A relatively quick dip into the psyche of a woman escaping an abusive relationship via her family's country home in Estonia. Pihelgas paints a descriptive picture of the psychological aftermath of the main characters' decision to strike out on her own, from doubt and anger to self-actualization and empowerment.

Net net, a solid 3 stars for me. I didn't feel super connected to or affected by the character or the story, but did feel transported to a place I could hear, see and feel.

+++
Thanks to Net Galley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for my unbiased review.

If you are somebody who deals with hardship by going off-grid and rooting yourself in nature then this is the book for you!

The Cut Line follows Liine who cocoons herself in the countryside following the end of an abusive relationship. She embarks on a journey of self-discovery - of uprooting and breaking free from societal expectations to settle down and start a family, and pressures to return to the relationship she knew. She overcomes grief for what she has lost, doubt about whether she has made the right decisions, and great anger about how she has been treated.

This is an uplifting story of learning how to unapologetically take up space as a woman and how to not make yourself smaller at every opportunity - reflected in her cultivation of her garden amidst distant gunshots at an ever-encroaching military base. It is a meditative, slow and small novel but captures an incredible depth of human emotions and is filled with poignant and poetically beautiful prose.

For the size of the book this was an ambitious undertaking - at times delving into too many themes and topics, providing light-touch on climate change politics and the power of feminine friendships and what that offers us from history through to now. However, it did mean that some of these areas felt underdeveloped and open to further exploration. Despite this, it was an enjoyable, cathartic and healing read! I will look forward to re-reading this and purchasing a physical copy once it is available.

Thank you to NetGalley and World Editions for the arc!

This Estonian gem of a book took me by surprise. I did not expect to love it as much as I did. The complex relationships are interesting and I can feel the womans feelings through the pages.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this free eARC in exchange for my honest opinions.

Thanks to NetGalley & World Editions for the ARC!

Carolina Pihelgas’s "The Cut Line" is a subtle, poetic novella about what grows on the contested border between solitude and loneliness.

Liine has just ended a fourteen-year relationship, and she’s coping by spending the summer at a family farm called Tsõriksoo. Despite the story’s brevity, "The Cut Line" is all about slowing down to create space for the emptiness we feel. Pihelgas shares gorgeous descriptions of the overgrown farm as Liine cares for herself by tending to it. After all, sometimes you just need to chop some wood, smell the mint leaves, and feel the insects buzzing around you. The book is a sensorial delight, thanks in no small part to Darcy Hurford’s exceptional translation.

Told in first person and directed to Liine’s ex, "The Cut Line" revolves around the question of what it means to be alone. Sometimes it’s pathetic, but sometimes it’s downright cathartic. The protagonist’s interiority allows her to reach out and retreat from several relationships, including romantic, platonic, and familial connections. All the while, the threat of war means the farm could be lost at any moment. It’s just as unstable as any relational bond. Ultimately, she finds the most solace in a box of letters that reveal she isn’t the first woman to take care of the farm after the dissolution of a relationship. It’s solidarity via continuity.

For readers who wish for an agrarian escape, "The Cut Line" is a perfect way to spend an afternoon.

In the Poetics, Aristotle said a story (at least a tragedy) has a sequence of events or plot with a beginning, middle and end and that the purpose of the story is not just entertainment but KATHARSIS or purging the audience of pity and fear. Caroline Pihelgas’ short novel The Cut Line does not have much of a plot, but the book definitely has elements that could be described as KATHARSIS.

Pihelgas has published several books in her native Estonia; The Cut Line is her first book to be translated into English. This book is a short first person narrated book very much focused on the interior life of an Estonian woman named Liine who has recently broken up with her boyfriend of many years and moved from Tartu, the capital of Estonia to a remote cabin very close to the Russian border. Other than this move to a cabin, there is not much of a plot to speak of.

As I understand, Pihelgas’ book has three themes: trauma and moving on after a bad relationship, nature and its healing power, and concern about climate change. At least in my opinion, the material about climate change was the weakest part of the book.

It is with the first theme or trauma and attempting to heal after enduring a bad relationship where the title comes. The knife functions as a metaphor repeated several times throughout the story:

“My hands are empty, but I dream of a knife to cut through the thin veil of indifference” (location 315).

