King Cobra
»Some are fleeing from home; others are fleeing towards it. Some are doing both at the same time.«
Lazi is sitting in a train to Budapest with only one aim: to find the rifle belonging to their grandfather, András, who fled to Germany during the Hungarian uprising in 1956. Waiting for Lazi in the old Hungarian village are unpredictable aunties, innumerable shots of schnaps and their distant cousin Zsófi, who teaches Lazi how to shoot. Only Mónika, their mother’s sister, understands what Lazi’s altered body means; only she suspects the real reason for Lazi’s return: to seek revenge, to find justice. In their search for the origins of the violence in their family’s history, Lazi unravels a knot of shame and silence. With a mix of humour, tenderness and anger, ‘King Cobra’ tells a powerful tale of overcoming silence.
»Using powerful images, Muri Darida describes what has become engraved in our minds, turning it into breath, life, liberation – and hereby ignites a fire, which makes the language glow.« – Yael Inokai
- A pressing and liberating debut, personal and political
- An excerpt of this novel won Muri Darida the Open Mike Audience Award
- For readers of Kim de l’Horizon, Elif Shafak and Jonathan Safran Foer