''Chołod'' is a novel written by

Szczepan Twardoch Szczepan Lech Twardoch (; born 23 December 1979 in Knurów) is a Polish- Silesian writer. He has written a series of best-selling novels such as ''Morphine'' (2012), ''Drach'' (2014),''The King'' (2016), ''The Kingdom'' (2018) and ''Pokora'' (2020 ...

and published in 2022 by

Wydawnictwo Literackie Wydawnictwo Literackie (abbreviated WL, lit. "Literary Press") is a Kraków-based Polish publishing house, which has been referred to as one of Poland's "most respected". Company history Since its foundation in 1953, Wydawnictwo Literackie has ...

in book and e-book form.

Plot

Chołod is named after a settlement in the far north, inhabited by a small community living according to its own laws, isolated from civilization. A

Silesian Silesian as an adjective can mean anything from or related to Silesia. As a noun, it refers to an article, item, or person of or from Silesia. Silesian may also refer to: People and languages * Silesians, inhabitants of Silesia, either a West S ...

, Konrad Widuch, fleeing a Soviet

gulag The Gulag, an acronym for , , "chief administration of the camps". The original name given to the system of camps controlled by the State Political Directorate, GPU was the Main Administration of Corrective Labor Camps (, )., name=, group= ...

, settles there and describes his stay in Chołod and his earlier turbulent and dramatic fate in his memoirs. In a mysterious way, the memoirs find their way to the author of the book, who reconstructs them and explains how they came into his hands.

Reception

''Chołod'' received favourable reviews. Marcin Belza of Kultura Liberalna praised the book, noting that "this is a novel that doesn't think for us" and that "plays out the themes of identity in a virtuoso way". On

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also r ...

it was noted that ''Chołod'' is an attempt to get to the meaning of history. It has also been widely covered by other Polish language media. It has been nominated for the

Empik Empik (stylised as empi̓k) is a Polish commercial chain selling books, international press and media products (including film, music, and software). The chain also owns a photo company, Empik Foto, as well as a foreign language school, Empik Sch ...

Bestsellers 2022 in the categories of fiction and audio superfiction and Lubimyczytać.pl Book of the Year 2022 in the category of historical novel.{{Cite web , title=Poznaj Książki Roku 2022! , url=https://lubimyczytac.pl/plebiscyt , access-date=2023-07-08 , website=lubimyczytac.pl , language=pl-PL

References

2022 novels 21st-century Polish novels Polish novels