‘Our lives do not start entirely with our births.’ Prussia, the early 19th century. As he attempts to bury his recently deceased wife, Redo Hauptshammer uncovers the frozen body of a uniformed soldier. As he continues to dig, the bodies start to pile up – all of them fallen cavalrymen bearing the secrets of an earlier era. For readers of W. G. Sebald and Agustín Fernández Mallo, this archaeological novel digs into Europe’s soil, uncovering a long history of violence and expropriation. Mora’s writing is audacious, melancholy, and formally experimental. As the bodies proliferate, the story keeps getting more complicated. In a bold yet lyrical translation by Rahul Bery, Centroeuropa introduces English-speaking readers to one of Europe’s pre-eminent experimental prose writers currently at work.