Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead Summary
Olga Tokarczuk

Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead Overview

Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead is a novel by Polish author Olga Tokarczuk. The title is a line from a poem by English poet William Blake. The novel takes place in a rural village in modern-day Poland. The protagonist is Janina, a semi-elderly woman who lives alone in a cabin on the outskirts of the village. She loves astrology, animals, and the poetry of William Blake. When mysterious deaths begin to occur in the village, Janina says that the perpetrators must be animals taking revenge on the village’s poachers. The novel explores themes of isolation, community, morality, identity, love, and friendship.