A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR (MARIE CLAIRE): A sweeping historical fiction novel about the fall of the Soviet Union, told through the eyes of Ukrainian mothers and daughters over 4 decades
“An astute, deeply empathic portrayal of the dislocation of first-generation immigrants and intergenerational trauma” — Financial Times
In this stunning work of political historical fiction, loaded with “vibrancy and humour”, the collapse of the Soviet Union reverberates throughout multiple generations of 2 families—presaging and foreshadowing conflicts in Russia’s Ukraine War (TLS).
As a child, Lena longs to pick hazelnuts in the woods with her grandmother. Instead, she is raised to be a good socialist: sent to Pioneer summer camps where she’s taught to worship Lenin and sing songs in praise of the glorious Soviet Union. But perestroika is coming. Lena’s corner of the USSR is now Ukraine, and corruption and patronage are the only ways to get by—to secure a place at university, an apartment, treatment for a sick baby.
For Tatjana, the shock of the new means the first McDonald’s in the Soviet Union and certified foreign whisky, but no food in the shops; it means terrible choices about how to love. Eventually both women must decide whether to stay or to emigrate, but the trauma they carry is handed down to their daughters, who struggle to make sense of their own identities.
Engrossing, rich in detail, and full of unforgettable characters, this is a captivating love letter to mothers and daughters from one of Europe’s most powerful voices in political fiction.
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