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Hexes of the Deadwood Forest

A Novel

Translated by Scotia Gilroy
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Hardcover
$28.00 US
On sale Apr 07, 2026 | 368 Pages | 9780593700891

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An explosive, jaw-dropping debut about a woman who loses her job as an oil company CEO after she’s filmed having sex with a tree in her sleep, a calamity that unravels her mind, spiraling her through history until she’s united with a centuries-old coven of ecstatically revolutionary women.

“You’re holding a torpedo of a book in your hand. Take a seat and get comfortable. This novel’s energy, humor, and rebel spirit will awaken your mind and change your way of thinking.” —Olga Tokarczuk, 2018 Nobel Prize Winner, Man Booker International Prize Winner, finalist for the National Book Award


Anna Frenza hates the tyrannical tree huggers and the idiotic eco-warriors—after all, she’s the CEO of Poland’s biggest oil company. But then she finds herself in a trance, sleepwalking into the woods and making love to a tree, manically—all caught on camera. Her career ends and, in the fallout, she discovers her husband’s disturbing secret. Her mind splinters until she is no longer Anna Frenza, CEO. Now—whether by delusion or possession of spirit—she lives in the Duchy of Nysa, a medieval province ruled by the Catholic Church.

From her psychiatric bed, Anna falls in with Mathilde Spalt, leader of the Earthen Ones—a congregation of women who live in the woods and reject all patriarchy, instead engaging in ecstatic, sensuous worship of Mother Earth. Through Mathilde, Anna learns to love the forest, preaching and practicing the emancipatory rituals of the Earthen Ones . . . until the Church decides to fell the forest and all the women within it.

Bold and entirely unexpected, Hexes of the Deadwood Forest is a collective rebellion and a collective orgasm, the death knell to the elevation of the erect. Take hold of your seat; patriarchy is coming to an end.
A Most Anticipated Book from Forbes, Service95, Literary Hub, Reactor, and The Orange County Register

“You’re holding a torpedo of a book in your hand. Take a seat and get comfortable. This novel’s energy, humor, and rebel spirit will awaken your mind and change your way of thinking.”
—Olga Tokarczuk, 2018 Nobel Prize Winner, Man Booker International Prize Winner, finalist for the National Book Award

"A post-porn fever dream of Eastern European magic realism. . . . [An] uber-horny phantasmagoria. . . . At its most ingenious moments, the work lands as not just a calumny, but also satire. . . . You can't forget its sheer audacity. As much as an institutional critique, Szpila has given us a parable on the dangers of fanaticism and the necessity of radicalism, and the obvious parallel between the rigidity of belief systems."
The New York Times

"The kind of debut that grabs you by the collar and doesn’t apologise, it’s bold, surreal, feminist and ferociously funny—exactly the kind of book that rewires your brain."
—Dua Lipa's Service95

"This ferocious debut will eat you up and spit you back out, and you will be forever grateful for it. Focusing on ecofeminism through a lens of pleasure and history, and told with a biting, satirical voice, this novel [will make you] want to laugh, cry and dance in the rain."
Ms. Magazine

"[A] sprawling, bawdy comic. . . . Szpila spins a rich, imaginative alternative to the usual phallocentric history."
Kirkus Reviews

"In this ribald, diabolically clever, fiercely feminist satire, daring Polish writer Szpila radiantly imagines three generations of women. . . . [Her] lacerating, sly, ecosexual tale offers recalibrating perspectives on history, sex, the sacred, environmental decimation, and woman power."
—Booklist

"[A] wild ecofeminist debut. . . . [driven by] intriguing ideas on gender, climate change, and religion. . . . Arresting."
—Publishers Weekly
AGNIESZKA SZPILA is one of Poland’s most critically acclaimed, bestselling, and transgressive writers. The Polish edition of HEXES OF THE DEADWOOD FOREST was longlisted for the Nike Award, the country’s premiere literary award, and will be published in at least nine countries around the world.

About

An explosive, jaw-dropping debut about a woman who loses her job as an oil company CEO after she’s filmed having sex with a tree in her sleep, a calamity that unravels her mind, spiraling her through history until she’s united with a centuries-old coven of ecstatically revolutionary women.

“You’re holding a torpedo of a book in your hand. Take a seat and get comfortable. This novel’s energy, humor, and rebel spirit will awaken your mind and change your way of thinking.” —Olga Tokarczuk, 2018 Nobel Prize Winner, Man Booker International Prize Winner, finalist for the National Book Award


Anna Frenza hates the tyrannical tree huggers and the idiotic eco-warriors—after all, she’s the CEO of Poland’s biggest oil company. But then she finds herself in a trance, sleepwalking into the woods and making love to a tree, manically—all caught on camera. Her career ends and, in the fallout, she discovers her husband’s disturbing secret. Her mind splinters until she is no longer Anna Frenza, CEO. Now—whether by delusion or possession of spirit—she lives in the Duchy of Nysa, a medieval province ruled by the Catholic Church.

From her psychiatric bed, Anna falls in with Mathilde Spalt, leader of the Earthen Ones—a congregation of women who live in the woods and reject all patriarchy, instead engaging in ecstatic, sensuous worship of Mother Earth. Through Mathilde, Anna learns to love the forest, preaching and practicing the emancipatory rituals of the Earthen Ones . . . until the Church decides to fell the forest and all the women within it.

Bold and entirely unexpected, Hexes of the Deadwood Forest is a collective rebellion and a collective orgasm, the death knell to the elevation of the erect. Take hold of your seat; patriarchy is coming to an end.

Reviews

A Most Anticipated Book from Forbes, Service95, Literary Hub, Reactor, and The Orange County Register

“You’re holding a torpedo of a book in your hand. Take a seat and get comfortable. This novel’s energy, humor, and rebel spirit will awaken your mind and change your way of thinking.”
—Olga Tokarczuk, 2018 Nobel Prize Winner, Man Booker International Prize Winner, finalist for the National Book Award

"A post-porn fever dream of Eastern European magic realism. . . . [An] uber-horny phantasmagoria. . . . At its most ingenious moments, the work lands as not just a calumny, but also satire. . . . You can't forget its sheer audacity. As much as an institutional critique, Szpila has given us a parable on the dangers of fanaticism and the necessity of radicalism, and the obvious parallel between the rigidity of belief systems."
The New York Times

"The kind of debut that grabs you by the collar and doesn’t apologise, it’s bold, surreal, feminist and ferociously funny—exactly the kind of book that rewires your brain."
—Dua Lipa's Service95

"This ferocious debut will eat you up and spit you back out, and you will be forever grateful for it. Focusing on ecofeminism through a lens of pleasure and history, and told with a biting, satirical voice, this novel [will make you] want to laugh, cry and dance in the rain."
Ms. Magazine

"[A] sprawling, bawdy comic. . . . Szpila spins a rich, imaginative alternative to the usual phallocentric history."
Kirkus Reviews

"In this ribald, diabolically clever, fiercely feminist satire, daring Polish writer Szpila radiantly imagines three generations of women. . . . [Her] lacerating, sly, ecosexual tale offers recalibrating perspectives on history, sex, the sacred, environmental decimation, and woman power."
—Booklist

"[A] wild ecofeminist debut. . . . [driven by] intriguing ideas on gender, climate change, and religion. . . . Arresting."
—Publishers Weekly

Author

AGNIESZKA SZPILA is one of Poland’s most critically acclaimed, bestselling, and transgressive writers. The Polish edition of HEXES OF THE DEADWOOD FOREST was longlisted for the Nike Award, the country’s premiere literary award, and will be published in at least nine countries around the world.
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