We are delighted to highlight the English publication of Needle’s Eye, the newest novel by one of Poland’s most acclaimed contemporary writers, Wiesław Myśliwski, translated by award-winning translator Bill Johnston and published by New York Review Books.

A polyphonic epic written on an intimate scaleSet in a small Polish village, Needle’s Eye begins with a simple moment – an old man falling on a staircase – yet this seemingly ordinary incident opens a vast inner landscape of memory, regret, and longing. Through the narrator’s recollections, we revisit wartime childhoods, the sounds and smells of family life, and the delicate texture of the everyday – from the taste of raisins and almonds to long-buried conversations.

Myśliwski’s narrator, a medieval historian in old age, moves freely through decades of Polish history, exploring what remains unrecorded in official narratives. The novel becomes a chameleonic meditation on personal and collective memory – part autobiography, part dream, and part philosophical farewell to the Poland of the author’s youth.

Needle’s Eye stands at the intersection of visionary fiction and literary reflection – an evocative meditation on how a single memory can hold an entire lifetime. It’s a remarkable addition to modern world literature and a powerful example of Myśliwski’s distinctive voice.

More on the author here

Publisher: New York Review Books

Get your copy today via this link