Yesterday

In spare, elegant prose, this modern novella recounts a troubled young man’s flight from a judgmental village. Tobias, the illegitimate son of a prostitute and the local schoolmaster, finds peace with a factory job in the comfortable anonymity of a city. But his fragile respite is shattered by the appearance of Caroline, his boyhood love, who materialises with a husband and child in tow. This Dover edition marks Yesterday’s first U.S. publication. Originally written in French by Hungarian author Agota Kristof, this haunting exploration of dislocation, the search for love and belonging, and life as an emigrant continues to resonate today.

Many of Kristof’s stark vignettes, reported in unflinching detail…have a cool, disturbing power - part documentary-like, part surreal - that is fierce and distinctive. - Kirkus Reviews
Agota Kristof tackles the theme of the double and the irreparable damage caused by severance from one’s roots with a writing of rare sobriety and a spareness which, avoiding all superfluous sentimentality, goes right to the heart. - Marie Claire
Kristof - most brilliant when she is blackest - plots a denouement that lies on the bleaker side of black. Read it, shudder, and utter thanks. - Scotland on Sunday AUTHOR: Hungarian author Agota Kristof (1925 2011) moved from her native country to Switzerland after the failure of the 1956 revolution. Kristof learned and wrote in French, receiving a number of prestigious prizes for her books. They include the European Prize for French literature for her first novel, The Notebook (1986), which has been published in more than 40 languages. Yesterday was made into an Italian-language film in 2002.