“Maybe there are some truths that elude the capacity of reason, maybe not everything can be contained within the Scriptures, maybe a new entry needs to be created for his Gitla, something about people like her. Maybe she actually is a Polish princess, in her soul.”

—Olga Tokarczuk, The Books of Jacob

How is mental illness imagined in history and historical fiction?

That was the question I asked in this week’s rerun of the Books of Jacob slow read.

Before her fiction career, Olga Tokarczuk was a clinical psychologist. The experience gave her an insight into mental illness, and character, that makes her stories more subtle than most.

As most beautifully told in the story of the Polish Princess, in her soul, Gitla Pinkasówna.