Lásko

Spanning Canada, Prague, and New Zealand, a novel that explores what happens when one woman searches for meaning--and nearly loses herself.

When Maja was seven, her mother disappeared. Now almost thirty, Maja has the same urge: to disappear, to start over. She leaves her fiance in Canada to follow signs that lead her to the Czech Republic -- her mother's home country. In Prague, Maja falls in love with Kuba, a charismatic musician who is a minor celebrity in Czech New Age circles. As Maja navigates this irresistible and overwhelming new relationship, she is guided by dreams, visions, and synchronicities, and experiences the power and wisdom of ayahuasca. But she's also cynical enough to question the contradictory and often hypocritical New Age subculture--is being with a "workaholic guru" really what she wants? Despite her budding sense of destiny, she suffers from a mysterious illness and the unshakeable sense that something is terribly wrong.

Revealing both the falseness and truth of the stories we tell ourselves, Catherine Cooper's novel is sharply observed, darkly funny, and ultimately moving--a profound meditation on the pain and potency of love.