Dārziņš and a woman named Dina whom he spots running outside his building one night. She is visibly shaken so he invites her into his flat, where she promptly falls asleep and remains as such for some time. When she wakes up, they begin to talk and he finds out more about
her, leading him on a journey through her often difficult life, which only raises more questions for Dārziņš. The story then switches to the 13th century, at a time when the Teutonic Knights were vying for control of the Baltic. Soldiers and ordinary people who can be understood to be the beginnings of the Latvian nation are forced to decide on their fate: whether to fight for their freedom against the knights, or to assimilate with their aggressors. The novel continues to oscillate between these two parallel plots, weaving a tale of humanity in the face of almost impossible odds, about the desire to control one’s destiny amidst the most oppressive of regimes.

Contacts: izdevnieciba@jumava.lv www.jumava.lv

The Cage is about an architect, Edmunds Bērzs, who is locked up in a cage in the forest by a criminal, Kārlis Dindāns. Criminal investigator Strūga is searching for the architect, who seems to have disappeared without a trace, and in the process, he gradually gets to know Bērzs – a typical representative of the middle class. He stumbles by chanceonto the tracks of Dindāns, who out of some inexplicable jealousy is keeping Bērzs captive in a cage usually used for horses. In this cage, Bērzs is able to survive on nuts, mushrooms, pigeons; he is also cured of his gout and loses unwanted weight. He reconsiders his life and his relationship to society. Bērzs also has time to review his life and his relationship to society and focus on existential reflections onhis own position in the cage, the cage within himself, and the problem of the cage in society. The novel has retained its value and relevance even in the present day, even under a completely different economic and social system.

Contacts: Bārbala Simsone, barbala.simsone@zvaigzne.lv