Olga Tokarczuk: The Knight excerpt in English)

The Knight

At first she tried struggling with the locks, but they were obviously not in sync, because when she managed to turn the key in one of them, the other stayed locked – and vice versa. The wind came in gusts off the sea, winding her wool scarf around her face. Finally he set down both bags in the driveway and snatched the keys out of her hand. He managed to get the door open immediately. The cottage they had always rented was right on the sea, amongst holiday cabins that all looked alike, that were bustling and noisy in the summers, open to let the air through, surrounded by parasols and plastic chairs, and little tables with radios and newspapers – now they were all boarded up, tight as a drum, sunk deep into a winter coma. This one was a little more opulent, though – it had a fireplace and a large deck that looked out over the beach. The deck was covered with sand, so as soon as they got inside she took up a broom and began to sweep it away. “Why are you doing that?” he said. “It’s not like we’re going to be sitting out on the deck at this time of year.”

Translated by Jennifer Croft
(source: Vilenica Almanac 2013)