Winner of the 2023 Saskatchewan Fiction Award

“What Is Written on the Tongue is historical fiction at its finest. Beautifully rendered, character-driven, a force of family and love and war, Anne Lazurko’s book shines with deep authenticity. The vivid imagery lingers long after the last page. The balance of first and third-person narrative and shifts between Holland, Germany, and Java across various years from 1943 to 1948 are smooth and masterfully handled. Character development is realistic and affecting right up until the poignant and melancholy ending. This author’s control of her subject matter and of the story were exceptional.” (Juror’s comments.)

Shortlisted for the 2023 Saskatchewan Book of the Year

Shorlisted for the 2022 Glengarry Book Award:

“Shortlisted novels were . . . Anne Lazurko’s What Is Written on the Tongue for its solid writing, diligent research, and ambitious transitions through the historical periods of the main character’s lived experience.” (Juror’s comments)

Released from Nazi forced labour as World War II ends, 20-year-old Sam is quickly drafted and sent to the island of Java to help regain control of the colony. But the Indonesian independence movement is far ahead of the Dutch and Sam is thrown into a guerilla war, his loyalties challenged when his squad commits atrocities reminiscent of those he suffered at the hands of the Nazis. Sam falls in love with both Sari and the beautiful island she calls home but as he loses friends to sniper fire and jungle malady, he also loses sight of what he wants most – to be a good man.

Order at https://ecwpress.com/collections/literary/products/what-is-written-on-the-tongue, or wherever you buy your books.

“In this deft and deeply moving novel, Anne Lazurko disperses the fog of war to shine a light on one soldier’s process of reckoning. As Sam confronts the enemy without and within, his creator honours the terrible vulnerability of our bodies, the essential balm of love and friendship, and the life-affirming beauty of the natural world, all the while lamenting the hell we so often make of this paradise we call home.” — Alissa York, author of The Naturalist

“This novel is the vivid and gripping story of a man caught in two brutal occupations: Sam is first a young victim of the Nazi occupation of The Netherlands in World War Two. He then becomes a colonial perpetrator as a Dutch soldier in the occupying army of Indonesia in the late forties. He suffers and then he deals out suffering. In this moving novel, Sam must search for a way to navigate his way through moral quagmires and find some kind of peace for himself and the ones he loves.” — Antanas Sileika, author of Provisionally Yours

“Teeming with life and drama, What Is Written on the Tongue is an ambitious, sweeping, riveting story of war, immorality, love and family. Spanning The Netherlands, Germany and Indonesia during and after the Second World War, Anne Lazurko’s novel serves as a grim reminder that the oppressed sometimes become oppressors. The novel hooked me on the first page and captured me to the last.” — Lawrence Hill, author of The Book of Negroes and The Illegal

DOLLYBIRD: a novel

Winner of the Willa Award for Historical Fiction; shortlisted for the Saskatchewan Fiction Award

2023 new edition available in all formats from ShadowPaw Press https://shadowpawpress.com or wherever you get your books!