I have no real idea what this novel was about - despite having a degree in literature! - and reading the reviews I'm fascinated by others' interpretations.

An adult woman, a loner, but one living independently, is called to a foreign country by her much older brother to work as his housekeeper - slave!  Through at times beautiful, but often impenetrable prose, we learn they are in a northern town in a northern country, are of Jewish descent, and are shunned by the locals, but have some familial right to the large house on a hill outside of town.  Animals start behaving oddly, dying in strange ways, and the newcomer is blamed.

The woman brushes her brother, bathes him, watches TV without sound or subtitles as it disturbs him too much, all very odd.  To me, there are hints of both historic and current abuse, and by the end I believed she was slowly poisoning him as punishment.

Certainly not an author I will seek out, and whilst I could appreciate the lyricism, I am not sure the prizes were justified.