On the one hand, the surprising novel by Yaniv Iczkovits The Butcher's Daughter may bring to mind Russian fairy tales, and on the other, it is associated with original rogue novels.
Men disappear every day in Motal, as well as in every corner of the settlement zone. This is already so common that it is not surprising. Derelict, single women married without husbands post advertisements in the paper with desperate pleas for help in finding men who are in no hurry to return home. Minda was also left alone with two children, but did not think to ask for help in public. If he writes an advertisement, it is only to mention in it that he is not waiting for his husband, that he does not even remember his special characters. The opposite is evidently Mindy's younger sister, Fania Cayman, who leaves her husband and children one night. Had she decided to go in search of Mindy's husband? Or maybe she started an affair with Żiżek Breszow, who also disappeared without a word?
No matter what Fania was up to, her disappearance is remarkable to say the least. While men keep leaving their families and disappearing, women are always there to protect their children and patiently wait for their husbands to return. And it's really unthinkable that a woman should act like a man. But Fania has always been rebellious, and for good reason everyone calls her a wilde chaje, a wild beast. As a child, she received a knife from her father, which she always carries with her under her dress, and she certainly uses it better than many butchers. Is such a tool enough to protect yourself and your family?
The Butcher's Daughter, a novel by Israeli writer Yaniv Iczkovits, has won many prestigious awards, including the Ramat Gan Prize and the Wingate Literary Prize. The story, set in nineteenth-century Russia, surprises with its originality and atmosphere, combining the atmosphere of fairy tales, in which there are always amazing characters and events, with a suspenseful rogue novel. Not only the main characters, but also the side characters are so interestingly drawn that we follow their fate with curiosity, forgetting the most important plot for a moment and wondering what else we will learn about them. Iczkovits diversifies its history with descriptions of the religion and traditions of Jews, introducing their culture in a non-intrusive way, which can be considered a separate heroine, no less important than Fans. It is a clever and funny, but also touching novel, one of those that can take us on a fascinating journey.