These knives don’t scare me anymore. They’re useless. They can just be twirled around and thrown, so that old men who want to decide over young women and their bodies lose their power of speech, and young men who expect women to be obedient and silent go blind” (location 952).

“I might lean a little in one direction and then the other, but the cut line will allow me a little space. A few days, a week or a month to get myself together. And then with a quick strong tug—rip!” (location 1148).

A second theme of the book is nature and its power to inspire and sometimes heal.

“At night I walk to the edge of the forest. The sky’s still glowing the color of sunset, but the forest’s already almost dark. The mosquitoes whine. This is their favorite time of day. The shadows of the trees are long and a little lonely. I want to shake off a day full of words and meanings” (location 283).

“The wind really picks up by the afternoon, blowing like crazy. It’s as if it wants to sweep everything out of its way. Twigs fall from the trees and the plants twist as if dancing. But it’s not a joyful dance; it’s a surrender to the wind’s fury, as if it spoke with your voice and was giving an order: Dance! And you have to dance out of fear” (location 842).

At least in my opinion, a book that is labeled literary fiction needs well crafted sentences worth pausing over. Here is one:

“The days have begun to pass quickly. Time that once stretched out sweetly like endless pink chewing-gum has changed and is starting to pulsate faster” (location 708).

“I feel like a quick dopamine boost, so I quickly post a couple of Insta stories about the flowers in the garden and the evening light and the big oak in front of the house. The hearts start coming, plus a couple of comments. I’d like something more. I’d like to feel that I exist” (location 456).

Thanks to the publisher for providing a copy of this book via Net Galley. All opinions are my own.

epub. 142 pgs. Scheduled for publication 3 February 2026. Finished 30 August 2025.

This was a mercurial and atmospheric read, despite that, it was still incredibly sharp and poignant. Follow Liine, a woman running away from a 14 year long emotionally abusive relationship as she escapes to her family's rural home bordering Russian territory. The Cut Line was a short and powerful read with beautiful prose, I was immediately absorbed into Liines perspective and the narration. There's lots to unpack here and I loved that.

Despite this book being under 200 pages, I never felt like it was lacking in any way. While this book is set after the fallout of a toxic relationship, it’s certainly not about the relationship. You get glimpses into the past but our main character, Liine, does not dwell on the man (greatly appreciated). The reader sits with the Liine as she’s realizing the importance of her own wants and desires. It’s like getting to see the light bulb go off in someone’s head and say “ah ha! I don’t have to live like this!”.

"The scent of carrion rises to my nose. But what is it that's rotting - me, or what I decided to leave?"

This is a character driven story with our protagonist having made the incredibly difficult decision to leave an abusive relationship and moved to give herself the space to make peace with her choice and for it to stick. Through conversations with her ex, her mother and her internal monologue, you see how difficult it is to actually make the move and to keep with it. Is it truly better to be alone? What do you give up when you leave the security of a relationship?

"I am still full of uncertainty because I don't know if I can trust myself completely"

The writing is beautiful and gives depth and colour to this story. The writing is sharp yet lyrical. Reading felt like watching a painting become, stroke by stroke. Or in this case word by word.

I give so much credit and thanks to Darcy Hurford, the translator, because with writing this vivid and nuanced, I can only imagine the task to translate these words into English for us.

Overall a great read and I would recommend it to fans of literary fiction.

Set in Estonia, this isn’t always easy reading, but Liine’s life Isn’t easy either, set against the backdrop of climate change and a toxic relationship. But she gradually comes to terms with her loneliness and change of circumstances through the physical work of restoring her cottage and working on the land. Brilliant characterisation and excellent prose brings this book to life.

I enjoy dystopian novels that chip away at the normality of life with subtle changes (like the frog in the bucket of water that is being heated up slowly until it's too late to escape). The Cut Line is about Liine who leaves an abusive relationship finding solace in gardening. In the background her mother is trying to get her to return to her partner (time is getting on) but also the effect of climate change is getting more apparent and in the very background there are rumblings of a border war. with a very large country! I liked Liine that she is determined to break ties with her partner to find solace in her gardening and her friends. I think this will make a really good book club read. Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

The Cut Line is a short novel that balances introspection with an unflinching sense of reality. Pihelgas’s prose is stripped back and precise, never indulgent, which makes the heavier subject matter all the more direct. There’s no wasted description here: every line has purpose, and the result is a style that feels both quick and sharp.

