Born of Guilt

From an award-winning debut novelist, Born of Guilt is a powerful and heartrending novel about the intense bond between mother and child and the consequences of freedom.

‘One of the most powerful debuts I have encountered in recent years. Unmissable.’ Georgi Gospodinov

‘I am calm only when alone. That’s what my mother used to say. As a child I hated her for this because it meant I shouldn’t have existed. Now I’m frightened by how much I understand her.’

Newly arrived in America, Yana spends her days in a series of dead-end service jobs and her nights meeting other immigrants. She breathes easier amidst the chaos of this bright new world, but her thoughts keep returning to her family and the country she left behind.

Working as a doctor in a Bulgaria haunted by communism, Yana’s beautiful mother Lily believes she has escaped the dark horrors of her childhood, until she finds herself trapped once more in a violent marriage.

And Lily’s own mother, Eva, is slowly losing herself in the embroidery of her memories. She urges Yana not to make the same mistakes she and Lily did – not to do everything her family tells her.

''Raw and mature . . . Joanna Elmy possesses the rare ability to tap into a collective womanhood and speak in its voice'' Rene Karabash, International Booker Prize shortlisted author of She Who Remains

''Following three women weathering violent marriages, political collapse, and the ghosts of their pasts, Born of Guilt delivers a tenacious, heartrending exploration of what it truly means to survive'' Lidija Hilje, author of Slanting Towards the Sea

Translated by the author and the International Booker Prize winning translator Angela Rodel