International Prize for Literature Premio Merano Europa 2024 - Nomination

LOST IN AVALANCHES

A Tyrolean mountain village has fallen unbearably silent at the end of the winter season after two locals were buried under an avalanche. The girl is fighting for her life in hospital, but there is no sign of the boy. The girl’s uncle Xaver scours the trackless snowy wastes, first as part of the volunteer search party, then on his own.

While he was growing up, his beloved grandfather disappeared up in the mountains. Eventually a reclusive healer called Mathoi helped Xaver and his mother to find the old man. It was too late though: his grandfather was dead.

Could Xaver have saved his life, and what can he do to dispel his own lingering guilt ? He sets out in search of Mathoi, but to track down the healer he first has to find his mother, who retreated high into the mountains after their family collapsed under the pressures of alcoholism and running a guesthouse. Where is Xaver’s proper place in the world? Where can he find happiness? And has this avalanche finally given him the chance to prove himself and find both?

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