The pacing is measured. Rather than rushing through events, the narrative lingers on the work of rebuilding. It mirrors Liine’s process of reassembling herself after years of coercion. The interruptions of military noise and shifting weather provide a constant undercurrent of unease, preventing the book from ever becoming static.

Though short, it never feels slight. The novel covers personal trauma, strained family dynamics, and the wider pressures of history and politics without overloading the reader. Instead, these elements are woven in gradually, so the story retains momentum while still carrying thematic weight.

Overall, The Cut Line is a careful, well-constructed work!! Thoughtful in its language, deliberate in its structure, and powerful in execution. I loved it!

I adored the authors ability to create such a deeply immersive time and place within this novel, it felt like I was getting lost in the garden. Liine's story was beautiful and as the reader we went on a real journey with her as she creates a new life for herself. The books brevity was both part of its wonder and downfall for me, I felt the pacing was immaculate, but at times got a little bogged down with trying to comment on too much at once.

on storygraph - https://app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/d5a01e8c-c313-4f31-a3f7-66f9e5c2f3d4?redirect=true

I’m between two worlds and don’t belong to one or the other just yet: neither night nor day, dream nor reality, country nor city, ground nor sky. But here I am in spite of all that.

A lyrical meditation of a woman processing the end of a toxic relationship. Liine retreats to her family’s rundown country home after leaving her abusive partner after 14 years. As she cleans up the house and works the land, she also works through the anger and doubts that come with years of cruelty at the hands of her partner. This was beautifully written, a quiet exploration of the legacy of violence and misogyny, and one woman grappling with her past and working to find hope.

With Carolina Pihelgas’ The Cut Linewe explores the raw aftermath of a toxic relationship in more pastoral surrounds. Liine escapes from her relationship (with a toxic man, and with her mother to a lesser degree) to the Estonian countryside.
Whilst beautifully written, this wasn't terribly interesting. Every so often, she'd remind us that this is set in the present day. It reads like it could be a pre war kind of novel.

However, her escape is not complete. The nagging remnants of her ex's voice linger in her mind and there is also the external threat of the new NATO base near the Russian border that is set to be based in the countryside, buying the locals out. This also lends itself to the general sense of malaise and unease.

The Cut Line is about boundaries, personal, political and geographical/environmental.

The Cut Line is an astounding title that captures both the beauty and internal struggles of leaving an abusive relationship, and finding peace. I was completely hooked from the moment I started reading. Pihelgas' prose helps to fill out the (almost) lonely Estonian countryside the main character, Liine, escapes to after years of surviving a toxic relationship. While working through her dread, anxiety, and isolation from everyone she knows, she finds healing in farmwork and the wildlife flourishing around her family's abandoned farmhouse. Everything around her is changing too, with wars starting nearby and fears of climate change causing an impending doom, and family faulting her for her choices, she feels like she can't escape abuse and torment even when she escapes her relationship. This contrasted with the beauty of the Estonian countryside however, can't stop her as she keeps working on herself and fighting to keep a level head. This novel is such a wonderful, heartwarming, and realistic piece that I think everyone should read at some point.

Carolina does great job setting the atmosphere and putting the reader in the places. This was my favourite part of the book, getting lost in the cabin with the garden and forest surrounding me.

The character evolution was flat for me as too many side stories were brought to light. We had war, climate change, broken relationship with her ex, toxic relationship with the mother, lost family letters. In all I felt that done really delved in depth it deserved.

I felt that Liine’ story could be quite relatable, as so many feel lost in this world however, it was really hard for me to connect with the story and the main character.

This is a neat little novel, 142 pages long but the author writes vividly with not a spare or careless word so the reader understands what the main character is going through with total empathy. Walking the “cut line” with the past on one side and a possible future on the other. The question is: will she be able to choose the right side of the line?

