Featured titles
-
THE LYING YEAR, a novel by Andrei Gelasimov
Rights sold: Bulgaria - ENTHUSIAST, France - ACTES SUD, Russia - OGI, Slovenia - Modrijan, World English - AMAZON CROSSING
Could have been the blown business deal with the Italians. Could have been the unauthorized office party, which ended with the cops—and then an arrest. No matter what finally got him fired, Mikhail never expected to find himself at Red Star Industries’ office again.
So down-and-out Mikhail is surprised to be called in by old boss, who offers Mikhail easy money and the Land Rover of his dreams to teach his son, Sergei, how to “be a man”—and to spy on him.
Of course, Sergei’s not the Internet-obsessed recluse his father believes. He’s hiding a relationship with the beautiful Marina, who Mikhail himself can’t help but fall for as well. To keep it all together, Mikhail finds himself lying to Petrovich about his son’s activities, lying to Marina about Sergei’s intentions, and lying to Sergei about his love for Marina. So when Sergei’s father invites them all to Italy, the web of lies holding their world together begins to fall apart, and about the time Mikhail finds himself held hostage at gunpoint, he realizes he’s gotten in way over his head…
Read more... -
Nikolai Leskov: The Overlooked Genius, a biography by Maya Kuzherskaya (2021)
Rights sold: Russia - Molodaya Gvardiya
Winner of the 2021 Big Book Award (second prize)
Nikolai Leskov (1831-1895) was a Russian novelist, short-story writer, playwright, and journalist. Praised for his unique writing style and innovative experiments in form, and held in high esteem by Leo Tolstoy, Anton Chekhov and Maxim Gorky among others, Leskov is credited with creating a comprehensive picture of contemporary Russian society using mostly short literary forms. His major works include Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk (1865) (which was later made into an opera by Shostakovich), The Cathedral Clergy (1872), The Enchanted Wanderer (1873), and The Tale of Cross-eyed Lefty from Tula and the Steel Flea (1881).
Perennially falling into and out of fashion, Leskov is a stunningly versatile writer and a very un-Russian Russian great. -- Chris Power, The Guardian
Read more...