Another installment of compelling autobiographical prose by Roma Ligocka. This time around, the “girl in the red coat” shares her memories from her teenage years. This is the story of an incredible, intimate, but also very difficult relationship between a mother and daughter. The teenaged girl discovers that her mother is having a passionate affair with a married man, which makes her feel betrayed. Spying on her mother, she discovers the terrifying yet fascinating sensual and physical side of love. Her mother’s new relationship does not end happily, however – the social pressure is so great that the woman attempts suicide several times. It all turns out to be too much for the sensitive teenaged girl. She herself begins to contemplate death, resulting in her growing anorexia. With brutal and disarming sincerity, Ligocka speaks of the most intimate experiences of her life. The only relief from the nightmare she experiences (and the reader along with her) is reading the prewar journal of her grandmother, Anna Abrahamerowa, describing the colorful and carefree Jewish life in Krakow. With this novel the author of The Girl in the Red Coat again proves that she is the master of painfully hypnotic autobiographical prose.