Liine is escaping a toxic marriage and flees to the Estonian countryside to a tumble down house owned by an aunt, she and her family used to visit when she was young. It could be a beautiful retreat for her, but nearby, as a reminder of the outside world, is a NATO base where soldiers are preparing for war so the peace is occasionally shattered by the rattle of gun fire and the thump of explosions. However, here she throws herself into physical labour sorting the garden and nurturing the flowers and food crops she plants, settling into the rhythms of nature. Even nature is under strain as we see drought then storms disrupt normal rhythms. Danger seems to be everywhere for one reason or another.

The story is from Liine’s pov and we see her go through grief, anger, bitterness, self doubt. All the emotions which she has kept hidden deep inside her for most of her life and certainly the fourteen years of her marriage. Both husband and mother undermine her, make her feel worthless and always in the wrong. We learn about her sad neglected childhood where from the age of 8 she was responsible for her little sister.

I enjoyed this book (which I read on kindle) and found the central character well developed and very sympathetic. I found the ending quite enigmatic and opaque which made me think about the book more than I might have.

Thanks to NetGalley for allowing me to read this advanced copy. This review is my honest opinion after a complete read of the novel.

A young woman finally leaves a toxic relationship and moves to the country to live in a family summerhouse. This sounds grander than it is! The place is not in the best of conditions and is very close to a military base. The threat of war looms heavily and military exercises seem to be a constant presence. Despite this the woman finds peace in the garden although her inner struggle continues. Her mother is another problem as she is very critical and undermining.
Fortunately she has the ability to work from home which means she can stay for the summer and work through her anxieties.
Well written and ultimately hopeful

The Cut Line by Carolina Pihelgas (out in February 2026) is the English translated version of Lõikejoon, originally published in Estonian in 2024. The story revolves around Liine, who has just broken out of fourteen-year toxic relationship with a man and moves to her family’s country cottage near Vōru. As she searches for meaning in her new circumstances, she engages with nature and hears from afar the gunshots and practices of a military base near the Russian border.

This contemporary literary work delves into Liine’s deep-seated depression and paranoia. She speaks to a specific audience—her ex—and tries to move on from the memory of his psychological abuse. She invests her time in nature, in gardening and in trying to control the pests in the orchard. Her landscape is pastoral and controlled, very much occupied by the villagers and herself and is not a wilderness. She has a dual relationship to nature; it calms her and keeps her mind occupied, but at the same time she is annoyed by insects and the upkeep of the orchard. Nevertheless, she uses it as a tool to rebuild her identity and self-confidence. She expresses, “I need to stay beneath the soil, in the ground, here is a safe remote place until I find the strength within me to sprout new shoots.” There is also an undisclosed war happening; Liine mentions hearing gunshots and airplanes from the nearby military base that increase in frequency throughout the book, representing her turbulent mental state. It is also mentioned that they are in wartime but that the village is not affected. Liine’s family in other places are also unaffected by this war, so it seems purely like a device used for illustrating metaphors. The cottage acts as an anchor for Liine during this time.

Liine has a very stressful relationship with her mother, who wants her to get back together with her abusive boyfriend because her age indicates that her time for starting a family is running out as no man will want her again. Her mother’s lack of awareness is like the gunshots in the background—a tempestuous intrusion into Liine’s search for wellbeing. Liine later discovers letters from her great-aunt Elvi who never married but which might indicate that she had multiple lovers and was quite an independent thinker, and these letters resonate with her and make her feel supported, although the letters are not chronological and often seem random.

This book narrates the inner life of Liine and the recovery of identity after a bad breakup. It’s written simply and sometimes lacks direction, which makes the story seem a bit uninteresting at times. Liine’s depression fluctuates and she finds solace in gardening and her friends, though she despairs of her mother and the nearby war. The Cut Line is the perfect book for readers of contemporary literary fiction who enjoy writers like Otessa Moshfegh, Olga Tokarczuk, or Elif Batufman, and who pursue literature that is simple and succinct.

This book follows a woman recently out of a toxic longterm relationship. She decides to spend time in a family cottage in the countryside, located near an active military base.

There's a lot going on in this book metaphorically and mentally, not so much plot wise. On one hand it's quiet and meditative about finding your identity after a large change in life. On the other hand it's punctuated with gunshots and climate change and death threats.

My favorite thing about this book was how I got lost in the lush descriptions and got surprised when a phone was mentioned, because the vibe of the book mostly isn't modern.

A solid meditative read, with important topics.